How to Find and Install Tweaks
Tweaks are installed via a package manager — either Sileo (modern, recommended) or Cydia (older but still widely supported). Once you've jailbroken, open your package manager, search for the tweak name, and install. Most tweaks apply immediately; some require a "respring" (restarting the SpringBoard, like refreshing the home screen without a full reboot).
Tweaks come from repos (repositories). The main ones to add:
- Havoc — havoc.app (large paid/free library, highest quality)
- BigBoss — built into Cydia by default
- Chariz — chariz.com (newer tweaks, good quality)
Always check that a tweak supports your iOS version before installing. Most listings show compatibility clearly.
⚠️ Before installing anything: create a backup. Use a package manager snapshot (Sileo has a built-in backup feature) so you can restore your tweak setup if something conflicts. Install one tweak at a time when trying new things.
1. YouTube — YTMusicUltimate / Cercube / Dopamine YouTube Patcher
What it does: Removes all ads from YouTube, enables background playback (keep playing while using other apps or with the screen off), adds picture-in-picture on iOS versions that don't officially support it, and optionally downloads videos.
Why it's the top pick: YouTube is almost certainly the most-used app on any device. The official app without a Premium subscription is genuinely unpleasant — unskippable ads, no background play. A YouTube tweak is transformative.
Where to get it: Search "YTMusicUltimate" or "uYouPlus" (free, open source) in your package manager. Also available via AltStore/Sideloadly without a jailbreak for some features, but the jailbreak version has no restrictions.
2. Dopamine / LockPlus — Always-On Display & Lock Screen Overhaul
What it does: Adds an always-on display showing the time, date, and notifications even when the phone is locked and would normally have a black screen. Also allows full lock screen widget customisation — weather, calendar, battery, music controls exactly where you want them.
Why it's worth it: Particularly compelling on older iPads repurposed as bedside clocks, kitchen displays, or smart home dashboards. The screen is technically always on but dims to near-zero brightness when not in use, so battery impact is minimal on devices with ambient light sensors.
Also consider: Xen HTML for fully custom lock screen HTML widgets — if you know basic HTML, you can put literally anything on your lock screen.
3. Adblocker — System-Wide Ad Blocking
What it does: Blocks ads across every app on the device — not just Safari. In-app banner ads, interstitial ads in games, promoted content in social apps, and ads in apps that normally can't be ad-blocked.
Options:
- Choicy — per-app control over which apps can run scripts. Use it to block specific apps' analytics and tracking without breaking apps that legitimately need network access.
- A-Bypass / Liberty Lite — specifically hides the jailbreak from apps that refuse to run on jailbroken devices (banking apps, some streaming services). Not an ad blocker per se, but essential for keeping certain apps working.
Note on banking apps: Most UK banks (HSBC, Barclays, Monzo, Starling) detect jailbreaks. Liberty Lite or Shadow hides the jailbreak from these apps and they work normally. Install this early.
4. Filza File Manager — Full File System Access
What it does: A full file manager for the entire iOS file system. Browse, copy, move, edit any file — system files included. Access the hidden areas of apps, export data Apple normally locks away, manage downloads.
Practical uses:
- Access app data directly — useful for game save backups, extracting photos/videos from apps that don't support sharing
- Edit system configuration files (for advanced users)
- Manage a proper download folder accessible from any app
- Delete stubborn files that iOS won't let you remove through normal means
Filza is free on Havoc. iFile is the older alternative if Filza isn't compatible with your iOS version.
5. Springtomize / IconRotator — Home Screen & App Customisation
What it does: Springtomize is the Swiss Army knife of home screen tweaks — change the number of icons per row, resize icons, hide labels, remove the dock, enable landscape mode on iPhone, change page transition animations, and dozens more options from a single settings panel.
Why it matters for older hardware: Reducing the number of icons and animations on screen genuinely speeds up navigation on older devices. Disabling parallax effects, reducing motion further than Apple's built-in "Reduce Motion" setting, and stripping visual weight from the home screen makes iOS 12–15 feel noticeably quicker on A7–A9 hardware.
6. NewTerm / iSH — Terminal & Linux Shell
What it does: NewTerm gives you a full terminal on your iPhone or iPad. iSH goes further — it's a Linux shell emulator that lets you run Alpine Linux commands, install packages via apk, and use your iOS device as a portable command-line environment.
Who it's for: Developers, power users, and anyone who wants to SSH into remote servers from their phone or manage files via command line. On a large iPad with a keyboard case, iSH turns the device into a surprisingly capable portable workstation.
NewTerm is free on Chariz. iSH is available without a jailbreak on the App Store.
7. CCModules / HiddenSettings13 — Unlocking Hidden System Settings
What it does: CCModules adds custom tiles to Control Centre — a network speed monitor, a respring button, a no-disturb toggle, app-specific shortcuts, and more. HiddenSettings reveals System Settings pages that Apple hides from the normal Settings app, including detailed carrier information, field test mode, and internal debug options.
Particularly useful tweak: BatteryLife — shows your battery's actual maximum capacity percentage in Settings, something Apple only exposes on iPhone SE 2nd gen onwards. On older iPads there's no native battery health display at all.
8. Snapper / Rottenwood — Better Screenshot & Media Tools
Snapper lets you crop screenshots immediately after taking them and share the cropped version directly — no opening Photos, no editing step. Sounds minor; saves an enormous amount of time if you share screenshots frequently.
Rottenwood patches Apple's native Media Player framework to add features across all apps that use it — gapless playback, better equaliser controls, fine-grained volume steps.
Performance Tweaks for Older Hardware
If your priority is making an old device faster rather than adding features, these are the tweaks to focus on:
- Reduce animations further — even with Apple's "Reduce Motion" on, there are still transitions. Tweaks like SpringAnimator let you reduce or eliminate them entirely.
- Memory management — FreeMemory Pro adds a RAM-clear button to Control Centre. One tap frees cached memory, which helps on devices with 1–2GB of RAM (iPad mini 2, iPad Air 1, iPhone 6).
- Disable background app refresh system-wide — background activity is a silent battery drain on older hardware. A tweak that enforces no background refresh on all apps extends battery life significantly on A7/A8 devices.
- Disable Spotlight indexing — on old devices with slow storage, Spotlight constantly re-indexing content is a hidden performance drain. Disabling it entirely speeds up home screen navigation.
📖 Where to find more tweaks: Reddit's r/jailbreak community maintains curated tweak lists for each major iOS version. Search "[your iOS version] essential tweaks" — the community votes up the genuinely useful ones and the threads are updated as tweaks get compatibility patches.
Our verdict
The tweaks that make the biggest practical difference are: a YouTube patcher, system-wide ad blocking, and Liberty Lite (to keep banking apps working). Everything else is gravy. The performance tweaks are particularly worth it on A7–A9 devices — disabling unnecessary system processes makes iOS 12–15 noticeably more responsive on hardware Apple has written off.
Check what works on your iOS version without jailbreaking first
Before going down the jailbreak route, see how many apps are still fully compatible with your iOS version natively.
Check your iOS version →Also see: What can you do with a jailbroken iPhone or iPad? · Install older app versions without jailbreaking · Jailbreaking your old iPhone or iPad — is it worth it?