jailbreak app for backup iphone applications

If you own a jailbroken iPhone, you might well realize that backing up your existing jailbreak iPhone apps before installing new firmware is extremely crucial to avoid the task of reinstalling them all over again.

Thanks to applications like PkGBackup, backing up your jailbreak apps is extremely simple. This tutorial will take you through the various steps to backup your Cydia applications using PkGBackup application.

Before we start some important points:

• You can also checkout free jailbreak iPhone app like AptBackup that help you achieve the same thing but some of our readers have reported issues using it.
• This solution might not work for the jailbreak iPhone app that is not compatible with the current version of iPhone OS.

Installing PkGBackup Application

Step 1: From the iPhone springboard, tap on the Cydia icon to launch the application.

Step 2: Tap on the 'Sections' tab at the bottom of the screen and navigate to Utilities ->PkGBackup

Step 3: PkGBackup is available for $3.49 at the Cydia store. Tap on the 'Purchase' button on the top of the screen and follow the instructions to complete the payment. You will be able to install the app once the payment transaction is completed.

Step 4: Tap on the 'Install' button on the top of the screen. Press 'Confirm' to begin the installation process.

Step 5: Once installation is complete, press the large 'Return to Cydia' button to complete the process.

Backup Jailbreak iPhone apps

Step 1: From the iPhone Springboard, tap on the PkGBackup icon to launch the application. PkGBackup will now scan all the installed packages/jailbreaks apps.

Step 2: The application now lists down the list of active packages. Press the blue arrow button to view the complete list of active packages.

Step 3: You may now choose to disable backup options for individual packages. To do this, tap on the package name from the list of active packages and turn off the 'Backup' option.

Step 4: With PkGBackup, it is also possible to backup your Springboard layout. To do this, visit the main page of PkGBackup application and turn the 'Include Layout' option on.

Step 5: You can now initiate the backup process. Press the 'Backup' button to begin the backing up of your application list.

Step 6: Once the backup process is complete, the application prompts you to sync your iPhone with iTunes. Tap the OK button and connect your iPhone to iTunes to complete syncing the files. Ensure that iTunes completely syncs with the backup file. The backup process is complete.

Restoring Backup Packages/Jailbreak Apps

Step 1: Connect your iPhone to your computer and launch iTunes. From the list of devices, right click (Ctrl-click) on 'iPhone' and select 'Restore Backup' from the popup menu options.

Step 2: You are now asked to choose the backup file to restore. If you have more than one backup file in your list, select the appropriate backup file and click the 'Restore' button.

Step 3: Updating your firmware may have deleted the PkGBackup app from your Springboard. Follow the steps mentioned above in the 'Installing PkGBackup Application' section to reinstall the app.

Step 4: From the Springboard, launch the PkGBackup app. The application will indicate the list of active packages as well as the number of packages available from the earlier backup.

Step 5: If you would like to selectively restore packages, tap on the blue arrow under the 'Previous Backup' section to enable/disable restore options for individual packages.

Step 6: If you would like to restore the Springboard layout from the backup, turn the option ON from the main page of PkGBackup application.

Step 7: Tap the 'Restore' button to begin the restoration process. Once the process is complete, you will be prompted to reboot your device. Tap the 'Reboot' button.

Step 8: After the restart, the backed up jailbreak iPhone apps should be available on your iPhone.

As always, let us know how it goes.

[via iClarified]

Read more »

Everything You Need to Know About The Evil, Useful Find My Friends App [FAQ]

A handy way to link up with friends? You bet. Evil? Quite possibly. Lame? That’s what a friend of mine thought. Find My Friends, Apple’s newest app, is a new location tool that can be used to great effect — or become one huge, scary headache.

Here’s an FAQ with all you need to know about navigating safely through the app.


What exactly does Find My Friends do?

Just like location services on your iDevice’s Google Maps app, it can show you where other people are — assuming they give you permission. Each friend you’re tracking will show up on the map as a separate dot, with distance in miles by their name. It’ll automatically refresh as they move, and you can even get directions to their location

I’m not sold. Why do I want to download Find My Friends?

Maybe you want to meet up with a buddy, but you don’t have directions. Of course, you could always ask him to share his location via Google Maps; but what if he’s barhopping, on the move? FMF is the way to go. Or let’s say you’re a group of people for a special event — FMF is the perfect tool to keep track of your team. Got kids? FMF gives you another option to keep your children under tabs.

Of course, everyone involved will need an iDevice running iOS 5 and an iCloud account.

Ok, how do I get started?



First, you’ll need to download the free app. Once that’s done, sign into your iTunes account.

Now you’ll need some friends to stalk track. Use the add button under the “All” tab. If your friend already has FMF installed it’ll show up in his app as a request; if he doesn’t have the app installed , he’ll get an email asking him to download the app. Once he’s accepted your invitation, you should see his email address pop up, along with his location — though it may take a while for this to happen. To add his photo and name to your friend’s FMF entry, simply link it to his entry in your Contacts app.

Note that following isn’t necessarily a two-way deal — you can be following someone who isn’t following you, unless you’ve explicitly given them permission to follow you by accepting their invitation.

If you have several devices on the same account, be sure to check the one you want your friend to be able to track.

My iPad doesn’t have a GPS. Will it still work?

Yes — FMF will determine your position using the old-school location services feature, like the original iPhone did, by pinging you from a nearby router or cell tower.

Isn’t this whole thing kind of creepy though? How do I keep myself safe?

Yeah, it’s pretty creepy. But Apple seems to have understood that they’re dealing with a potentially dangerous tool, and have placed several layers of safeguards to try to make the whole thing as safe as possible.

As mentioned above, you need to explicitly accept an invitation to be followed.
If you want to become temporarily invisible, you can switch on “Hide from Followers” under the accounts tab, which will take you off grid until you switch it off again.
It’s also easy to follow someone (or let them follow you) temporarily, using the “Temporary” tab. From here you can invite friends and set the location sharing to expire at a certain time. Once expired, the friends are removed completely from your FMF app.
Finally, you’ll have to sign into the app each time you access it — unless you’ve turned on your device’s Passcode Lock (in the Settings app under General). This gives the people you’re tracking a margin of safety if someone other than you gets their hands on your device.

Read more »

Google ‘On the Verge’ of Launching ‘Fantastic’ Native Gmail App for iPhone

Gmail new aap for  iphones 3g, 3gs, 4g. 4gs, ipod 3g, 4g, ipad 1, 2
The App Store is yet to offer any third-party email clients, but that’s all about to change thanks to Google. The company is reportedly “on the verge” of launching a “fantastic” Gmail app for the iPhone that may have already been submitted to Apple for approval, according to sources.

TechCrunch’s M.G. Siegler has been informed by multiple sources that a native Gmail application for the iPhone is on its way, and providing Apple allows the app into the App Store, it should be out soon. On his personal blog, Siegler writes:

“Google is on the verge of launching their native Gmail app, multiple sources tell me. In fact, I believe it has already been submitted to Apple for review. If it gets approved, it should be out soon. And I think it’s going to be approved.

“This is great news for a couple of reasons. First: native Gmail app! Awesome. Second: those who have seen the app tell me it’s pretty fantastic. Perhaps even surprisingly so.”

Of course, if you’re a Gmail user, you’ll already be aware that Google has a pretty nice HTML5 web app for managing your email account, and you can also set up the iPhone’s built-in Mail app for Gmail. But there are some advantages to a native Gmail app…

Firstly, the app will provide you with push notification alerts — something you cannot currently enjoy when using the Gmail web app. Secondly, the app will push messages to your iPhone, meaning you don’t have to fetch them manually — as you do with the iPhone’s built-in Mail app. The official app is also expected to introduce Google’s Priority Inbox function, and one-click starring of messages.

All we have to do now is await Apple’s approval. Although the company has previously rejected third-apps for providing functionality already available through its own built-in apps and services, it changed its mind on this when it began accepting third-party web browsers into the App Store. I don’t see why a third-party email client should be any different.

[via 9to5Mac]

Read more »

Extend iOS 5 And iPhone 4S Battery Life

Extend iOS 5 3gs, 4g, ipod 4g, ipad 1, 2 And iPhone 4S Battery Life.I’ve been a bit quiet lately while considering the possible reasons why my new iPhone 4S has the worst battery life of any iPhone I’ve ever owned. Normally by now I would have written some battery troubleshooting tips to share with all of you. However, this time around the problem is anything but normal and the usual tips aren’t helping. So I’ve been quiet about this.
I cannot say the same thing about Apple’s discussion forums since the conversation about battery life there is reaching epic proportions and the conversation there is rather loud.
Test your iPhone 4S or other devices supporting this feature starting with a full charge for one day. Let me know whether it works for you or not. Preliminary tests and several comments I read about it show it might have helped a few other people besides me out, but like I said I won’t feel comfortable until I’ve used the fix for an entire day.


It might be about to get a lot quieter with this tip, which seems to be working for me.
The problem might be caused by how iOS 5 handles location services. According to one source I found the problem might be caused by a bug in how iOS 5 handles time zone switching based on your current location.
There is a setting in Location Services in the Setting App that might resolve the battery issues we’ve all been experiencing. I tried it for about half a day and it looks like it helped, but I really need to spend a full day with it and a fresh 100% charge before I get to excited. However, so far it looks good so I thought I’d share what I found.
Open the Settings app , tap Location Services and then tap System Services. Now find the “Setting Time Zone” setting and toggle it Off.

Test your iPhone 4S or other devices supporting this feature starting with a full charge for one day. Let me know whether it works for you or not. Preliminary tests and several comments I read about it show it might have helped a few other people besides me out, but like I said I won’t feel comfortable until I’ve used the fix for an entire day.

[via iPhone Hacks]

Read more »

steve jobs final words

Steve Jobs’ Final Words Shared in Sister’s Eulogy

steve jobs final words, Steve Jobs’ sister Mona Simpson shared in the eulogy she delivered at the late Apple CEO‘s memorial service that his surprising final words from his deathbed were, “Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow.”
In the intimate eulogy, which was printed in The New York Times on Sunday, Simpson describes Jobs’ final days and moments in a Palo Alto hospital, which was spent surrounded by his family as his breathing gradually became shorter.
His breath, she said, “indicated an arduous journey, some steep path, altitude.”
Delivered at the October 16 service for Jobs at Stanford Memorial Church, Simpson, an accomplished novelist, began by describing her initial meeting of her brother for the first time when she was in her mid-20s. Simpson was born in 1957, two years after Jobs, who was given up for adoption as an infant.
“Even as a feminist, my whole life I’d been waiting for a man to love, who could love me. For decades, I’d thought that man would be my father. When I was 25, I met that man and he was my brother,” Simpson said.
Simpson went on to describe her strong relationship with the man now know for the revolutionizing computer world, while explaining Jobs’ work ethic and capacity for love — particularly for his wife Laurene and as a doting father to their three children.
“Steve was like a girl in the amount of time he spent talking about love. Love was his supreme virtue, his god of gods. He tracked and worried about the romantic lives of the people working with him,” she said.
In describing his illness from pancreatic cancer, which Jobs was diagnosed with in October 2003, Simpson paints a picture of Jobs as an enduring, “intensely emotional man.”
She concluded her eulogy by sharing Jobs’ final moments, which were spent staring lovingly at his family, and his final three monosyllabic words as he stared into the distance past their shoulders: OH WOW. OH WOW. OH WOW.
Simpson is currently a professor of English at the University of California, Los Angeles and was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award. She has written five novels, and won the Whiting Prize for her debut, “Anywhere But Here.”
Via: Abc news

Read more »

Halloween With Apple Themed Costumes & Pumpkins

Halloween With Apple Themed Costumes & Pumpkins.The most wonderful time of the year isn’t Christmas, it’s Halloween.This Halloween with Apple. No other day on the calendar gives you an excuse to dress up like Han Solo and go out on the prowl in search of the sexiest version of Princess Leia you can find. A lot of our readers decided to celebrate Halloween with a tribute to their favorite computer company.
Here’s some of the best pictures of Halloween With Apple Themed Costumes & Pumpkins.

Read more »

Man catches wife cheating with Apple’s “Find my Friends” app

In conjunction with the release of iOS 5, Apple last week released “Find My Friends”, a new app which enables iPhone users to track the location of friends who have agreed to share their location data with a trusted group of people.
When Apple introduced the feature at their iPhone 4S media event, some of the use-cases proffered included finding friends when meeting up at the beach and tracking the location of road-tripping friends coming to see you to make sure they haven’t veered off course.
But with location sharing comes a number of important privacy issues. To this end, Find My Friends only works when a user agrees to share his/her location information.
But what happens when an iPhone toting user isn’t aware that his/her location is being shared?
Such was the case with a New York man who got his wife an iPhone 4S and enabled location sharing. Upon tracking her, he found her outright lying about her whereabouts, confirming his earlier suspicions that she was cheating on him - thought that point is purely circumstantial.
He posted the following synopsis on a MacRumors forum thread.

" I got my wife a new 4s and loaded up find my friends without her knowing. She told me she was at her friends house in the east village. I’ve had suspicions about her meeting this guy who lives uptown. Lo and behold, Find my Friends has her right there.
I just texted her asking where she was and the dumb b!otch said she was on 10th Street!! Thank you Apple, thank you App Store, thank you all. These beautiful treasure trove of screen shots going to play well when I meet her a$$ at the lawyer’s office in a few weeks."

And next he provides some screenshots along with some additional commentary:

this girl is so dumb….I just hope I can keep cool and not let on that I know
she said she is in meat packing district which is on 12th street. I DONT THINK SO. Appreicate the support. not my finest hour here but going to get better soon.

Now the whole thread could have certainly been faked but it seems like a lot of trouble to go through for nothing.
Lesson of the day? If someone gets you an iPhone, make sure you check the location settings!

via MacRumors forums

Read more »