[info] Everything About Cydia

Valeschi · March 26, 2015

What is Cydia?

Cydia /sɪˈdi.ə/ is an alternative App Store that offers apps for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad that aren’t available in the official App Store. Apps offered in Cydia sometimes have been rejected by Apple for reasons including that they violate Apple’s terms for apps or that they compete with Apple’s own apps. Some apps available at Cydia may also allow users to do things Apple doesn’t want them to.

Developer(s): Jay Freeman (saurik)

Initial release February 2008; 7 years ago

Stable release 1.1.16 / November 5, 2014; 4 months ago

Website: cydia.saurik.com

History:

Freeman first released Cydia in February 2008 as an open-source alternative to Installer.app on iPhone OS 1.1.

In August 2009, Wired reports that Freeman claimed about 4 million, or 10 percent of the 40 million iPhone and iPod Touch owners to date, have installed Cydia.

In September 2010, SaurikIT, LLC, announced that it had acquired Rock Your Phone, Inc. (makers of Rock.app). SaurikIT and Rock Your Phone were the two largest providers of third party apps.

On December 15, 2010, SaurikIT filed a dispute with World Intellectual Property Organization against Cykon Technology Limited of Kowloon, Hong Kong over the rights to the domain name "Cydia.com", which was registered by its owner Cykon in 2002. SaurikIT contended that Cykon registered the domain name in bad faith and the domain name incorporates SaurikIT's trademark. SaurikIT initially attempted to purchase the domain, then demanded Cykon to forfeit the domain at cost asserting trademark rights followed by bringing a WIPO proceeding. The complaint was denied by WIPO.

As of April 2011, Cydia had a $10 million in annual revenue and 4.5 million weekly users and according to Freeman $250,000 net annual profit.

On August 18, 2011, SaurikIT filed a lawsuit against Hong Kong owner of Cydia.com regarding the same domain name.

On May 14, 2013, Cydia Substrate for the Android operating system was released.

On December 24, 2013, Cydia was updated to run smoothly on iOS 7 and iOS 7.1.

On June 12, 2014, Cydia was updated to version 1.1.10 to include a plethora of changes to further improve it and released Vietnamese language.Later that day, Cydia 1.1.11 was released with bug fixes. The following day, on June 13, 1.1.12 was released with more bug fixes.

On October 22, 2014, the Chinese jailbreaking team, Pangu Team, released an iOS 8 - 8.1 jailbreak. In response, Saurik quickly updated Cydia to 1.1.13, which added support for iOS 8 and pushed the update to apt.saurik.com for manual download. About a week later, 1.1.14 was released with bug fixes.Later that day, 1.1.15 was released with more bug fixes.

On November 5, 2014, Cydia was updated to version 1.1.16. This version included some minor bug fixes.

What Do I Need to Use It?

An iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, running iOS 3 or higher, that is jailbroken.

Where Do I Download It?

The process of jailbreaking your device will often include installation of, or the option to install, Cydia. This is true for jailbreak tools including JailbreakMe.com and blackra1n.

Cydia can also be installed via Installer.app/AppTap, another app tool available to jailbroken devices.

What Kind of Apps Does Cydia Have?

Apps available in Cydia do things unavailable through the App Store like:

Syncing over WiFi
Emulators for video game consoles
Removing Apple’s restriction on iPhone/iPod touch video out to connect it to a TV
Bypassing Apple’s ringtones editor to create your own
Themes to customize the look of your device
Modifying the OS’s basic interface and flow
Downloading files directly to the iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad.

What Do Cydia Apps Cost?

As in the official App Store, apps at Cydia are both free and for pay. Paid apps cost anywhere from US$0.99 to $20 or more.

Can I Pay For Cydia Apps With My iTunes Account?

No. Your iTunes account only works for buying things through iTunes. To buy apps through Cydia, you can use PayPal, Amazon Payments, or via some tools, a credit card.

Are Cydia Apps Safe?

This is a murky area. One of the ways that Apple touts its App Store is by stressing the review of apps for bad coding or malicious behavior. Cydia doesn’t offer this kind of in-depth vetting of apps before they are offered to users.

One on hand, Apple’s approval process restricts apps that may be perfectly safe, but in some way opposed to Apple’s interests. On the other, it (theoretically) ensures some level of quality.

Given this, understand that when installing apps from Cydia, you’re doing so at your own risk and that Apple may not provide support to you as a result of problems generated by apps from Cydia.

Does Cydia Work Like the App Store?

In many ways yes, but in one crucial way, it doesn't. Apple's App Store stores all the apps it sells on Apple's servers and you download them from there. Cydia, however, is more like a directory or middleman than a store in the way the App Store is. When you download apps from Cydia, the download doesn't come from Cydia servers, but rather from storage provided by the creator of that app.

Updated March 26, 2015 by Valeschi