Cydia is somewhat of jailbreak equivalent of the App Store for iOS devices. It enables users to find and install open source packages as well as buy special modifications made for jailbroken phones—often with features not approved by Apple. Cydia creator Jay “saurik” Freeman has now announced that he is also building a version of Cydia for Mac OS X, called, appropriately enough, Mac Cydia.
Cydia is generally installed either automatically or as a recommended first step after jailbreaking an iOS device. It was originally one of the first sources of installable packages for jailbreakers, including apps and command line tools, but later offered developers a way to sell software that would otherwise be impossible to distribute via Apple’s official App Store. Freeman told Ars in 2008 that he named Cydia after the Latin name for a moth larva that is thought of as “stereotypical apple worm.”
While it is common to think of Cydia as a direct jailbreak alternative to the App Store, Freeman told Ars that it exists primarily to distribute modifications for iOS and third-party apps. “There are maybe four actual apps available via Cydia,” he said.
The modifications are based on a framework called MobileSubstrate, which makes it relatively easy to install and update such modifications. For instance, Winterboard—its name a clever twist on the iOS launcher called “Springboard”—allows users to change wallpapers, icons, and other system graphics. SBSettings allows users to swipe the status bar to pull up an Android-esque drop-down panel, which can quickly turn on or off certain settings like WiFi or Bluetooth. And unlocking a phone from a specific carrier requires modifying a background daemon called Commcenter.
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Freeman created a new version of MobileSubstrate which he dubbed “CydiaSubstrate.” This new version can run on both iOS as well as Mac OS X on the desktop. “Just like you can make all these modifications on the iPhone, you can make these same modifications on the desktop,” Freeman said. “Until now, there has never been a way to easily install modifications to the system or third-party applications, as well as keep them updated.”
Such hacks are technically possible via command line tools, hex editing, or other techniques. But such hacks can be difficult to maintain, and generally require some programming knowledge to keep from breaking.
Developers who want to offer users some way to change how Mac OS X behaves—such as adding menu bars on more than one monitor, for instance—could use CydiaSubstrate to build the mod and distribute the resulting software via Mac Cydia.
CydiaSubstrate-based modifications can also target a particular application for modification, as well. “For instance, users that have jailbroken iPhones would like to have a modified version of iTunes that does not ask to update iOS when the device is plugged in, since the update might overwrite jailbreak modifications,” Freeman said. “Or perhaps you want to change the frequency that TimeMachine performs backups to something other than the stock settings. CydiaSubstrate makes this possible in an easy way that average users could install and update them.”
Freeman was quick to point out that Mac Cydia won’t be an alternative for the Mac App Store—a common misconception. “I started planning Mac Cydia long before Apple announced the Mac App Store,” he explained. “Like the iOS App Store, the Mac App Store sells apps, not system modifications. If apps are what you want to sell, Mac Cydia is not the way to do it.”
Freeman gave a technical demonstration of CydiaSubstrate to Mac OS X developers at the 360MacDev conference in Denver this past weekend. Mac Cydia should be up and running within a few weeks, he said during the conference.