iOS has additional system wide zoom abilities accessible by a gesture, much like OS X’s zoom feature. To use the extra zoom gestures on an iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch, first you’ll need to enable them in iOS:

1. Open Settings and tap on General
2. Scroll down to “Accessibility” and tap on “Zoom”, flick the switch to ON
3. Verify the zoom gesture works by using a three fingered double-tap on the screen

Once zoom is enabled, using three fingers you can:

• Double-tap with three fingers to activate zoom and zoom in and out on any application
• Double-tap and drag with three fingers up and down to increase or decrease zoom level, from 100% to 500% zoom
• Drag three fingers while zoomed to move around screen

This zoom feature is systemwide and will work in any iOS app running on the device, including even the lock screen, and it works in addition to the standard pinch and spread gestures that are active in many apps already. Standard app functionality also remains while zoomed in allowing for manipulation of onscreen controls and data.

Did you know the split iPad keyboard in iOS 5 includes six hidden ‘phantom’ keys that make typing even easier?

The hidden keys are Y, H, B, T, G, and V, and technically they’re just duplicates of the keys directly across from each other while the touch keyboard is split in two. This makes some of our quirkier and habitual typing gestures still work despite the fact that the user is technically typing onto nothing. Try it out yourself.

I had no idea this existed, but this great find from Finer Things has made the rounds on the web and does a great job of emphasizing how Apple pays attention to even the littlest things in their quest to protect the user from their own error and frustration.

We’ve been made aware of some ongoing issues with apps crashing constantly on iPads running iOS 5, both iPad and iPad 2 are impacted with Safari being particularly sensitive and seemingly crashing anytime javascript or a video loads and sometimes with just general web browsing. At worst, Safari won’t even launch and crashes immediately, and often the application instability goes beyond Safari and impacts nearly all applications as well. First we’ll focus on resolving the Safari crashes, but if you’re having issues with multiple apps crashing you may want to jump down and go straight for a clean reinstallation of iOS 5.

Troubleshooting Tips for Safari Crashes on iPad & iOS 5

If the majority of crashes are centered around Safari, use these troubleshooting tips and see if the problem is resolved:

• Update to iOS 5.0.1 either manually, through iTunes, or using OTA
• Disable iCloud Bookmark Syncing: Tap on Settings > General > iCloud > switch Bookmark syncing to OFF
• Clear & Disable Autofill: Settings > Safari > Autofill > Clear All and then turn everything to “OFF”
• Clear Safari history and cookies: Tap on Settings > Safari > Clear History, Clear Cookies and Data
• Clear Safari stored data: Tap Settings > Safari > Advanced > Website Data > Remova All Website Data

Try using Safari again, for many users the above solutions help to prevent the crashing. If not, these secondary options may work as well:

• Disable iCloud Completely: Tap on Settings > General > iCloud > switch all to OFF
• Disable Javascript: Tap on Settings > Safari > Javascript > OFF

Yes, it’s annoying to not have iCloud or Javascript, but it’s more annoying to not be able to use Safari. If the above tips aren’t working, or if you need javascript, then the next idea is to manually erase and reinstall iOS 5.0.1 on the iPad, but not restore from a backup.

Performing a Clean iOS 5 Install on iPad

This is the most drastic approach because it will remove all data from the iPad, and the key for this to work is to not restore from a backup. In other words, you will lose all data on the device and have to manually setup things like iMessage again and then re-download apps and content from the iOS App Store.

Update to iOS 5.0.1 before continuing, but you already did this in the first troubleshooting step though, right?

1. Connect the iPad to a computer and launch iTunes
2. Find the iPad in iTunes device list and click on the “Summary” tab
3. Click on “Restore” under the Version section, and click “Don’t Back Up” when asked



4. Let iTunes restore the iPad, this will wipe all content and reinstall iOS 5.0.1
5. When finished, you will see the familiar ‘Connect to iTunes’ screen, do not restore from a backup, instead choose to “Set Up As New”

Note: Some Apple Store Geniuses are performing the clean install of iOS 5 from DFU mode. You are welcome to try that, although after reading through several threads on Apple’s Discussion Boards it does not seem to make a difference whether the device is restored from DFU or not, it’s more important to avoid the prior backup as it may contain corrupted data causing the crashes.

If you continue to have issues, there’s a slim chance of a hardware problem and contacting Apple may be the best bet. It’s also possible there are some lingering bugs in iOS 5 that impact only the iPad, and an update will resolve them with iOS 5.0.2 or iOS 5.1 whenever they come out. iOS 5.1 is currently available to developers as a beta, and is expected to be released to the public alongside iPad 3 in March.

The hotly anticipated jailbreak for iPhone 4S and iPad 2 is finally here, providing an untethered jailbreak for either A5-based device running iOS 5.0.1. Put together by the Chronic Dev Team who are known for making Greenpois0n, the utility is called Absinthe A5 and it is hot off the presses.

Backup your iPhone or iPad before using Absinthe! This is an early release jailbreak and could have some bugs to iron out still.

Download Absinthe A5

• Download now – (Mac OS X)
• Download now – Windows
• Download now – Linux (soon)

A Linux version will be released shortly and we’ll update when links are available.

Not sure what to do? Read our guide on how to jailbreak iPad 2 or iPhone 4S with Absinthe for iOS 5.0.1, it’s very easy.

Specific compatibility with Absinthe is as follows:

• iPhone 4S: iOS 5.0 (9A334) and both builds of iOS 5.0.1 (9A405, 9A406)
• iPad 2 Wi-Fi, GSM, CDMA: iOS 5.0.1

Again, this is for A5 CPU hardware only, other devices can jailbreak iOS 5.0.1 with Redsn0w.

The Dev Team warns iPhone 4S users who want a software unlock to stay on iOS 5.0 or build 9A405 of iOS 5.0.1. There is no expected release of an accompanying software unlock.

Have an older generation iPhone 3G or 2G? If so, you’re stuck on older legacy iOS versions with limited features and sluggish speeds. But not anymore with Whited00r, which installs a custom iOS build on the device to help bring it into the modern age.

Whited00r 5.1 is basically an unofficial custom made iOS build that includes many of the iOS 5 features and has been optimized to run on the older hardware. With Whited00r, you’ll get multitasking, wallpapers, folders, and variations of Reminders and Newsstand, and it’s claimed to be much faster than the default iOS 4 installations that drag the iPhone 3G down. Unfortunately there’s no Notification Center, and you will also lose the native App Store, meaning to install apps you’ll have to use iTunes or Safari. If the trade offs are worth it to you, installing Whited00r is very easy for anyone familiar with using IPSW files.

Installing Whited00r 5.1 on iPhone 3G/2G & iPod touch 1G/2G

This works for iPhone 3G, iPhone 2G, iPod touch 1g and 2g. Backup the iOS device beforehand, and proceed at your own risk:

• Download the appropriate version of Whited00r from here
• Unzip the custom IPSW package to somewhere easy to find
• Launch iTunes and hold down Option (Mac) or Shift (Windows) and click on “Restore”, now select the Whited00r IPSW you just downloaded
• Let the process continue and the iPhone will reboot on it’s own

After the iPhone has rebooted, do not restore from a backup, instead select to set up a new device. This is recommended to avoid any conflicts.

This video demonstrates the speed of an iPhone 3G running Whited00r 5.1 compared to an iPhone 3GS running iOS 5:
Read more »

When a new iOS software update is made available, you can download and install the update directly on the iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch by using Over the Air updates, abbreviated as OTA. These work by downloading only the files that are different, so the file size is smaller than general IPSW downloads, making the installation process faster. OTA updates also eliminate the need to connect an iOS device to a computer when upgrading software.

• Launch Settings and tap on “General”
• Tap on “Software Update” to see information about the available iOS update
• Tap on “Download and Install”

You’ll agree to a Terms and Conditions, and if you’re not connected to a power source, you will get a pop-up notification suggesting you connect to one. Over The Air updates are much faster than iOS upgrades through iTunes or manual updates with firmware files, and assuming you have reasonably fast internet connectivity, should be done downloading in just a few minutes. Leave the device alone and it will automatically reboot and finish the installation.

If the OTA update isn’t working or is greyed out, it’s likely because the device needs to have at least half of it’s battery and be connected to a wireless network, or because the device is not currently on iOS 5 or greater, when OTA updates became supported.

New to the iPhone with iOS 5 is the ability to set and use custom text tones. Having long been able to switch between Apple provided text tones, since this new feature means any ringtone file can be set as a custom SMS sound, and you can also set custom text alert sounds on a per contact basis so you’ll know who is texting you based on the alert sound alone.

Change the SMS Sound on the iPhone

If you’re tired of the default “Tri-tone” text tone, here is how to change that sound:

• Tap on “Settings” and then tap on “Sounds”
• Tap on “Text Tone” and select from the list, custom text tones with appear under “Ringtones” whereas defaults will appear under “Original”
• Select a text tone to use and close out of Settings

Tapping a text tone will play a preview of the sound, the checkbox alongside the tone indicates it’s the current setting.

Set Custom Text Tones Per Contact

SMS alert sounds can also be customized on a per person basis:

• Tap on “Phone” and then the “Contacts” tab on the bottom
• Locate the contact to set a custom SMS tone for and tap on their name
• Tap on “Edit” and tap on “Text Tone”
• Just as above, tap on a new text tone to set it as the default for the selected contact

Remember free iPhone ringtones can be made with iTunes, and they can be used for text tones as well. Generally the shorter the text tone the better, unless you want to hear a song play when someone texts you.

iOS 5 brings a built-in dictionary that is easily accesible from Safari and many other apps. The next time you see a word on an iPhone or iPad that you want to define, instead of downloading or launching a separate dictionary app, you can quickly access definitions directly from iOS:

• Double-tap on the word to define
• Select “Define” to open that word in the dictionary
• Tap “Done” to exit the dictionary app

This should be familiar to Mac users, where a very similar feature is in OS X Lion, which summons a dictionary with a three-fingered word tap.

Nice little tip from MacTrast

The Emoji keyboard is now included directly in iOS for all iPhone (and iPad / iPod touch) users to access, it just needs to be enabled. iOS 5 or later is required before continuing:

• Launch Settings and tap on “General”
• Tap on “Keyboard” and then again on “Add New Keyboard”
• Scroll down the alphabetical list to “Emoji” and tap on it to appear in your list of active keyboards
• Close out of Settings
• Enter into any text entry location: Messages, Notes, Mail, etc
• Tap on the globe icon next to the Spacebar button to access the newly enabled Emoji keyboard

Tapping any Emoji icon enters it into a text field as if it were a standard character.

Anyone running iOS 5 or later will be able to see the Emoji icons sent to them. If you’re interacting with a Mac user, as long as they are running 10.7 they can also see the graphical icons because Emoji support was added to OS X Lion as well.

Outside of communication, you can so some fun tricks with Emoji, like adding the icons to iOS folder names (or on the Mac too) to customize the appearance of the homescreen.

By using AirPlay and the video mirroring feature, you can broadcast live images / video from your iPhone’s camera directly to an Apple TV on the same network.

To do this, you’ll need iOS 5 or later, an Apple TV, and the AirPlay compatible iPhone 4S or iPad 2 with a camera. All hardware must be on the same wireless network as well. With those requirements met, here’s how to set up the live camera broadcast:

On the Apple TV:

• Go to Settings > AirPlay > turn Airplay ON

From the iPhone 4S or iPad 2:

• Double click the home button and swipe to the right, then tap on the AirPlay button
• Select the Apple TV and enable Mirroring
• Now click the Home button again and tap on the Camera app to start the live feed

Assuming you did this all correctly, the Apple TV will export whatever the iPhone camera sees live, thanks to the video mirroring feature.

This fun little trick was found on TUAW, who suggests you can use the camera mirroring feature to look at your ear or nose… LOL.

Whatever use you find for this one, have fun!