How To Use Cydia On Your iPhone
I bet you are saying to yourself “what just happened, and what do I do now?” If you take a look at your iPhone, you should see a new app called “Cydia”. Tap it, and and let us walk you through this new app store. (If you don’t see it, click here.) Click play to begin!
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First Time Use
Initializing Filesystem.
The first time you launch Cydia, you won’t be able to access the complete app. Your new app store will instead display a gray screen with a loading wheel stating “Initializing Filesystem.” Please wait while Cydia completes this process. When this is done, Cydia will quit automatically and restart your springboard.
Who are you?
When you open up Cydia, you will be asked to identify what kind of user you are. Unless you would classify yourself as an advanced user, select “User.” This ensures that Cydia will only display basic apps. (Note: If you accidentally chose the wrong filter and want to change it, simply go to the Manage tab on the bottom, and hit “Settings” on the top left).
Upgrade Packages
Every once in awhile, including the first time you open Cydia, you may get a popup bubble asking you to “Upgrade Packages”.
- Tap on “Complete Upgrade” to update some of Cydia’s core components.
- On the next screen, tap “Confirm” on the top right to begin the update.
- Wait as Cydia downloads and installs the upgrades, then press the button “Restart Springboard”
- You’re done! This will ensure you get the latest version of Cydia.
Make My Life Easier
The first time you launch Cydia, you may notice a button on the home screen titled “Make my life easier.” Above it is a short description of what this does. Essentially, it allows Cydia to save “SHSH Blobs” from your device so that you will always be able to jailbreak again, even if you accidentally update your device or lose your current jailbreak.
Navigating Cydia
Home
Cydia’s home tab showcases some of the most prominent apps, tweaks, and themes from the Cydia store. It also has helpful links, tips, and guides regarding jailbreaking.
Sections
Cydia’s “Sections” tab works much like the App Store’s “Categories” tab by grouping like natured apps, tweaks, and themes together for easy access. If you are looking for a particular type of app or tweak but don’t know of any, search in the sections tab.
Changes
Cydia’s “Changes” tab displays the newest apps in a chronological list. If there are any available updates to any of your currently installed apps, they will be displayed here at the very top of the list.
Manage
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The Manage tab displays 3 main buttons: Packages, Sources, and Storage.
- Packages: This will display all of your currently installed apps, and allow you to uninstall any unwanted apps. (Note: link to How to uninstall an app)
- Sources: Because of the open sourced nature of Cydia, the sources tab is where you can view and edit sources for all of your Cydia apps. To remove a source hit “edit” on the top right, and then press the red minus by the source you no longer want. To add a new source tap “Add” while still in edit mode, and enter the URL of the new source.
- Storage: This simply displays the available space on your device.
Search
Type in the search box to quickly find an app you want to install. Simply enter the app name, and click on the desired app.