Two Popular Touch ID-Based Jailbreak Tweaks Now Work Together In Harmony
The development of a jailbreak solution for the iPhone 5s has meant that a handful of jailbreak tweaks, released over the past few weeks, have aimed to expand on the functionality of the handset’s Touch ID-equipped Home button.
Two of the most popular Touch ID jailbreak tweaks, Virtual Home and BioProtect, respectively allowed users to activate their Home button with a touch (rather than a press), and made it possible to add Touch ID protection to individual iOS applications. But there was a problem: installing BioProtect broke Virtual Home, making it impossible to run both packages at the same time.
Since, the developers of both jailbreak tweaks have been in contact, and now Virtual Home and BioProtect have received updates adding compatibility with one another. This means jailbroken iPhone 5s users will be able to install both the free Virtual Home and the $2.99 BioProtect on the same handset.
However, there’s more good news. Because besides enabling compatibility with BioProtect, the developer of Virtual Home has added a number of new features to the jailbreak tweak in the form of a dedicated Settings app pane.
Here, users can enable or disable Virtual Home outright, and it’s also possible to toggle a semi-useful “Vibrate on Touch” feature. This will have one’s iPhone pulse when the Home button has been activated using Touch ID, but it comes at the expense of the handset’s battery life.
One final feature added, and also one that’ll reduce your smartphone’s battery level, is an “Enable Quick Unlock” toggle. This will tell your Touch ID-equipped iPhone to continually check for a finger, making it possible to unlock the handset without having to press a single button. This feature does come with a disclaimer concerning battery levels, however, and as such it may be something jailbreakers rather with to avoid.
Virtual Home, in particular, is a jailbreak tweak that iPhone 5s users should check out; it’s available free of charge in the Cydia Store.
BioProtect, on the other hand, faces competition from a number of less expensive (yet more functional) jailbreak tweaks. AppLocker, for example, can be downloaded for $0.99, while Ryan Petrich’s (@rpetrich) BioLockdown is available for $1.99.
Regardless, it’s great to see that Virtual Home and BioProtect can work together perfectly. Are you a fan of either one?
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