Music

SilentMaps13 makes Apple Maps navigation less intrusive to music playback

Anthony Bouchard ∙ October 16, 2020

It’s fairly common for drivers to listen to music as they cruise around, and with CarPlay and Bluetooth accessories becoming more popular in modern cars, it becomes more and more likely that drivers will stream their music from their smartphone as opposed to the radio. Another thing drivers often use is their handset’s built-in navigation feature, and unfortunately, directions from the Maps app have a tendency to announce directions at all the worst times…

Enter SilentMaps13, a newly released jailbreak tweak by iOS developer Greg0109 that helps prevent the Maps app from announcing directions right as the beat of your favorite song drops. The tweak offers user-configurable alternatives to having Siri’s voice interrupt your track, and it’s sure to offer an augmented user experience when used in a navigation-esque setting while listening to music in the car.

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This tweak adds an icon in the Status Bar whenever music is playing

Anthony Bouchard ∙ October 13, 2020

If you’re one to listen to a ton of music via your jailbroken iPhone or iPad, then chances are you could benefit from the likes of a newly released and free jailbreak tweak dubbed NowPlayingIndicator by iOS developer iCraze.

This tweak’s name is particularly telling in terms of what it does. Once installed, NowPlayingIndicator adds a play button-shaped icon to the Status Bar, just to the left of the time, whenever you have music playing. The illustration above depicts how the tweak looks in action.

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Guide: How to use the Apple Music app on Apple TV

Sandy Writtenhouse ∙ October 12, 2020
Apple Music Search Categories on Apple TV

Maybe you just bought your first Apple TV or perhaps you’ve only used it for shows and games. The Music app on Apple TV works very much like it does on your other devices. You can discover something new, manage your library, and search for a particular song, album, or artist.

Don’t take the Apple Music app on your Apple TV for granted. Use it for background music as you work or pump up the volume for a get-together with this guide to using Music on Apple TV.

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Make Spotify’s Now Playing interface more OLED-friendly with Blackout

Anthony Bouchard ∙ October 10, 2020

The Spotify Music app is one of the best alternatives to Apple Music in terms of online music streaming for the iPhone or iPad, and while the application itself already sports a somewhat ‘dark’ aesthetic, there are certainly some areas where it could do with improvement for those who like using dark mode or who use an OLED display-equipped handset.

Blackout is a newly released and free jailbreak tweak by iOS developer atebitsy that brings improved dark mode and OLED display support to the Spotify Music app, and it does so by providing users with an always-blacked out Now Playing interface background, as depicted by the before and after screenshot examples above.

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Annotation lets Spotify users add descriptions & custom cover art to music playlists

Anthony Bouchard ∙ October 9, 2020

While it has always been possible to create music playlists in the Spotify Music app for iPhone and iPad, one thing that seemed to be missing was a way to customize those playlists in depth. Fortunately, those with a jailbreak are no longer bound to such asinine limitations.

Annotation is a newly released and free jailbreak tweak by iOS developer atebitsy that brings music playlist customization options to the Spotify Music app. Right out of the box, it will permit users to add detailed descriptions to their music playlists and even change the playlist’s cover artwork to their liking.

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Spori makes it easier to use Siri to dictate music playback in Spotify

Anthony Bouchard ∙ September 22, 2020

If you’re jailbroken on iOS 13 and use Spotify as your primary music streaming app, then chances are you might find yourself wishing that Siri worked as smoothly with Spotify as it did with Apple Music. Fortunately, a free jailbreak tweak called Spori by iOS developer udevs can make that happen.

Siri can already play tracks via the Spotify Music app if you specifically articulate that you’d like to play that song in Spotify, but who wants to waste their time adding those extra words to each and every Siri command? I, for one, certainly don't.

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Zefy makes Spotify behave more like a default media player on jailbroken iPhones

Anthony Bouchard ∙ September 21, 2020

Spotify is one of the most popular music streaming services available for the iOS & iPadOS platforms apart from Apple's own Apple Music streaming service. But if anything’s painfully obvious, it’s the fact that Apple nerfs the functionality of third-party apps and services that compete with its own by limiting what they can do on their platform; this effectively makes Apple’s own services look better by comparison, and intentionally so.

If you’re an avid Spotify user and you also have a jailbroken iPhone or iPad at your disposal, then you could probably benefit from the likes of a newly released jailbreak tweak dubbed Zefy by iOS developer udevs. This tweak implements a few handy workarounds for iOS to make Spotify feel more like a native music player than just a third-party alternative to Apple’s.

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MediaBar14 adds music controls to the iPhone’s Home Bar

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated June 8, 2021

One of the things Apple does really well is provide a quality music streaming service that can be accessed from all of your favorite devices, whether they’re mobile handsets or desktop computers. On the other hand, Apple could always do better by improving the experience of the user interface, especially in terms of music control accessibility on the iOS & iPadOS platforms.

Jailbreakers know all too well about the many shortcomings of Apple’s stock user interface, and that’s one reason why there are so many jailbreak tweaks available to the aftermarket. MediaBar14, for example, is a newly released jailbreak tweak by iOS developer MegaDev that lends a hand to Apple’s user interface in this particular department.

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