Cydia Substrate

Comex releases an alpha build of Substitute, a controversial Cydia Substrate replacement

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated January 27, 2016

Today, Comex made good on his promise and released an alpha build of Substitute—the hacker's polarizing new Cydia Substrate replacement for jailbroken iPhones. Back in January, it was revealed that Comex was helping the iMods team—a crew that is working on a Cydia replacement—with some of the necessary fundamentals to get the project off the ground.

One of the most needed pieces of a Cydia replacement is a Cydia Substrate replacement. Without Cydia Substrate, or something like it, then a Cydia replacement doesn't make much sense. Not only has Comex pledged his support for the project, but he's just brought one of its most important puzzle pieces to reality.

Saurik posts response to Comex’s Cydia Substrate replacement, comments on new features coming to Cydia

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 12, 2018

As expected, Jay "saurik" Freeman has posted a lengthy response to Comex's Cydia Substrate replacement strategy. In the post, which appears on his personal blog, he outlines some of the history he's had with Comex, why open source isn't always best, and drops hints on several new upcoming Cydia features.

Legendary jailbreak hacker Comex is assisting iMods with a Cydia Substrate alternative

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

It's been a long time since we've heard Comex's name be associated with jailbreaking, but he's back, and in a fairly large and controversial way. The creator of JailbreakMe is working with the team behind iMods—a Cydia alternative—to develop a Mobile (Cydia) Substrate replacement called Substitute. On the surface, it may not sound like much, but this could have far-reaching consequences on jailbreaking as we currently know it.

Cydia Substrate receives key developer-oriented updates

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Cydia Substrate had been updated twice, once to version 0.9.5100, and again to version 0.9.5101. Both updates are mostly developer oriented with no consumer facing features that everyday users will notice.

The first update can inject into more iOS 8 daemons, find more private symbols, and more. The second update fixes an incompatibility with the first update. Check inside for the full change log.

Cydia Substrate updated to fix bugs on iOS versions before 4.3

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Are you keeping it old school and running a jailbroken iPhone on firmware below iOS 4.3? If so, then you'll definitely want to update to the latest version of Cydia Substrate.

Substrate 0.9.5016 fixes a bug introduced with the previous two Substrate releases. Have a look at Saurik's change log after the break.

How to use a passcode with the iOS 8.x jailbreak

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

At this point in time, running Cydia on a jailbroken iPhone can still be a bit confusing for users who aren't always knee-deep in this stuff. One of the biggest issues encountered when running Cydia on a jailbroken iOS 8 device at the moment involves using the passcode and Touch ID.

After installing Cydia on a jailbroken iOS 8 device, many are reporting that establishing a passcode sends them into a bootloop. I verified that I encountered the same issue.

Let me just preface this by saying that the problems encountered here are no fault of the Pangu team or of Saurik. This jailbreak is a work in progress, and we've been advised that the jailbreak is only for developers at the moment. That said, many of you are adventurous and want to take the plunge as soon as possible; as do I.

In this video, I share an unsanctioned workaround to the boot loop issue. I show you how to establish a passcode on a device with Cydia and Cydia Substrate installed. I've tested this out, and have recorded the entire Cydia installation process for your convenience. Have a look inside for the full tutorial.

Cydia Substrate updated yet again, this time fixing bugs with OpenSSH and other processes

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

As expected, Saurik continues to work tirelessly on Cydia and all of its parts, including the uber-important Cydia Substrate. The latest update, which rings in at version 0.9.5015 comes mere hours after the 0.9.5014 update.

While the previous update aimed to squash many festering bugs, and did so successfully, it also introduced another bug which caused some process, like OpenSSH, not to start. Obviously this was a huge issue that needed to be fixed quick, since OpenSSH is used by lots of jailbreakers as a means to communicate with their jailbroken devices and to transfer files. As expected, Saurik responded accordingly.

Cydia Substrate updated to fix app installation issues, iTunes syncing bugs, and more

Jeff Benjamin ∙ October 27, 2014

If you're jailbroken on iOS 8 and you have Cydia installed, you should check for a new version of Substrate that just went live.

Cydia Substrate 0.9.5014 comes right on the heels of the Pangu team's 0.2 Untether update for iOS 8. Both Pangu and Saurik are working around the clock to shore up as many bugs and issues as possible related to the jailbreak and subsequent Cydia support.

List of jailbreak tweaks compatible with iOS 8

Timothy Reavis ∙ Updated January 27, 2016

Although we're overjoyed at the release of a jailbreak so quickly after the arrival of iOS 8, there are still a number of tweaks that are currently incompatible with iOS 8. Even now that Cydia and Cydia Substrate have been updated, many tweaks still are inducing Safe Mode when installed on devices running the latest firmware, and developers will have to release updates for quite a few of their jailbreak tweaks before they become usable.

Cydia Substrate updated to 0.9.5013 to support iOS 8

Jeff Benjamin ∙ October 23, 2014

Good news, fellow jailbreakers. Saurik has just pushed an update to Cydia Substrate to lend it iOS 8 compatibility. This means that tweaks that rely on Cydia Substrate to run (most of them should) can now be updated to work with iOS 8 as well.

Cydia Substrate has always been a big part of the puzzle that needed to be there for this iOS 8 jailbreak to really gain steam as far as jailbreak apps and tweaks are concerned. If you're already jailbroken and have Cydia installed, then Cydia Substrate 0.9.5013 should appear as an update in Cydia.

Having issues with Cydia Substrate? Try this

Jeff Benjamin ∙ December 31, 2013

I woke up this morning to a pleasant surprise: Mobile Substrate had been updated to support iOS 7 on ARM64 CPUs, making it compatible with all of the latest Apple devices like the iPhone 5s, iPad Air, and iPad mini with Retina Display. As you can imagine, I rushed to the office without even brushing my teeth (I know, gross) and installed the new Cydia Substrate package that appeared on Cydia.

Unfortunately for me, none of the tweaks and apps that I had installed began to work after Cydia Substrate was updated. I think it may, and I'm just grasping at straws here, have to do with the fact that I was impatient, and already had a bunch of stuff installed that didn't work in the first place. To fix this issue, I took a fairly logical approach; I completely uninstalled Substrate and reinstalled it from scratch. Have a look inside for more details.