Best Tweaks of the Week 1/23 - 1/29

[Anthony Bouchard]

Here's a refresher from Monday the 23rd until now!

1. AssistantExtensions - FREE

First on our list of the best jailbreak tweaks for this week is AssistantExtensions by iOS developer K3A. We like AssistantExtensions because it's a tool with endless capabilities for Siri. Using it will let developers build add-ons that Siri can use to do things that she could never do before you had a jailbroken iDevice. AssistantExtensions comes with two built-in features such as the ability to have a conversation with Siri and the other being that you can search YouTube for specific videos based on a word that might be in the title. Since AssistantExtensions isn't meant to do anything on its own (it's just a framework that other developers can work off of) so, it doesn't do too much else. But, thanks to the freedom it gives us, we really like it and look forward to what the creative minds in the jailbreak community might be able to do to put it to good use. AssistantExtensions does work with any Siri port that you may have installed on your older iDevice.



2. Lingual - FREE

Next on our list of the best jailbreak tweaks for this week, we have Lingual by iOS development team CodeThemed. It is an add-on for the AssistantExtensions jailbreak tweak above that lets Siri translate your words and phrases into other languages. Lingual supports over thirty different languages and the interface looks the way Apple would want it to look like. To use lingual, you say something like, "Siri, translate insert content here to insert language here." Or, you can say, "Siri, what is insert content here in insert language here?" The translation process is moderately smooth and we think that most people would enjoy having this added functionality built into Siri. Lingual does work with any Siri port that you may have installed on an older iDevice.



3. Custom Siri Background - FREE

We all know that this week was a great week for Siri development tweaks. So we thought that it would be a great idea to throw this one in the mix too. It's called Custom Siri Background by a creative iOS developer named Ori Kadosh. It puts a settings panel in your Settings application that lets you pick an image from your Camera Roll and set it as the background of Siri. It works very similarly to another one of Ori's tweaks, Custom NC Background which does the same thing except that it themes Notification Center. Custom Siri background will not require a respring after you apply an image and additionally, it gives you the heartfelt feeling that you can make any part of your iDevice customizable that you want to have customized.



4. SiriToggles - FREE

If you're looking for a way to use Siri to replace those clunky toggle buttons in SBSettings, then you'll love SiriToggles by iOS developer Hamza Sood. It's an extensive plugin for Siri that lets you toggle things in iOS or increase and decrease volume or brightness simply by using your voice. You can do things such as: Find out your battery level, Change screen brightness, Launch applications, Enable/disable Wi-Fi, Enable/disable Bluetooth, Enable/disable airplane mode, and Enable/disable cellular data. The commands for invoking these actions are as simple as you would expect them to be and it integrates seamlessly with Siri. SiriToggles is so smooth that it almost feels like Apple put it there.



5. MissionControl - FREE

MissionControl is one of the nicer shortcut menus that we've seen, made by iOS developer coffeejay. You need to set an Activator action to invoke MissionControl and once you invoke it you get a nice menu that has shortcuts to common applications, settings, and even the ability to respring. The user interface is simple and it looks pretty nice at that. If you are an iOS power-user, then MissionControl is something that you'll want to check out for yourself.

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Be sure to stay tuned for next week's staff picks for tweaks. Let us know what you think about the above tweaks in the comments!

[mmaboi21]

Definitely checking out mission control, glazed across it in cydia but didn't know he depth. Thanks Anthony!

Can't use the rest cause I only have an i4

[A3gOwner]

Siri way over rated anyway. I just turn it off. Saves battery and once "newness" wore off I didnt use it.

[rabbit_]

Siri way over rated anyway. I just turn it off. Saves battery and once "newness" wore off I didnt use it.

+1 glad it's not just me that thinks that Siri is pretty crap

[iLoveWindows&iPhone]

AssistantExtensions is a great, great tweak, and a great start for the "Siri Revolution". The possibilities with AssistantExtensions are endless.

With that being said, I think it still does need some work. Hopefully they will be able to fully integrate it into Siri, so you do not have to load it to use it, and then disable it in order to get "normal" Siri working again.

For those of you who do not know, in order to use AssistantExtensions, you have to say to Siri "let's chat", this loads the extensions (takes 30 or so seconds to load), and allows you to "chat" with her, search YouTube, and any other functionality that will be added to AssistantExtensions.

Doing this however, makes "normal" Siri pretty much useless, all of Siris normal functionality will not work properly. In order to get back to "normal" Siri, you have to say "Goodbye". This unloads the extensions, and brings "normal" Siri back, allowing you to once again use Siris normal commands.

I really hope they can somehow add Siris normal functionality to AssistantExtensions, so you do not have to go through this trouble everytime you want to use a extension.

[W1TCH]

lingual doesnt work on my iphone 4s. any ideas?

[R.Mortera]

So many Siri tweaks... me gusta!

[patrick1227]

AssistantExtensions is a great, great tweak, and a great start for the "Siri Revolution". The possibilities with AssistantExtensions are endless.

With that being said, I think it still does need some work. Hopefully they will be able to fully integrate it into Siri, so you do not have to load it to use it, and then disable it in order to get "normal" Siri working again.

For those of you who do not know, in order to use AssistantExtensions, you have to say to Siri "let's chat", this loads the extensions (takes 30 or so seconds to load), and allows you to "chat" with her, search YouTube, and any other functionality that will be added to AssistantExtensions.

Doing this however, makes "normal" Siri pretty much useless, all of Siris normal functionality will not work properly. In order to get back to "normal" Siri, you have to say "Goodbye". This unloads the extensions, and brings "normal" Siri back, allowing you to once again use Siris normal commands.

I really hope they can somehow add Siris normal functionality to AssistantExtensions, so you do not have to go through this trouble everytime you want to use a extension.

i just tried it on my iphone 4s i searched youtube videos and i did not have to put it in the lets chat mode it worked just by opening siri up and asking for a youtube search. can anyone else back me up on this ..
at least that's how it works for me

[Dranon]

+1 glad it's not just me that thinks that Siri is pretty crap

Yeah I turned "her" off. More annoying then helpful...

[iPod]

+1 glad it's not just me that thinks that Siri is pretty crap

I wouldn't go as far as saying Siri is crap. Its actual usefulness....that's a different subject. But Siri is built well, as far a voice control goes.

By the way, thanks for the article Anthony. Appreciate it.

[celeron]

All these siri tweaks makes me want a 4S

[sziklassy]

Siri way over rated anyway. I just turn it off. Saves battery and once "newness" wore off I didnt use it.

As it comes package by Apple I am not a fan. But all these added tweaks make it pretty useful IMO.

[teej1410]

Blah most of these tweaks are for Siri. Which I don't have or want. Whatever, I just see what's new next week.

[iLoveWindows&iPhone]

i just tried it on my iphone 4s i searched youtube videos and i did not have to put it in the lets chat mode it worked just by opening siri up and asking for a youtube search. can anyone else back me up on this ..
at least that's how it works for me

Did you get a list of results, with a picture of the clip next to it, within the Siri application? Which you then can click on and the video link opens in the YouTube app, completely bypassing Safari browser?

Or did you simply do a web search using Siri saying "Siri search YouTube for walnuts."?

If it did work properly (the first paragraph) then you already are in "let's chat mode". Try asking Siri how the weather is going to be tomorrow, if the extensions are loaded se will have a random answer like "cloudy".

[kylie_hay]

I actually use the transcription part of Siri most. I have to answer a lot of email and it's way faster to speak the replies than type them, even if I have to do some touch up before I click send.

[mortopher]

I guess most of y'all don't drive much... I find Siri incredibly helpful when driving long distances

[mlee19841]

Where's the option to turn Siri on at in the settings menu. I have a iPhone 4. Just kidding, any way how many people really use the Siri fiction. I was thinking of getting a 4s. But I'll just wait till the next iPhone. Hopefully it will be filled with 4g lte goodness.

[LittleJob]

+1 glad it's not just me that thinks that Siri is pretty crap

Well after the viper smart start came out, and the 4s jailbreak came out I can start my 3 cars just by asking Siri to start the names I have assigned to the cars.... Now this, is bad ***. Before you had to,setup your own siri server and configure VPN to use it outside your homes wireless.

[patrick1227]

Did you get a list of results, with a picture of the clip next to it, within the Siri application? Which you then can click on and the video link opens in the YouTube app, completely bypassing Safari browser?

Or did you simply do a web search using Siri saying "Siri search YouTube for walnuts."?

If it did work properly (the first paragraph) then you already are in "let's chat mode". Try asking Siri how the weather is going to be tomorrow, if the extensions are loaded se will have a random answer like "cloudy".

Yes I know I'm in the standard Siri mode. I ask Siri for the weather today and she showed me the forecast. I then ask for YouTube videos then I click on the link and it takes me strait into the YouTube app. so therefore you do not have to be the let's chat mode to use the function of it. It work in standard Siri mode. I am at work right now or I would post a few screenshot. I will post when I get home

[PoEtikly]

Siri way over rated anyway. I just turn it off. Saves battery and once "newness" wore off I didnt use it.

I actually agree with A3gOwner for once. I think Siri is also overrated BUT I think it has a lot of potential. Regardless I'd still like to see a port for i4. With Siri extensions I can see some good things happening