iOS (Jailbroken): Velox is a new tweak for jailbroken iPhone's that completely changes how you view notifications and apps. It's one of those rare apps that overhauls iOS in a way that truly changes the way you use your iPhone. The app itself is great, but you can also tap into it with a handful of useful add-ons that add to the experience.
What Is Velox?
Velox is a $1.99 jailbreak app that changes how you interact with notifications. When you get a new notification in any app, you can swipe the app's icon, and Velox pulls up a folder with the notification right on the home screen. From there, you can swipe to dismiss them, clear them, or open up the app. This makes it so you can check in on notifications without wasting the time to open the app itself.
Velox also adds functionality into a few of the native apps and with a swipe of the icon you can invoke all kinds of cool features without ever leaving the home screen. The full list is pretty big, but here are a few of our favorites that come packed in with the app:
Camera: You can swipe the camera icon (or Camera+ icon) to quickly bring up your camera for those times when you need a quick shot.
Settings: You get instant access to toggles for Bluetooth, WiFi, Airplane mode, and more.
Music (works with any app that plays music, like Spotify or Pandora): You can skip tracks, pause, and scrub through songs.
Weather: With a swipe you'll get an instant look at the weather for the week.
Calendar: Shows you everything in your calendar for the upcoming week.
Mail: You'll see all your unread mail, and you can swipe to dismiss or even send a quick reply right from the home screen.
Out of the box you already get some great functionality, but the interesting part about Velox is that the developer also allows for add-ons. This means people can write their own extensions that add specific Velox functionality to apps Velox doesn't support. Here are a few of our favorites.
Addial for Velox
Addial adds a simple function to the Contacts app where you can instantly pull up a menu to add a new contact, dial a number, or call a contact. It's especially helpful when you just want to quickly add someone to your phone or get to the dialer without futzing about in menus.
AppLook for Velox
Instead of opening up the App Store and then tapping over to the search menu, AppLook for Velox allows you to instantly search right from the home screen. Just swipe down, type your search query, and you're all set. It seems simple, but it's actually surprisingly helpful to quickly get to the app you want.
Calculator for Velox
As you'd expect, Calculator for Velox pulls up the calculator so you can instantly perform calculations on the fly. It's a little quirky in its design and doesn't always work perfectly, but it's helpful when you just need to quickly make a calculation and don't feel like opening the full app.
Carrox or Things for Velox
One of the problems with to-do apps on the iPhone is the fact that in most cases you have to actually open the app to see what's on your list. Velox gets rid of this problem. If you're using Carrot or Things, you can download add-ons that make it so a swipe will reveal everything on your to-do list. It's helpful, and hopefully support for more to-do apps is on the way.
Stopwatch for Velox
You probably don't really need the stopwatch app very often, and if you're anything like me you kind of forget it's even there most of the time. What's handy about Stopwatch for Velox is that it packs it right into your home screen so you can get access to it immediately and instantly start timing whatever you need.
Velox was just released last week, so inevitably more add-ons are the way. If your favorite app doesn't have an add-on yet, chances are it will soon.