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ActiveBoard jailbreak tweak is a beautiful way to stay on top of missed notifications and running apps (video)

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ActiveBoard is a new tweak for iOS 7 that adds a couple of useful features to the home screen. Using a pulsating glow behind app icons, ActiveBoard will let you know if an app has a notification or is running in the background. A red glow and bouncing animation will indicate a missed or unread notification, while a white glow informs you of the app’s background status.

If you’ve been around the jailbreak community for a while, you may remember a jailbreak tweak called ActiveDock that added OS X-style notifications to iOS. The tweak was very useful, but it is a bit outdated now as it is not compatible with iOS 7.

Thanks to iOS developer Filippo Bigarella and designer Surenix, ActiveDock has been reimagined and reborn into a new tweak called ActiveBoard. This revamp brings a similar feature set to iOS 7 with a few extra bells and whistles. ActiveBoard has moved away from its predecessor’s OS X inspiration and was designed with a native look and feel that definitely fits in with iOS 7. This is definitely a tweak that you need to see in action to fully appreciate the beauty.

Check out our video review below:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJY0Z8Rg1Dc]

The only downside with the notifications is that you’re losing an app’s badge count if you decided to disable badges. It’s not necessarily a deal breaker though. ActiveBoard provides a much cleaner home screen experience with the added background activity feature.

I’ve been using ActiveBoard for the past couple of days and it’s been great. I’m a big fan of a cleaner iOS experience, and I think ActiveBoard is the perfect blend of functionality and style in this area. This tweak almost brings the home screen to life. The icon glow seems as if it’s breathing and the bouncing effect is just enough to inform you of missed/unread notifications.

The best part is that if you’ve previously purchased ActiveDock (for iOS 6), ActiveBoard is 100 percent free of charge. Otherwise, you can pick up this tweak in Cydia’s BigBoss repo for only $1.99. ActiveBoard is compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

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Comments

  1. Oh nice. Steal, Apple! Steal!

    • David Ridilla (@Ridilla) - 10 years ago

      I’d prefer they don’t because there are one or two apps that I always have badges on and I don’t need them bouncing every time I use my phone.

      • Maybe. I guess I like it because I had this idea a while back, but only the pulsing part, and it was to replace the frantic wiggling the icons do when you are in rearrange/delete mode. But you’re right the pulsating may be a bit too much for notifications, although there is some precedent with the jumping dock icons on the Mac… which I do find a little annoying. I like the background glow, although, it doesn’t tell you how many alerts you have. But do you need to know?

      • Greg Kaplan (@kaplag) - 10 years ago

        not to mention pulsating every running app… that would be so distracting. Instead of thinking about what app you want and going to it you’ll be distracted by the glowing ones.

  2. Ted Wood - 10 years ago

    Terrible UI. Red and white glows to mean different things? Pulsating icons? I think I would get sea sick pretty quickly.

  3. roberthildenbrand - 10 years ago

    Notifications should be something that is understood at a glance. I am all for the app on the bases of freedom to modify ones UI to their liking, but I wouldn’t want this application.

  4. Mr. Grey (@mister_grey) - 10 years ago

    Great another video by Dom. Without even seeing it, I already know that it says nothing and has no information content beyond the title itself and the frame displayed above. Without seeing it, I also know it’s chock full of annoying advertising patter and takes 2 minutes to describe ten seconds of information.

    Dom, you are missing your “true” career selling slicer/dicers or sham-wow’s to old lady’s at the county fair. Or perhaps you might want to explore your natural ability to be a weather guy or a sports announcer.

    • Dom Esposito - 10 years ago

      I appreciate you taking time out of your obviously hectic schedule to leave me a friendly comment. Thanks for the tips! I’ll keep writing up there and you stay down here in the comments. :)

      • axecop - 10 years ago

        Solid video. I had 2 minutes to watch it. What’s battery life like?