Cydia serves as an alternative to the official Apple application store; however, it can only be used for jail-broken Apple IOS devices since jail-break access is required to download Cydia. You can try the newer ‘Cydia-cloud’ version instead.
This blog provides a very brief introduction to Cydia and explains why it should be your choice. The following is a link to the official site of the developers of Cydia.
As for jail-breaking, it is advised that you research well and weigh in the pros and cons to decide whether you need it or not. You can find countless sources detailing which tools to use. Pangu and TaiG are two notable ones that you can use.
The available programs at the Cydia store are generally referred to within the community as ‘tweaks’, but for ease of understanding, I will simply refer to them as soft-wares, applications or application extensions.
What is Cydia?
Contents
Cydia provides a straightforward user interface to allow users to download their software of choice. What makes it different from the official app store is that the soft-wares available here are not approved by Apple; consequently, they are not available on their official store.
It functions as a third-party app installer, providing a platform for buying and downloading software that you will not find on the Apple app store.
It was developed by Jay Freeman, aka ‘saurik’ with his company called SaurikIT. The first version was released on February 28th 2008.
What makes Cydia better?
A reliable store
Listing first what is probably the best thing Cydia is known for is for being the most prominent utility out there that provides most of, if not all, unapproved soft-wares.
There is a reason why this platform is so well-regarded; for many, it has established itself as the go-to store for any jail-broken software needed, which will most likely be available there. Apart from programs, Cydia offers a wide variety of themes and wallpapers for your device.
Each application or extension found here has a separate page where you can read about it before downloading it, which would help in deciding on using it or avoiding it in case it wasn’t what you seek.
The app also contains a user guide for people new to Cydia and the world of jail-breaking.
Ease of use
Cydia has a very user-friendly interface. With a homepage listing popular choices and a search bar to look for a specific software by name. By clicking on a choice, you are led to that particular software’s page, where it gives you the option to download and read more about what that software is about.
You can easily navigate from the homepage to other ‘sections’ that will list recommendations similar to the apps you have, your downloaded apps and lastly, a list of your apps that have received updates and the option to instantly update them if you want to with a simple tap.
A proactive development team
Since its initial release, there have been countless updates to Cydia by SaurikIT, who have worked tirelessly to improve their project. The dev team has, over the years, made Cydia better and even more user-friendly.
Any reported bugs and issues are resolved with these updates that happen on a regular basis to maintain the software, which is essential for the community around it.
Community
Speaking of community, Cydia has found itself to be essential must-have software for people with jail-broken IOS devices. A community has been built around it that works to make this app better.
Since it brings together software developers and general customers, people on both sides have tried to make optional programs that help make Cydia’s interface smoother and the visual design of the app even better despite being unofficial, these can still prove to be very useful and may end up being your choice.
Over the internet, you can find countless videos and articles of people sharing their knowledge about Cydia and how to use it effectively.
Prices
Most of the application and application extensions available on Cydia are generally free. The paid ones can be bought using your Cydia account.
This will allow you to access and download them on all of your devices that have Cydia installed, which is quite similar to the working of the official app store by Apple.
Comparison to its competition
Being the earliest, Cydia has solidified its place in the world of jail-breaking such that it lacks competition in this regard. Within the apple community, Cydia is second only to the official Apple store.
It’s easy to say that no other platform within the world of IOS jail-breaking like this will have a library of soft-wares this vast and with similar ease of use, adding just another reason why it should be your choice.
In summary
The primary intention of this blog was to introduce you to the most excelling unofficial platform providing applications and their extensions for your device and pointing out why it’s a must-have for you compared to its competition with the aforementioned reasons.