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Cydia is a
graphical user interface The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inst ...
of
APT Apt. is an abbreviation for apartment. Apt may also refer to: Places * Apt Cathedral, a former cathedral, and national monument of France, in the town of Apt in Provence * Apt, Vaucluse, a commune of the Vaucluse département of France * A ...
(Advanced Package Tool) for
iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
. It enables a user to find and install software not authorized by Apple on jailbroken iPhones,
iPad The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, operating ...
s and iPod Touch devices. It also refers to
digital distribution platform Digital distribution, also referred to as content delivery, online distribution, or electronic software distribution, among others, is the delivery or distribution of digital media content such as audio, video, e-books, video games, and other s ...
for software on iOS accessed through Cydia software. Most of the software packages available through Cydia are free of charge, although some require purchasing. Cydia is developed by Jay Freeman (named "saurik") and his company, SaurikIT. The name "Cydia" is a reference to the moth genus '' Cydia'', notably the Codling Moth (''Cydia pomonella'').


Purpose and function

Cydia provides a
graphical user interface The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inst ...
(GUI) to jailbroken users using
Advanced Packaging Tool Advanced package tool, or APT, is a free-software user interface that works with core libraries to handle the installation and removal of software on Debian, and Debian-based Linux distributions. APT simplifies the process of managing softw ...
(a
package manager A package manager or package-management system is a collection of software tools that automates the process of installing, upgrading, configuring, and removing computer programs for a computer in a consistent manner. A package manager deals wi ...
) repositories to install software unavailable on the App Store. Cydia is based on APT, ported to iOS as part of Jay Freeman's Telesphoreo project. Packages are downloaded through a list of repositories. Packages are installed through the list of repositories a user has installed. Apps are installed in the same location as
Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, ' ...
's own applications, in the /Applications directory. Jailbroken devices can also still buy and download apps normally from the official App Store. Some jailbreaking tools install Cydia automatically, while others may not.


Software availablility

Some of the packages available through Cydia are standard applications, while most packages are extensions and modifications for the iOS interface and for apps in the iOS ecosystem. Some Cydia repositories host open source packages as well as paid modifications for jailbroken devices. These modifications are based on a framework called Cydia Substrate (formally MobileSubstrate). Many ports of existing
POSIX The Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX) is a family of standards specified by the IEEE Computer Society for maintaining compatibility between operating systems. POSIX defines both the system- and user-level application programming inter ...
-compliant command line tools are available on Cydia as well, including bash,
coreutils The GNU Core Utilities or coreutils is a package of GNU software containing implementations for many of the basic tools, such as cat, ls, and rm, which are used on Unix-like operating systems. In September 2002, the ''GNU coreutils'' were cr ...
and
OpenSSH OpenSSH (also known as OpenBSD Secure Shell) is a suite of secure networking utilities based on the Secure Shell (SSH) protocol, which provides a secure channel over an unsecured network in a client–server architecture. Network Working Gro ...
, meaning the device could potentially be used as a full-fledged BSD workstation, although missing some development tools.


Cydia Store

In March 2009, the now-defunct blog
TUAW Weblogs, Inc. was a blog network that published content on a variety of subjects, including tech news, video games, automobiles and pop culture. At one point, the network had as many as 90 blogs, although the vast majority of its traffic could be ...
(The Unofficial Apple Weblog) announced that the Cydia Store, the in-app software purchasing system for Cydia, had opened for sales. The announcement also mentioned that
Amazon payments Amazon Pay is an online payments processing service owned by Amazon. Launched in 2007, Amazon Pay uses the consumer base of Amazon.com and focuses on giving users the option to pay with their Amazon accounts on external merchant websites. As of ...
was the only option available, but that
PayPal PayPal Holdings, Inc. is an American multinational financial technology company operating an online payments system in the majority of countries that support online money transfers, and serves as an electronic alternative to traditional paper ...
would be added in the future. PayPal later became a payment option as well. Cydia stopped accepting Amazon Payments in 2015, leaving PayPal as the sole payment option. After a bug related to PayPal's digital token authorization was discovered via
TechCrunch TechCrunch is an American online newspaper focusing on high tech and startup companies. It was founded in June 2005 by Archimedes Ventures, led by partners Michael Arrington and Keith Teare. In 2010, AOL acquired the company for approximately $ ...
, Freeman decided to shut down the Cydia Store on December 16, 2018.


Security

The risks in jailbreaking are mixed. Advocates offer that developer tools installed from Cydia can help add extra security. However, being able to install untrusted third-party software can cause data loss and malware. Cydia Substrate, the code injection library usually installed alongside Cydia, will detect if an installed package causes
Springboard A springboard or diving board is used for diving and is a board that is itself a spring, i.e. a linear flex-spring, of the cantilever type. Springboards are commonly fixed by a hinge at one end (so they can be flipped up when not in use), and ...
to crash, and will reboot it with all third-party packages temporarily disabled.


History

Freeman first released Cydia in February 2008 as an open-source alternative to
Installer.app Installer.app was a freeware software installer for the iPhone created by Nullriver and later maintained by RipDev, first released in summer 2007 and maintained until summer 2009. Installer allowed users to install third-party applications into ...
o
iPhone OS
1.1. In August 2009, ''
Wired ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San ...
'' reported that Freeman claimed about 4 million, or 10 percent of the 40 million iPhone and iPod Touch owners to date, have installed Cydia. In September 2010, SaurikIT, LLC, announced that it had acquired Rock Your Phone, Inc. (makers of Rock.app). SaurikIT and Rock Your Phone were the two largest providers of third party apps at the time. On December 15, 2010, SaurikIT filed a dispute with
World Intellectual Property Organization The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO; french: link=no, Organisation mondiale de la propriété intellectuelle (OMPI)) is one of the 15 specialized agencies of the United Nations (UN). Pursuant to the 1967 Convention Establishi ...
against Cykon Technology Limited of Kowloon,
Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
over the rights to the domain name "Cydia.com", which was registered in 2002. SaurikIT contended that Cykon registered the domain name in bad faith and the domain name incorporates SaurikIT's trademark. SaurikIT initially attempted to purchase the domain, then demanded Cykon to forfeit the domain at cost asserting trademark rights followed by bringing a WIPO proceeding. The complaint was denied by WIPO. As of April 2011, Cydia had a $10 million in annual revenue and 4.5 million weekly users and according to Freeman's $250,000 net annual profit. On August 18, 2011,SaurikIT filed a lawsuit against Hong Kong owner of Cydia.com regarding the same domain name. On December 24, 2013, Cydia was updated to run on
iOS 7 iOS 7 is the seventh major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc., being the successor to iOS 6. It was announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 10, 2013, and was released on September 1 ...
and iOS 7.1. On October 22, 2014, the Chinese jailbreaking team, Pangu Team, released a jailbreak for iOS 8.0 - 8.1. In response, Saurik quickly updated Cydia to 1.1.13, which added support for iOS 8 and pushed the update to apt.saurik.com for manual download. On February 26, 2018, CoolStar launched the initial release of Electra, giving access to Cydia from iOS versions 11.0-11.1.2. Alongside Electra for iOS 11, CoolStar released several patches for Cydia, creating a Cydia version compatible with the Electra jailbreak, as Electra had been released while Saurik was still working on updates for Cydia. Saurik eventually released the update, and pushed the update to iOS devices running iOS 11 with Cydia at the time. CoolStar’s patched version of Cydia turned out to be incompatible with Saurik’s new update.


See also

* Linux on Apple devices


References


External links

* * {{Software digital distribution platforms Unix package management-related software Dpkg Homebrew software IOS jailbreaking Mobile software distribution platforms Free application software