Cydia

For those that you have not touched or seen an iPhone ever, let me explain a little above what is Cydia to understand everything a little better. Cydia is an “application” that can be installed on a jailbroken iPhone once and we will put the Cydia Substrate on the phone. This Cydia Substrate is a platform that lets other products (extensions, applications) make changes to certain elements OS that are not available normally. In short, more or less like the phone rootear although not entirely like. But you can get an overall idea.

Thanks to Cydia then iPhones can install applications like Winterboard for modifying and apply different themes to the phone to personalize it: change icons, buttons, clocks, screen lock, etc. …

Cydia Android

And indeed, as we have said, a few weeks ago came Cydia Substrate Android along with the application Winterboard . Basically what it does is install this platform to gradually leave applications like Winterboard that advantage and allow further modify our Android.

The installation is super simple. Simply being root and install the application from the Google Play

Application on Google Play

Reminder: If you are not root, rooting your phone can in 2 clicks with the methods in Ready2root.

But once you’ve installed Cydia Substrate, we can not do anything else because as we said, Cydia alone is only a platform used by other applications. Currently, there is only one application using Cydia: Winterboard.

Application on Google Play

With Winterboard can change the items on our phone, using themes designed for ADW, Go Launcher and others launchers on any phone. But so far only compatible two topics: White Icon Pack and Flow Theme. We may also change the device icons. And by the time you’re done.

really needed?

And the main question is whether you really need Cydia on our phones. Currently, all it does Winterboard can do any Launcher and can change any icon very easily on Android. Why settle an application to retouch all the Android system to only change icons and themes? There is no sense in Android.

Of course, this is only the foundation. Sure, they come out gradually more extensions and applications that make other modifications , and then more interesting topic. But still, we have solutions that work like a charm as the Xposed Framework.

It is in these moments when you realize how powerful Android customization issues. While iOS is essential an application like Cydia and jailbroken phone to change the subject or an icon on your phone, on Android and can be done easily without touching anything. In any case, we’ll see what the future holds for the Cydia application on Android.

Article was published in The Free Android (The Android Blog reference. Apps, News, Free Android Games and smartphones)