When it comes to criticizing Apple’s mobile operating system, it’s easy to point fingers at things such as its restrictiveness or lack of flexibility.

Google’s Android definitely has the advantage here, however the reason I’ve stuck with Apple, apart from the fact that having owned an iPhone since the launch day of the 3GS, I now own quite a few apps that I can’t transfer, is that they’re simple.

I just need a phone that’s well-made, easy to use and streamlined and the iPhone has always offered this. I admit though, that iTunes still infuriates me, as do many of the restrictions compared to an Android device.

However, something that improved my iOS experience no end was when I jailbroke my iPhone. For those not in the know, this essentially means hacking the operating system and installing a program called Cydia, which is essentially a gateway to a kind of underground iTunes filled with customized apps and features.

Hacking, actually, is far too complicated a term these days as the latest free Jailbreak tool from a team called evasi0n is practically a one-click affair. It was so popular that in the six weeks it took for Apple to release iOS 6.1.3 to patch the exploits it used, more than 18 million iOS devices downloaded it, with many more downloading it since. What’s more, jailbreaking isn’t illegal and won’t void your Apple warranty – just restore your phone in iTunes and away you go as before. So what’s so great about jailbreaking and why do so many people do it? Perhaps the easiest way of explaining this is looking at features that were (and weren’t) added in iOS7, because many are what iOS owners have been crying out for and are exactly what have been available to those who have jailbroken their iPhones for years.Above you can see YouTube user iCrackUriDevice showing some of the best current jailbreak tweaks for the iPhone.

For me, there’s perhaps a single huge feature in iOS 7 that despite its introduction, is still inferior to similar add-ons you can get in the Jailbreaking world. Apple’s new Control Center, which allows you to quickly access settings such as WiFi and brightness, is step in the right direction. For me it’s an important tool in the fight to conserve battery life and helps in general to make your iPhone experience that much slicker. Fancy animations and the like are all very well, but it’s the controls like these that you use every day that make the real difference.

You only have to look online to see just how many people love the new feature but feel it’s crippled because of its lack of customization. You can’t toggle 3G on or off and settings such as personal hotspot and even location services are absent and there’s no way to add them. However, if you jailbreak your iPhone you can get all this and more.

NC Settings, Five Icon Dock and Five-column SpringBoard are just some of most popular iPhone Jailbreak tweaks

An add-on called NC Settings allows you to drop a sweepable bar directly onto your phone’s home screen, providing instant access to customizable toggles. As you can see, I have WiFi, brightness, torch, data and location services on the first row, and a quick swipe to the left shows restart, Bluetooth, volume, personal hotspot and power options. Alternatively you can add the bar to the notification area or have it appear in the same way Apple’s Control Center does with a swipe.

The number of other tweaks Jailbreaking opens up are vast and you’ll find you can replicate and even surpass most of the new features in iOS 7 too. There’s the ability to create custom commands using an array of pinch and swipe gestures, apply snazzy effects to page swipes and as you can also see with my iPhone 5, I have five columns of icons instead of four (I’ve deleted one to make way for an on-screen NC settings button bar) and also to have five icons in the icon dock at the bottom instead of four. So despite getting rid of an entire row of icons I’ve actually got more on the home screen than a non-jailbroken iPhone 5.

So is customization what’s missing from iOS 7? In some ways yes but Apple’s never been and probably never will be keen on you tweaking the OS as much as many of us would like. As good as iOS 7 is, I do feel that many features such as Control Center could offer the huge benefit of customization without – shock horror – Apple losing its tight grip on the look and feel of the OS. If you’d like to give Jailbreaking a go, you’ll need an iPad or iPhone running iOS 6.1.0-6.1.2. If you’ve already upgraded to iOS 7 then there’s likely no way to downgrade, but we live in hope that a Jailbreak for the new OS will appear soon.

A fake Apple advert claiming the new iOS 7 software makes iPhones and iPads waterproof has apparently fooled some users into destroying their devices.

The "advert" circulating on social media sites claims that updating devices with the operating system installs a "smart switch" that cuts off the phone's power supply when water is detected.

This, it claims, "prevents any damage to your iPhone's delicate circuitry".

The advert looks remarkably similar to an authentic Apple advertisement, with the same plain white background and minimalist font and style.

It seems some users have been fooled into dunking their expensive gadgets into water to test out the promised feature, only to render their devices useless.

One user wrote on Twitter: "Whoever said iOS 7 was waterproof **** you."

Another wrote: "OK whoever said iOS 7 is waterproof GO **** YOURSELF."

The prank idea is believed to have originally started on the controversial forum 4Chan.

The iOS 7 software was released last week, and is available as a free upgrade for newer models of the iPhone and iPad.

It provides a series of new features including an overhaul of the interface.

It was released shortly before the new iPhone 5S and 5C models went on sale.

The 5S features a fingerprint unlocking device for extra security. However, a group of German hackers has found a way to bypass the measure.

The group, known as the Chaos Computer Club, says a fingerprint of the phone user, photographed from a glass surface, is enough to create a fake latex finger that could unlock the phone.

Apple has not yet commented.

You may have noticed BlackBerry has delayed its BBM app for Android, which was supposed to launch yesterday. And if you head to the App Store, you'll see there's no sign of the iOS version either. That's because BlackBerry has put the brakes on both.

The reason? An unofficial knockoff version was released on Android. This caused some issues which the the company has "attempted to address throughout the day", it said in a statement.

There's no word on when the app will reach the other operating systems. BlackBerry says its teams "continue to work around the clock", but that it'll only launch "when it's ready and we know it will live up to your expectations of BBM."

The Android version was supposed to launch yesterday, and the iPhone version at midnight last night.

The iPhone app did go live in a few countries before BlackBerry 'paused' the rollout, to use the company's own terminology. BlackBerry's Twitter feed says the iPhone version launched in New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, India, and UAE. "Customers who have already downloaded BBM for iPhone will be able to continue to use BBM," the statement reads.

The unofficial version for Android that caused all the headaches has been pretty popular. It's had more than 1.1 million downloads in its first eight hours, according to BlackBerry. 

"As soon as we are able, we will begin a staggered country roll-out of BBM for Android and continue the roll-out of BBM for iPhone," the statement continues.

It's not been a good week for BlackBerry. It's expecting a loss of around £621 million in next week's second-quarter earnings announcement, and as such, will cut 4,500 jobs -- that's 40 per cent of its workforce. Its Z10 smart phone has sold poorly, and BB10 -- which was delayed again and again -- has struggled in the face of competition from Android and iOS.