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I guess it would be fair to say that this “top 5 reasons to jailbreak your iPhone” is — according to me. In other words I am sure everyone will have their own specific reasons, so whether you agree with my top 5 or not, the main reason I jailbreak is because it allows me to use the iPhone in certain ways that I like to, as opposed to only how Apple says I can. While there are plenty of jailbroken apps available, most of my favorites deal with settings.

1. Kate: This app offers a collection of tools that include Phone Extras, SMS Extras, EQ, Smart Dialer, FaceLife, uCalendar, Reminder, System Font and Privacy. While each of these offers a special set of features, I use Kate for just a few.

• SmartDialer includes a setting to have both a vibration and tone feedback on the numeric keypad.
• SystemFont to change the font on the overall iPhone.
• uCalendar which adds a calendar (or list of pending events) on your iPhones lock screen.
• Privacy which has a few key items, but for me the most important is the ability to surpress your SMS popups. Now, when I receive a text message the little red counter will increase, but I do not get that annoying popup that I have to react to.

Additionally, this one is found in Installer.app, however the rest of the apps that I will mention can all be found in Cydia. Unfortunately, this one is not free, it costs either $20.00 for 6-months, $35 for 12-months or $45 for the life of your iPhone.

2. BossPrefs: Again, this is an app that deals with settings and offers a few features that Apple does not allow by default. When you first launch the app you are presented with several on/off toggle switches that allow you to quickly and easily turn features on or off. Items such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Airplane Mode and even email accounts can be switched off (or back on) as easily as two steps — one to launch Boss Prefs and the second to toggle the switch.

Boss Prefs also allows you to hide icons from the display. Now apps that are on by default such as Stocks, Weather, YouTube and Notes can all be hidden from view. You can also make some adjustments to items such as the battery indicator, instead of just having the standard indicator, you can switch it to a numeric indicator. You can also do things like disable the dreaded “killswitch.”

3. Reminder (Notifier): This app gives you a few notification items which all appear in the menu bar at the top of your iPhone. You can have a message (which is in the top right corner next to the Bluetooth and Battery Indicator) to alert you of a missed call, voicemail, email or text message. These are nice and what I consider helpful because you can see them with the lock screen, so you can see what you have waiting even before you unlock your iPhone.

4. iPhoneModem: I will start by saying this is not a free app, it will cost you $9.99, however there is an option to try before you buy. That said, it is a great app. iPhoneModem allows you to tether and share (just like NetShare) your iPhones connection with your laptop. Of course, I would not suggest abusing this or you may risk violating your terms of service.

Finally, rounding out my top 5 is a recently updated app the provides turn-by-turn directions;

5. xGPS: What can be said here, this is the app that plenty of people have been waiting for. It finally brings audible turn-by-turn directions to the iPhone. Best of all, the app is free to download and use.

And just because there are so many good reasons to jailbreak, here are are two honorable mentions;

1. Make it Mine: This is nothing special, really just for fun, this app allows you to create a custom carrier name and get rid of the standard AT&T.




2. Qik: This app offers the ability to stream live video using your iPhone. Granted the quality is not always the best, but at the same time the streamed video is also saved online and can be fun when catching spontaneous moments from time to time.

Well, those are my reasons for jailbreaking. What are yours?