One of several things that appear to be updated in Apple’s upcoming iOS 16 software update is the Now Playing widget that appears on the lock screen. Unfortunately, this means those left behind to avoid jailbreaking will have the outdated Now Playing widget aesthetic.
That is… unless they install a new jailbreak tweak called Hyperixa’s Echo.
If the context combined with the visuals above hasn’t made it terrifyingly clear yet, Echo brings the aesthetic of the iOS 16 Now Playing widget to jailbroken iOS 14 devices, meaning you can look as modern on a locked phone while listening to music as anyone. – something else. Using Apple’s latest and greatest mobile operating system.
Once installed, the Now Playing widget shrinks in size to occupy the bottom of the lock screen, rather than the entire center of the interface, as is typical in iOS 15 and earlier. Here is a demo video provided by Hyperixa to show you more:
The improved widget, although smaller, continues to display all the pertinent information you’d expect, including the name of the medium, who created it, some illustrations for it, and media controls. Another thing you’ll notice is how the Echo displays the Now Playing app icon in the widget, and that there are two ways to display album art: whether you prefer a large display in the center of the screen, or a thin thumbnail just in the widget.
The Echo has some options to configure, and you’ll find them in the post-installation of the Hyperixa app:
Things you can do here include:
- Enable or disable echo on request
- Customizing the Aesthetics Associated with the Echo Widget
Among the aesthetic options you can customize are:
- Enable and customize custom background color
- Enable and customize your own color
- Setting the color of the song title
- Setting the color of the artist name
- Remaining time color setting
- Time duration color setting
- Customize the background color of the progress bar
- Setting the progress bar color
- Customize play button color
- Customize previous track button color
- Setting the next track button color
- Customize the color of the AirPlay button
While the Echo’s premise is to make your Now Playing widget more like what it does in iOS 16, you’ll notice that it offers a higher level of customization than even iOS 16 out of the box. With that in mind, this is a good way to unleash your creativity.
If you want to try out the new Echo jailbreak tweak, you can purchase it for $2 from the Hyperixa repository on your favorite package management app. The tweak is only for jailbroken iOS 14 devices.
Not using the Hyperixa repository yet? No problem. We have embedded the URL below so you can add it to your preferred package manager application:
Do you plan to port the slick iOS 16 Now Playing UI to a locked iOS 14 device with the new Echo jailbreak tweak? Let us know why or why not in the comments section down below.