iOS 11.1.2 Jailbreak ‘Tweak Installer’ App For Mac Released

The developer behind the recently released Tweak Installer for Windows has been working closely with others in order to bring the same experience to macOS. Developer and user syto203 has confirmed that he has been working with the original Tweak Installer’s developer to offer a Wine port of the original software for those who want to have the same experience on Mac machines running macOS.

The original Tweak Installer software was put together for Windows users by a developer who wanted to give jailbroken device owners a relatively quick and easy way to install tweaks to their devices in the absence of Cydia.

The latest modern jailbreaks, such as LiberiOS and Electra, don’t install Cydia as part of the liberation process due to compatibility issues which are hopefully currently being resolved behind-the-scenes by saurik. Tweak Installer app looks to combat that issue and remove a lot of the manual legwork from the user by giving them a facility to easily SSH into the device in order to install the .deb files of compatible jailbreak tweaks quickly.

At the time of release, Tweak Installer was only offered as a single platform experience for Windows, with the promise of future versions for macOS and Linux. We’re not sure if this is what the original developer had in mind but this announcement does suggest that the release has been in conjunction with the original creator.

As for the release itself, as mentioned earlier, it is a Wine port of the Windows version, which means that it’s measuring in at around the 500MB mark in terms of size. This is simply because rather than being a native macOS app it’s emulating the operating system as part of the port. It’s likely this file size will be reduced in due time when unnecessary libraries are removed, but, for now, it is what it is.

It’s worth noting for anyone who intends to give this a try that it is very early in the development and that it is very much considered to be a beta product. The developer has highlighted a number of known issues which can result in the software crashing or providing a negative experience. For that reason, it’s probably worthwhile being aware that the port exists but taking a patience stance on when you actually use it.

With that said, if you do want to give it a whirl – at your own risk – you can download the necessary files from here.

How To Install Tweaks On iOS 11.1.2 Electra Jailbreak Without Cydia The Easy Way

If you have jailbroken your iOS 11.x.x iPhone or iPad using Electra, or another compatible jailbreak, then you may be slightly perturbed to find that it doesn’t come with the installation of Cydia.

Under normal circumstances that would cause a lot of device owners to be hamstrung and to not be able to get any tweaks on their devices. However, if you are a Windows user, help is on hand with the release of a Deb file installer and uninstaller called Tweak Installer to assist with that whole process.

If you have recently come into the jailbreak community expecting to receive a jailbreak which is flawless and installs all necessary components without issue, then you are likely a little disappointed. Those jailbreak days, where you get device liberation, Cydia and Substrate installed, appear to be long behind us.

The aforementioned liberation is entirely possible using something like Electra, or LiberiOS, but they won’t install Cydia as part of that process as both Cydia and Substrate are yet to receive any compatibility updates for iOS 11. So, just where does that leave those users from a tweak installations perspective?

Well, those device owners can manually obtain the necessary files directly from the developer or other places, and then go through the process of installing to the device themselves. Or, if they are using Windows, then they could download this new installer/uninstaller which lets them run a desktop app to make a connection over SSH to the iOS device in question. It then unpacks and installs the Deb files directly to the device and gets them installed over-the-air with minimal fuss. The developer has also added the ability to go the other way, which allows the user to remove the installed tweak(s) as well with just a single click.

For now, this tool is only available on Windows, with macOS and Linux versions said to be coming soon. Additionally, it seems that the developer is also interested in developing an on-device Deb installer to make the whole thing a little more seamless which removes the need for that SSH connection to the device from a computer.

If you are interested in giving this a whirl on Windows, then you can grab the latest beta of the software from here.