In an attempt to potentially make software development easier in some fringe scenarios, iOS developer castdrian has released a new and free jailbreak tweak called CovertInstrument that can give the effect of preventing an iPhone or iPad from locking itself after an extended idle period.
In the /r/jailbreak release post, it’s explained that the tweak doesn’t technically keep the iPhone or iPad from locking, as the device’s stock Auto-Lock settings do, but it instead prevents SBCoversheet from presenting itself, which in turn means that you’ll be bumped to the Home Screen again the moment you wake your device rather than having to deal with the Lock Screen.
What’s more is that CovertInstrument works whether your device falls asleep by itself or you put the device to sleep manually via the Sleep/Wake button on the side of the device, which is something that even the Auto-Lock setting doesn’t do. So these settings are different from one another.
In a word of warning, the developer says they don’t recommend using CovertInstrument on daily driver devices for obvious reasons, as bypassing the SBCoversheet means that you could bypass many of the security mechanisms that are intended to prevent unauthorized access to your device.
The developer also says that they’ve only tested CovertInstrument on an iPadOS 18.1 device (jailbroken via palera1n) with Touch ID authentication disabled. They aren’t sure what would happen if a user tried to use the tweak with Face ID or Touch ID turned on, and they don’t recommend trying it, as these layers are specifically intended to prevent unauthorized access to a device.
Since CovertInstrument seems to be tailored more toward developers, it’s useful in that it will keep a device unlocked and up and running for enough time to perform the task at hand. There are few reasonable uses outside of this, so if you don’t know what you’re doing, you should move along.
CovertInstrument is available as a free download from the developer’s GitHub page and can be installed on a jailbroken device by way of a package manager or file manager app.
What are your thoughts about a jailbreak tweak that prevents SBCoversheet from being presented? Let us know in the comments section down below.