P0sixspwn: iOS 6.1.5 – 6.1.3 Jailbreak for Windows released

iH8sn0w, winocm, and SquiffyPwn have finally released p0sixspwn, the untethered jailbreak for iOS 6.1.3 – iOS 6.1.5 for Windows.

Windows users have been eagerly waiting for it ever since they released p0isixspwn for Mac on December 30.

p0sixspwn supports the following iOS 6.1.3 – iOS 6.1.5 devices:

• iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5
• iPod touch 4g, iPod touch 5g
• iPad 2, iPad 3, iPad 4, 1st gen iPad mini

winocm has noted that the Windows version is a lot more stable than the Mac version, so if you had any issues jailbreaking your iOS 6.1.3 – iOS 6.1.5 device with p0sixspwn for Mac, could try using the Windows version.

To jailbreak your iOS device on iOS 6.1.3 – iOS 6.1.5, follow these simple steps:

Note: Before you proceed, please take a backup of your device using iTunes, and disable Encrypt iTunes backup if enabled.

You can download the latest version of p0sixspwn from this link. If you need help, check out this step-by-step guide.

We haven’t been able to test it out so far, so please let us know how it goes in the comments below.

Tips to fix the battery problem in iOs 7.1

Apple released iOS 7.1 for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch earlier in the week with number of new features, refinements, improvements and bug fixes.

iOS 7.1 does not include any major features so ideally there should not be any major impact on battery life, but based on the poll I took yesterday, it looks like a majority of our readers who upgraded to iOS 7.1 are observing reduced battery life.

The problem with battery life issues is that it is very subjective as it is based on your usage pattern, so it is difficult to pin point what exactly is causing a problem. You could try one of these tips to see if they help in improving battery life on your device:

Force close apps

While iOS takes care of suspending apps in the background, it’s likely that some apps wake up in the background to fetch content off the network. If so, you can save up on battery life by force closing an app by double clicking the home button scrolling through the apps to find the one you want to close, and swiping up to close it.

You may want to close power hungry apps like VoIP, navigation and streaming audio apps if you’re not using them. Apps like Skype are known to impact battery life.

Turn off/Turn on Location Services

Turn off location services for the apps (Settings ->  Privacy -> Location Services) and then turn them back on one by one to identify which one is causing the drain on battery life.

It is also a good idea to review the list of apps that are using Location services, and disable it for apps you think can be used without tracking your location.

Restart/Reset Your iPhone 

Hold down the Sleep/Wake button and the Home button at the same time for at least ten seconds, until the Apple logo appears.

Resetting Network Settings 

Reset network settings by tapping Settings -> General -> Reset -> Reset Network Settings. This will reset all network settings, including passwords, VPN, and APN settings.

Battery Maintenance

Apple advices users to go through at least one charge cycle per month (charging the battery to 100% and then completely running it down). So if you haven’t done it already, it may be a good time to do it. Power cycling your device helps in recalibrating the battery indicator more accurately.

General Tips

Turn off Dynamic Wallpapers

Dynamic wallpapers are a new addition to iOS 7 that bring subtle animations to the home and the lock screen. Unfortunately, the animations take up CPU cycles and consume more battery. So if you have set a dynamic wallpaper, and you’re having battery issues, go to Settings > Wallpapers & Brightness > Choose Wallpaper where you can go to either Stills or your set an image from your photo library as your wallpaper.

Disable Background App Refresh

Apple added smarter multitasking to iOS 7 that lets apps fetch content over the network in the background. Although Apple has a lot of optimisations in place to ensure that battery consumption is minimal, it’s possible that battery life of older iOS devices takes a hit due to this feature. To disable Background App Refresh go to Settings > General > Background App Refresh > and turn it off.

If you know for sure that a single app is responsible for eating up a lot of battery life, you can selectively disable background refresh for that app by scrolling down the list of apps and turning off the switch against the app name.

Disable iOS 7′s motion effects, parallax

Apple added a number of animations and physics-based effects to the iOS 7 interface to help users understand the layered elements in the UI. Some of these effects even access gyroscopic data, which contributes further to battery drain. You can disable these motion effects by going to Settings > General > Accessibility > Reduce Motion and turn on the switch.

Disable App Store’s automatic updates

iOS 7 App Store finally adds automatic app updates in the background, but if you’re not too keen on updating all your apps, you can turn this off by going to Settings > iTunes and App Store > scroll down to the Automatic Downloads section and turn off the “Updates” switch. While you’re there, you can also tell iOS to not use cellular data for automatic downloads and iTunes Match streaming.

Notification Center

Apple added a lot of new features to the Notification Center, including Today Summary, Next Destination, Tomorrow Summary in addition to the Stocks widget. You can squeeze the extra bit of battery by turning off all these features by going to Settings > Notification Center > scrolling down to the Today View and turning off whatever you don’t need. You can also disable Notifications View and Today View from the lock screen.

Disable unwanted indexing in Spotlight search

Spotlight searches a lot of types of content like Applications, Contacts, Music, Podcasts, Mails, Events etc., when you might use it only for contacts, applications and music. So uncheck the type of content you don’t want to search by going to Settings > General > Spotlight Search.

Turn off Push Notifications

If you receive a lot of push notifications, your battery can take a hit, so make sure you turn off push for apps that you don’t frequently by navigating to Settings > Notification Center > Scroll down to the Include section to see the list of apps and tap on any of them to turn notifications off.

Turn Off LTE/4G

If you live or work in an area that has poor or no LTE coverage, then turn off LTE (Settings -> General -> Cellular -> Enable LTE/Enable 4G).

Other tips

• Set Auto-Lock interval so that your iPhone will turn off more quickly after a period of inactivity. To set the auto-Lock interval, launch the Settings app, tap on General and then Auto-Lock and set the auto-lock interval to either 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 minutes.

• You’re probably aware that using Wi-Fi drains iPhone’s battery, but perhaps you didn’t know that one of the most intensive processes that iPhone’s Wi-Fi chip has to do is search for available network. So if this happens in regular intervals, it’s going to have a noticeable impact on your battery. To disable this feature, launch the Settings app, tap on Wi-Fi, and tap on the On/Off toggle for Ask to Join Networks to disable it. Please note that by disabling this feature, your iPhone will join known Wi-Fi networks automatically, but you will have to manually select a network if no known networks are available. Note: It is disabled by default.

• Dimming the screen helps to extend battery life. You can either lower the default screen brightness based on your preference or turn on Auto-Brightness to allow the screen to adjust its brightness based on current lighting conditions. Launch the Settings app, scroll down and tap on Brightness & Wallpaper and set Auto-Brightness to On. Note: Apple enables it by default.

• Turn off Location services for the following System System services: Diagnostics & Usage, Setting Time Zone, Location Based iAds (Settings -> Privacy -> Location Services -> System Services).

Optimize Settings based on your usage

• If you hardly use Bluetooth then turn it off (Settings -> General -> Bluetooth)

• As I mentioned earlier, review the list of apps that are using Location services, and disable it for apps you think can be used without tracking your location (Settings -> Privacy -> Location Services).

• Also review the apps that have background app refresh enabled, and disable it for apps that you don’t want to refreshing content in the background. To disable Background App Refresh go to Settings > General > Background App Refresh.

• If you check multiple email accounts on your iPhone, enable Push for only the most important email account/accounts. For other accounts, fetch emails manually if possible for better battery life.

• Turn off Siri’s Raise to Speak feature if you don’t use it frequently (Settings -> General -> Siri -> Raise to Speak).

• Turn off Siri if you don’t use it (Settings -> General -> Siri).

• Turn off Personal Hotspot if you’re not using it (Settings -> Personal Hotspot).

• Turn off equalizer setting for song playback (Settings -> Music -> EQ).

Restore iPhone as New

This is not ideal and the last resort. If you’ve setup your iPhone by restoring from backup then the battery life problems could be due to some issue with the backup. Try to restore your iPhone (Settings -> General -> Reset -> Erase All Content And Settings) and set it up as a new iPhone (not from the backup). But before you erase all the contents and settings, take a backup of your iPhone using iTunes or iCloud, or selectively take a backup of your photos and videos using Dropbox or Google+.

Make a Genius Bar reservation

If the tips mentioned above doesn’t help then take it to the Apple Store, it could well be a problem with your iPhone, which may need to be replaced.

Please note that the tips under the “General tips” section are to highlight areas where you could disable things that are not applicable to you so you can maximize battery life. We are not recommending or advising you to disable features just for battery life, as then there would be no point in using smartphones like the iPhone.

Let us know if you’ve observed battery life issues on your iPhone after upgrading to iOS 7.1 and if any of these tips helped.

How to make fonts and menu darker in iOS 7.1 to improve legibility

Apple has included a number of options in iOS 7.1 to improve accessibility. iOS 7.1 also includes an option under Accessibility settings that allows you to darken of the fonts, menu and other color highlights to improve legibility.

Follow these simple steps to improve contrast to increase legibility:

• Launch the Settings app

• Tap on General, followed by Accessibility in the next screen

• Then scroll down and tap on Increase Contrast

• Now tap on the On/Off toggle to enable Darken Colors

Here’s a before and after screenshot to give you a good idea how it looks after enabling the toggle.

Settings app with Darken Colors option disabled (left), Settings app with Darken Colors option enabled (right) – Check the change in color of the Accessibility back button

Settings app with Darken Colors option disabled (left), Settings app with Darken Colors option enabled (right) - Check the change in color of the “Featured” tab

Fonts and menus are not the only elements that can be made darker, some other color highlights in iOS 7 and stock apps.

Does the darker colors increase legibility? Let me know what you think in the comments.

How to transfer photos and images from iPhone to Android

Ever since device makers armed mobile phones with top-of-the-line cameras, many have not stopped snapping and capturing those precious life moments. And, when easy Internet connectivity came to the mobile phone, many also started sharing their photos to friends, family, and in many cases also to the world at large.

Yet, despite great strides in digital imaging and mobile interconnectivity, how easy is it to share photos between devices, especially those running different platforms — say, between the iPhone and an Android phone? If you own both — or are switching over from iPhone to Android — you will eventually need to know how to transfer photos and images from iPhone to Android.

In this post, I’ll show you several ways to transfer your photos, albums, and galleries from your iPhone to Android.

Manual Methods (Windows)

Drag and Drop

The easiest way to transfer your photos is to simply drag-and-drop the images from the iPhone’s default photo directory/folder to Android’s image folder.

For this method, you will need a Windows PC and the USB cables for both your iPhone and Android phone. Make sure that you’ve installed the device drivers of both phones so that they will be detected by your PC.

Follow the steps below to drag-and-drop your iPhone photos to your Android phone:

1. Connect your iPhone to your PC via USB cable. Do the same for your Android phone.
2. On your Windows PC, open My Computer.
3. You should be able to see two new drives or entries under Portable Devices. One is for your iPhone storage (usually labeled “Apple iPhone” or “Elmer’s iPhone” or something similar) and the other is for your Android. If you don’t see them, try installing the phone drivers.
4. Open the iPhone’s storage in a new window.
5. Open your Android’s storage in a new window.
6. On the window for your iPhone’s storage, locate the folder named DCIM. You will find your photo folders inside theDCIM folder.
7. Simply select the photos that you want to transfer. Then, drag them from the iPhone images folder and drop them onto your Android images folder.

That’s the quickest drag-and-drop method that I’ve ever used. Sometimes, however, the copying process can stall — and can even completely hang — for some unknown reason, especially when transferring a very large number of images. I usually take an intermediate step by copying the images from iPhone to PC first, then copying from PC to Android. This requires the use of a temporary folder on the PC for storing the iPhone photos.

Importing

As far as manual methods go, I favor the drag-and-drop method because it allows me to select which photos to bring over from iPhone to Android. If you have no use for such selectivity, you can just simply import all your iPhone images to your computer in one go. Then, from your computer you can transfer them to your Android device. The following steps will show you how this is done:

1. Connect your iPhone to the computer.
2. Open My Computer and right click on your iPhone’s storage under Portable Devices.
3. From the popup menu that appears, select Import pictures and videos.
4. Your computer will scan your iPhone for images.
5. Once done, click Import to import all images and videos to your computer. By default, your images will be transferred to your computer’s My Pictures folder.
6. Open the My Pictures folder on your PC.
7. Connect your Android to your computer via USB cable.
8. Open your Android device’s storage and navigate to the image folder. It is usually labeled DCIM.
9. Copy-and-paste or drag-and-drop the imported photos from your PC to your Android device.

The two manual methods will transfer images from your iPhone to your Android device. However, these methods will only transfer images saved in your iPhone’s Camera Roll. Images transferred to your iPhone via iTunes will not be included.

Using the Send Anywhere app

Apps can also help solve the problem of transferring photos from iPhone to Android.  The Send Anywhere (File Transfer) app, which is free for both iPhone and Android, is an example of an app that can help with such task.

The Send Anywhere app allows you to wirelessly transfer files — not just images — from iPhone to Android and vice-versa, without the need to physically connect your devices to a computer.

The file that you want to send to the other device is actually uploaded to the cloud. This means that for the app to work its wonders, both phones must be connected to the Internet and both phones must be running the Send Anywhere app.

For security and privacy, the sending device generates for the receiver an authentication key either in the form of a PIN, a QR code, or a Web URL.

If you already have the Send Anywhere app installed on both your iPhone and Android phone, follow these steps to transfer your photos:

1. Run Send Anywhere on your iPhone.
2. Tap the Send button.
3. From the list of file types, select Photo. Select the photos that you want to send. You’ll see check marks at the bottom-right of the selected photos’ thumbnails.
4. Tap the Send button at the bottom after selecting the photos.
5. The app will generate a PIN and a QR code image for the receiver. These authorization credentials will expire after 10 minutes (by default, but can also be set to 5 or 30 minutes), so make sure that the receiver device gets the file within that time frame. Or, if you want to share the file(s) to multiple recipients for a longer time, upload the file(s) by tapping the Upload button. This latter option will also generate a PIN, QR code, and a Web URL that are valid for use by the receiver(s) within 24 hours (by default, but can also be set to 12 or 48 hours).
6. On the Android phone, run the Send Anywhere app.
7. Tap the Receive button on the main screen.
8. To receive the file(s), you can enter the PIN and tap the arrow button or scan the QR code generated by the iPhone. Or, if the sender shared the Web URL of the file, open the URL in a Web browser.

Transferring images via Dropbox

The popular cloud storage service, Dropbox, can also offer a convenient means for transferring images from iPhone to Android. You need to install the Dropbox app on both your iPhone and Android phone. The app is free.

To be able to bring over to your Android those photos stored on your iPhone, you need to upload them to your Dropbox account first.   To be able to upload and share files, login to your Dropbox account on your iPhone. You can sign up for a free Dropbox account if you don’t have one yet.

Also, you can enable the Camera Upload feature if you want newly captured photos to be automatically uploaded to your Dropbox after you capture the photos. This also uploads existing images in your Camera Roll.

For photos that are not automatically synced to your cloud-based Dropbox, you may manually upload them from any of your iPhone folders/albums to your Dropbox folders. To do this, tap the Menu button (three-dot button) from within any of your Dropbox folders, tap Upload, select photos, and upload away. This can be particularly useful if you want to share photos that aren’t automatically uploaded (i.e., photos that are stored in a different folder or location).

Now that your photos are in the cloud, the next logical step is to enable your Android phone to be able to access them.

To allow your Android phone to access your Dropbox photos, login to the same Dropbox account as you are using on your iPhone. If you do this, you’ll be replicating the folder structure of your cloud-based Dropbox right on your Android phone and your cloud files will be accessible to you.

Or, if you don’t want to use the same Dropbox account or you want to share only some of your iPhone photos to another Android user via Dropbox, you can use Dropbox’s sharing feature. You can share just one file or many, or an entire folder.

Just a very quick note here about the conveniences of the Android version of the app. Dropbox’s folder sharing feature in the Android app exists in two forms: “Send a Link” and “Invite to Folder,” both of which are accessible by long-tapping on a folder name, then selecting Share.

Send a Link lets you share folders but without sharing file management privileges (i.e., the recipient can only view the files, download them, or add them to her or his own Dropbox account). The Invite to Folder option lets you grant file management privileges, which means that both you and the invited user can do stuff to the files in the folder (e.g., delete files, add new files, etc.).

But, here’s some sad news: In the Dropbox app for iOS, you can use the Send a Link option only. Sharing a link is accomplished on the iPhone by opening the target folder in the Dropbox app, tapping on the Share icon (rounded box with upward-pointing arrow) at the upper-right corner of the screen, and selecting the app to use for sending the link. For simple copying of photos from iPhone to Android, this method will suffice.

If you really want to allow other users to be able to manage your Dropbox folder(s), you’ll need to walk the extra mile by logging in to your Dropbox account through a Web browser and set up the shared files or folders (i.e., invite users to your folders) through the Web interface.

On some devices with Dropbox integration (e.g., Galaxy S4, HTC One), you may be able to sync your photos from cloud to phone automatically over Wi-Fi. So, each time your iPhone uploads a photo to Dropbox, the linked Android phone also automatically gets a copy and you can view the shared photos in the Gallery app. You don’t need to export the photos to your SD card for you to view them or share them with your other apps. Unfortunately, you cannot use the Gallery app to manage the shared photos; that is, you can’t delete shared photos or move photos via the Gallery app.

On Android devices with no Dropbox integration, you may not be able to browse your Dropbox-stored photos and albums in your Gallery app. For your photos to appear in the Gallery app, you need to first export them to your SD card through the Dropbox app.

Conclusion

Thanks to mobile devices such as the iPhone and Android phones, we can take and share snapshots of what’s happening around us.  If you have an iPhone and you want to copy or transfer your photos to your Android phone, you can do so easily using any of the methods described in this post.

What method do you use to transfer your photos from iPhone to Android? Tell us about your experiences with photo transferring. We’d love to hear about them in the comment box.

Developer confirms Flappy Bird eventually returning to App Store

Flappy Bird developer Dong Nguyen confirmed on Twitter that his popular game will be returning to the iOS App Store. Gawker noticed the tweet, which was a response to a specific question about the game’s return. Nguyen didn’t beat around the bush and responded with an unequivocal “Yes.”

Nguyen didn’t provide a timeframe for the game’s return, but did say it won’t be soon. If he is waiting to put the game back into the store, it’s possible he is using this extra time to add new features and put some polish on the existing game.

In an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine, Nguyen said he pulled the game from the App Store because people were playing it too much. He said in the interview that he may consider resurrecting the game, but would include a way that warn people to take a break from playing.

Flappy Bird landed in the App Store early in 2013 and didn’t take off until the end of the year. In the first few months of 2014, the game rose to the top of the over all iOS App Store and the individual gaming category. The 8-bit game was easy to learn, but difficult to win, making it perfectly suited to go viral. Flappy Bird’s rapid rise to the top began in earnest when users started sharing their abysmal scores on social networks and word about the game spread like wildfire.

At its peak, Nguyen allegedly was making over $50,000 a day in ad revenue from the game. He eventually pulled the title after fans began emailing him with tales of woe — several had lost their significant other, while others were fired from their job because they couldn’t stop playing his game. He took those stories to heart and opted to remove his game. Nguyen then disappeared from the spotlight until his Rolling Stone interview earlier this month.

Are you excited by the return of Flappy Bird?

How to Install iOS 7.1 Update on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch

Apple just released iOS 7.1 for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, which includes interface refinements, bug fixes, improvements, and new features.

You can follow these simple instructions to install the iOS 7.1 update on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.

Warning for Jailbreakers

Apple has patched number of vulnerabilities in iOS 7.1 that was used by evasi0n7 jailbreak, so jailbreakers should avoid upgrading to iOS 7.1 until further notice as you will lose the jailbreak and won’t be able to jailbreak your device.

Install iOS 7.1 update wirelessly Over the Air (OTA):

Before you start the download, plug in your device so the battery doesn’t drain during the update process. It can take anywhere from 15 mins to an hour for the update to download and install, depending on how Apple’s servers are handling the load and your internet connection. You may also want to connect your iPhone to your local WiFi network, so you don’t get charged for downloading the update over your cellular connection.

Once you are plugged in and connected via Wi-Fi, open the Settings app and tap on General > Software Update. iOS will automatically check for available updates and will inform you that iOS 7.1 software update is available.

Tap Download to download the update. Wait for the download to complete and then tap Install to apply the update. If you get tired of waiting for the download to finish (it could take a while) then go do something else. Your iPhone or iPad will continue to download the update and will send you a notification when the update is ready.  Go back to Settings > General > Software Update and then tap Install Now to install the now downloaded iOS update file.

A note to Jailbreakers: If you’ve used evasi0n, OTA updates will be disabled, which is convenient if you plan to delay updating. If do want to upgrade, you’ll have to restore your device via iTunes as described below.

Install iOS 7.1 update via iTunes

Some folks prefer to physically connect their iOS device to a computer via a USB cable and update their phone via iTunes. Since you are not dealing with Wi-FI signal, there is less chance of an error occurring during the download and install process.  Before you plug in your iOS device. take a moment to make sure you are using the latest version of iTunes. Click on iTunes in the menu bar and then click  on “Check for updates.” You can also go directly to Apple’s iTunes download page, which is now allowing you to download iTunes 11.1.5, the most recent version of the media manager.

Once iTunes is all squared away, it’s time to turn your attention to your phone. Connect your iOS device to your computer using an USB cable. Wait for iTunes to open and connect to your device. Click on your device in iTunes and then click the “Check for Update” or “Update” button as you can see above in the Summary pane. If an update is available, iTunes will prompt you to download and install the update. Wait patiently and do not disconnect your device until the update has finished.

Install iOS 7.1 update using firmware file via iTunes

If for some reason, the iOS 7.1 update isn’t available via OTA update or via iTunes then you need to follow these instructions.

• Download the appropriate iOS firmware file for your device.

iPad:

• iPad Air (Model A1474)
• iPad Air (Model A1475)
• iPad mini (Model A1489)
• iPad mini (Model A1490)
• iPad (4th generation Model A1458)
• iPad (4th generation Model A1459)
• iPad (4th generation Model A1460)
• iPad mini (Model A1432)
• iPad mini (Model A1454)
• iPad mini (Model A1455)
• iPad Wi-Fi 3rd generation
• iPad Wi-Fi + Cellular (model for ATT)
• iPad Wi-Fi + Cellular (model for Verizon)
• iPad 2 Wi-Fi
• iPad 2 Wi-Fi (Rev A)
• iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G (GSM)
• iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G (CDMA)

iPhone:

• iPhone 5s (Model A1453, A1533)
• iPhone 5s (Model A1457, A1518, A1528, A1530)
• iPhone 5c (Model A1456, A1532)
• iPhone 5c (Model A1507, A1516, A1526, A1529)
• iPhone 5 (Model A1428)
• iPhone 5 (Model A1429)
• iPhone 4s
• iPhone 4 (GSM)
• iPhone 4 (GSM Rev A)
• iPhone 4 (CDMA)

iPod touch:

• iPod touch (5th generation)

• Connect your iOS device to your computer using an USB cable. Wait for iTunes to open and connect to your device.

• Click on device button to the left of the iTunes Store button in the top right corner in iTunes.

• Hold down on the option key (Mac) or the shift key (Windows) and click the “Check for Update” button in the Summary pane. Browse to the .ipsw file you downloaded and select it. 
  

• Do not disconnect your device until the update has finished.

• If necessary, restore your device from the previous backup and sync with iTunes.

Let us know how it goes in the comments. Hope this helped and feel free to drop us a line in the comments below.