How to make most tweaks and apps work with iOS 7 on pre-A7 devices

Are you jailbroken on iOS 7? Are the apps and tweaks installed via Cydia not showing up on your device? If you’re running into this problem, you’re not alone. I’ve received numerous questions about this problem over the last few days; so many, that I thought it would good to make a post and video on it for those that need help.

The short answer to the question is Mobile Substrate. Most of the apps and tweaks that you install from Cydia rely on Mobile Substrate, and Mobile Substrate has not been updated for the latest iOS 7 jailbreak as of yet. An update has been promised to come soon, but Saurik, its developer, is no doubt inundated with about a thousand and one different tasks related to the just released jailbreak.

Let’s give Saurik the time he needs to get a properly updated working release of Mobile Substrate in our hands. In the meantime, if you’re running a non-64-bit device, you can take the following steps to make your favorite apps and tweaks work.

Step 1: Verify that you’re running a compatible device.

Mobile Substrate will not work properly with 64-bit devices like the iPhone 5s, iPad Air, and iPad mini with Retina Display. You’re going to need to wait on an update before tweaks and apps using Mobile Substrate will work properly. Patience, grasshoppers.

Step 2: Reinstall Mobile Substrate and Substrate Safe Mode

If you’re running a compatible device (i.e. iPhone 5, or iPod touch 5th generation) then a simple reinstall of Mobile Substrate and Substrate Safe Mode should put your back in business. You should use Cydia’s queuing feature to do both at the same time. Please watch the video above for a full step-by-step walkthrough of the process.

You should now be able to use your favorite apps and tweaks. You will even be able to respring with no issues. If you reboot, however, you will need to follow Step 2 again, and reinstall Mobile Substrate and Substrate Safe Mode in order to reenable access to your installed apps and tweaks.

Keep in mind that this isn’t a guarantee fix for all of the non-working apps and tweaks installed on your device, but it will go a long way towards kickstarting your efforts. At any rate, Saurik has definitely advised against installing any so-called “Mobile Substrate fixes” available on any number of shady looking repos out there. The fixes may work, but it’s probably a good idea for you to wait and be patient, and in the meantime utilize this simple yet effective method for enabling access to your favorite Cydia releases.

Although Saurik has stated that he is hard at work on providing an update to Substrate, there is still no solid ETA. The Evad3rs’ recent 1.0.1 update to Evasi0n7 contained some hooks to support some future updates from Saurik. I’m going to go out on a limb and presume that has something to do with Mobile Substrate, but of course, we can’t know that for sure unless Saurik and/or the Evad3rs confirms it. Let me know what you think in the comments section.