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Well known iOS jailbreak dev Jay Freeman ("Saurik"), dev behind Cydia, has made his first release for Android. It's called "Cydia Substrate", and despite the inclusion of "Cydia" in the name, should not be confused with the iOS Cydia.
As you may be aware, on iOS Cydia is an unofficial app store, allowing the downloading and installing of unofficial apps on jailbroken phones. It also has functionality allowing the authors of these apps to receive payment for their work. None of that functionality is replicated on Android.
What is replicated is the functonality of "MobileSubstrate", a framework used by many, many iOS tweaks. This framework allows "hooking" into apps, as well as the OS itself, and altering the way code works. This allows changing both the functionality and aesthetics of any app or part of the OS, including closed source apps.
What this means for Android is that things that previously required phone & ROM specific mods (e.g. modded APKs, themes etc.) can be done in a more "universal" manner. Write the tweak once and it should work for all phones and ROMs with Substrate installed. In time, this could mean custom ROMs become much less necessary, as it becomes possible to just install all the tweaks you want without flashing a new ROM, much the way it is on iOS. (No one ever really bothers with custom iOS "ROMs" I don't think).
At the moment, the only "tweak" available is WinterBoard, another well known name from the iOS jailbreak world, which allows theming on ALL ROMs, as well as applying multiple themes (e.g. a full theme + an icon pack). However, in time more tweaks will become available. For example, chpwn (who has written a bunch of tweaks for iOS) has stated he is working on something.
At the moment, the Substrate seems to be having some teething problems (some people, such as myself, have been unable to install it, others have found their network signal stops working after installing), so if you're going to try it, make sure you have a nandroid backup first.
Note: Your phone/tablet must be rooted to install Substrate.
Link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.saurik.substrate
As you may be aware, on iOS Cydia is an unofficial app store, allowing the downloading and installing of unofficial apps on jailbroken phones. It also has functionality allowing the authors of these apps to receive payment for their work. None of that functionality is replicated on Android.
What is replicated is the functonality of "MobileSubstrate", a framework used by many, many iOS tweaks. This framework allows "hooking" into apps, as well as the OS itself, and altering the way code works. This allows changing both the functionality and aesthetics of any app or part of the OS, including closed source apps.
What this means for Android is that things that previously required phone & ROM specific mods (e.g. modded APKs, themes etc.) can be done in a more "universal" manner. Write the tweak once and it should work for all phones and ROMs with Substrate installed. In time, this could mean custom ROMs become much less necessary, as it becomes possible to just install all the tweaks you want without flashing a new ROM, much the way it is on iOS. (No one ever really bothers with custom iOS "ROMs" I don't think).
At the moment, the only "tweak" available is WinterBoard, another well known name from the iOS jailbreak world, which allows theming on ALL ROMs, as well as applying multiple themes (e.g. a full theme + an icon pack). However, in time more tweaks will become available. For example, chpwn (who has written a bunch of tweaks for iOS) has stated he is working on something.
At the moment, the Substrate seems to be having some teething problems (some people, such as myself, have been unable to install it, others have found their network signal stops working after installing), so if you're going to try it, make sure you have a nandroid backup first.
Note: Your phone/tablet must be rooted to install Substrate.
Link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.saurik.substrate
will try this soon
