5 Ways To Get Jailbreak-like Functionality Without Jailbreaking

So if you're rocking the 4S or if you just haven't jailbroken, here are some tips to get somewhat similar functionality without jailbreaking.  Some are simple, others more difficult. We'll label them as such.

1. Toggles for Wifi, Bluetooth Settings, etc. (A La SBSettings)
- Difficulty: Easy
- Time:1-5 Minutes

The easiest way to do this is go to http://bswi.ch/is then click the bookmark button and choose to "Add To Home Screen." You will now have a webapp installed to quickly toggle frequently used settings.

If you prefer to have the toggles on the Springboard itself, follow the guide here: http://bswi.ch/idb



2. Respring or Close All Active Apps (A La SBSettings Respring)
- Difficulty: Easy (once you get the hang of it. Watch the video for an example)
- Time: 1-5 Minutes

Using the Newstand-in-a-folder hack will give you an icon that will cause a respring. Here's a simple way to do it, or to see it in action check out the video at: http://bswi.ch/nws

1. Open any web page, doesn't matter which, and add to homescreen 4 times.
2. Go to the homescreen, and create a folder with 2 of the icons.
3. You should now have 2 icons left, and a folder.
4. Here's where the trick comes in. What you want to do is use the last 2 icons to create another folder. The trick is to touch and hold the folder you created in step 2 the second the new folder is being created, and drag into it the folder from step 2.
5. After that's done, feel free to delete the 2 icons from the new folder (but don't delete the folder in the folder!)
6. Touch the folder, and presto! Respring heaven.

3. Informative Lockscreen (A La Lockinfo)

- Difficulty: Easy

- Time: Depends on your creativity :)

iOS 5 brought notifications to the Lockscreen, which is pretty great. Still, when there are no notifications the Lockscreen is kinda pointless as it is. To address this there are many apps in the App Store that let you create "smart" Lockscreen wallpaper. One of them is called Magic Lockscreen, and it's free. Another is Lock Screen, and that one is 99 cents.

Also worth mentioning is Boxcar and Push 4 which will Push tweets from your Twitter account to your device. I use it to push tweets from news sources, blogs, etc. so I always have a nice stream of new news and info on my Lockscreen to read.  Simply install Boxcar, then choose which Twitter follows you want pushed to your device.

4. Tethering

- Difficulty: Geek - Get an IT person to help!

- Time: 15-20 Minutes

For those that want to tether without paying a second time for their connection, there is a non-jailbreak option and it's called iProxy.  iProxy turns your iPhone into a socks or http proxy, simply, allowing other devices to use it for internet access.  There is one major caveat: you need a developer account ($100) or know someone with one who will add your device, to get it installed on your device.  The steps are pretty simple - for your geeky 14 year old nephew at least. You basically download the source code, and install to device from Xcode, use ad-hoc distribution, or use the tool iResign.

5. Install Any App I Want, Even Discontinued Ones

- Difficulty: UberGeek - Your IT person may want to call us!

- Time: 30-60 Minutes

So getting an .ipa onto a non jailbroken phone is was almost impossible. Thanks to (first) Crappstore and now iResign, it's much easier and you don't even need Xcode to do it.  You still need a developer account though.