One of the things many users love so much about iOS is the simplicity. When you compare it with other mobile operating systems, iOS has a lot less going on. There are no fancy widgets or any of that, and for some users this is great. For others, just a bunch of icons on a screen is not enough to satisfy them, and that is where jailbreaking comes in. Jailbreaking opens up a new world of customization. For users missing widgets, Dashboard X 2.0 is the single best way to put widgets on an iOS device.
Dashboard X offers a long list of downloadable widgets that should make even the most fussy of customizers happy. There are widgets for almost anything you can think of. Setting them up is easy enough, and it really does take the efficiency of your iPhone or iPad screen to another level. This tweak is useful for someone who wants a little more from their iPhone, or someone switching from Android who misses widgets on their home screen.
Installation and Set Up
All you need to do is search for Dashboard X on Cydia and purchase the tweak. It is available for $1.99. After the install, you will be prompted to respring your device. Once you respring, Dashboard X will be ready to get to work.
Getting Widgets
Out of the box, Dashboard X comes with no widgets installed. If you navigate your iOS device to “Settings,” and scroll down and click “Dashboard X” from the list, you will be able to add new widgets from here.
Scroll all the way down to the bottom of the setting screen and you will see a button labeled “More Widgets.” Click this and you will get two options. The first is Notification Widgets, which are the same widgets you can use in notification center. The second options is Dashboard X Widgets, which are built specifically for Dashboard X. Both work fine, but there are many more to choose from in the Notification Widgets section.
Clicking either of the two options will bring you to Cydia, where you can see the list of available widgets. Click and download one as you would any other Cydia tweak, respring your device, and you will be ready to add it to your screen.
Adding Widgets to your Screen
Dashboard X supports displaying widgets in two different ways. The first, applies them directly to your home screen. The second choice is to use a separate dashboard to display the widgets only when you need to use them.
To add a widget directly to the home screen, tap and hold on any app until they start wiggling. Once your home screen is editable, tap and hold on any blank space, and the list of installed widgets will open. Choose the widget you want to display, and it will appear. You can move it around just like you would any other application installed on your device.
To add a widget to the dashboard, you will need to set up an activator action to open the dashboard or use the default, which is a double tap of the status bar. If you have no other widgets installed, performing your activator action will cause a message to come up telling you that there are no widgets and you can tap “Okay” to add some. If you have widgets and want to add more, you will need to open the dashboard, tap and hold on a blank space until your widgets wiggle and then tap and hold again to open the page to add a widget.
What Kind of Widgets Are There?
We have covered some of the best widgets available in Notification Center, and all of these will work with Dashboard X. Of course, there plenty more not covered there, and these are just some of the ones available.
- Dashtweet – You can send tweets from your home screen. I cannot fathom a quicker way to share your thoughts with the world.
- Music Widget – Play, pause and skip songs right from your home screen. Shows album artwork if available. I tested it with Spotify and it worked perfectly including the album art.
- YTubSearchDaSH – While not the most clever name, this handy widget lets you search YouTube quickly and easily. There is also TwiSearchDaSH for Twitter, NstaSearchDaSH for Instagram, FBSearchDaSH for Facebook and GoogleDaSH for Google.
These widgets, along with the slew of widgets available in the notification center offer a great widget experience on iOS.
Cool, isn't it ?! :O
