Lobelias upgrades iOS’ Now Playing interface with slick aesthetics
by Anthony Bouchard
It’s no secret that the music listening experience on the iOS platform has remained somewhat stagnant over the past few years, but if you’re avidly searching for something to make things a bit more exciting and you have a jailbroken handset at your disposal, then a newly released and free jailbreak tweak called Lobelias by iOS developer Litten offers a great place to start.
As depicted in the screenshot examples above, Lobelias gives iOS’ Now Playing interface a much-needed facelift and integrates a plethora of user-configurable aesthetics so that you can achieve the look and feel you want. Right off the bat, notable changes include the rounded album artwork, redesigned media controls, changes to the background, and new text label positions, among other things.
It’s also worth noting that Lobelias looks great on iPads as well:
From what we can gather, Lobelias is based on a concept conceived by @J3nra1n. In the release post published to /r/jailbreak, Litten goes on to explain that some components of the haven’t been included due to limitations of the developer’s current skillset. This could, of course, change in the future.
Once installed, Lobelias adds a dedicated preference pane to the Settings app where users can configure the tweak on demand:
Options here include:
- Toggle Lobelias on or off on demand
- Configure the Lobelias background aesthetics
- Configure the Lobelias artwork aesthetics
- Configure the Lobelias artist & album text string aesthetics
- Configure the Lobelias rewind button aesthetics
- Configure the Lobelias skip button aesthetics
- Configure other miscellaneous Lobelias options
- Respring to save changes
- Reset all options to their defaults
As is customary with one of Litten’s jailbreak tweaks, there are oodles of options for the end user to configure. We’ll provide you with the grand tour of everything from top to bottom below:
Background
In the Background preference pane, users will be able to:
- Toggle background customization on or off on demand
- Adjust the background alpha level
Choose a custom blur effect:
- None
- Light
- Dark
- Adaptive
- Adjust the blur amount via a slider
- Toggle artwork background transition on or off on demand
Artwork
In the Artwork preference pane, users will be able to:
- Toggle artwork customization on or off on demand
- Toggle adjustments to the artwork positioning and size on or off on demand
- Adjust the X & Y positions and width & height values for the album artwork independently
- Adjust the artwork alpha level
- Adjust the artwork corner radius
- Adjust the artwork border width
- Enable and configure a custom artwork border color
- Enable and configure a custom pause image color
- Toggle artwork-based dynamic coloring
- Toggle artwork-based dynamic pause image coloring
- Toggle artwork transition on or off on demand
- Enable or disable haptic feedback
Song Title
In the Song Title preference pane, users will be able to:
- Toggle song title text customization on or off on demand
- Toggle adjustments to the song title positioning and size on or off on demand
- Adjust the X & Y positions and width & height values for the song title independently
- Adjust the song title alpha level
- Enable and configure custom song title font & size
- Enable and configure custom song title coloring
- Toggle artwork-based song title text colors
- Enable and configure a shadow color for song titles
- Toggle artwork-based shadow color for song titles
- Adjust the shadow radius for song titles
- Adjust the shadow opacity for song titles
- Adjust the shadow X & Y offsets for song titles
Artist, Album
In the Artist, Album preference pane, users will be able to:
- Toggle artist, album customization on or off on demand
- Toggle adjustments to the artist, album positioning and size on or off on demand
- Adjust the X & Y positions and width & height values for artist, album independently
- Adjust the artist, album alpha level
- Enable and configure custom artist, album font & size
- Enable and configure custom artist, album coloring
- Toggle artwork-based artist, album colors
- Enable and configure a shadow color for artist, album
- Toggle artwork-based shadow color for artist, album
- Adjust the shadow radius for artist, album
- Adjust the shadow opacity for artist, album
- Adjust the shadow X & Y offsets for artist, album
Rewind Button
In the Rewind Button preference pane, users will be able to:
- Toggle rewind button customization on or off on demand
- Toggle adjustments to the rewind button positioning and size on or off on demand
- Adjust the X & Y positions and width & height values for the rewind button independently
- Adjust the rewind button alpha level
- Configure custom rewind button corner radius
- Configure custom rewind button border width
- Enable and configure custom rewind button background coloring
- Enable and configure custom rewind button coloring
- Enable and configure custom rewind button border coloring
- Enable artwork-based rewind button background coloring
- Enable artwork-based rewind button coloring
- Enable artwork-based rewind button border coloring
- Enable swipe to shuffle gesture
- Enable haptic feedback
Skip Button
In the Skip Button preference pane, users will be able to:
- Toggle skip button customization on or off on demand
- Toggle adjustments to the skip button positioning and size on or off on demand
- Adjust the X & Y positions and width & height values for the skip button independently
- Adjust the skip button alpha level
- Configure custom skip button corner radius
- Configure custom skip button border width
- Enable and configure custom skip button background coloring
- Enable and configure custom skip button coloring
- Enable and configure custom skip button border coloring
- Enable artwork-based rewind skip background coloring
- Enable artwork-based rewind skip coloring
- Enable artwork-based rewind skip border coloring
- Enable repeat swipe gesture
- Enable haptic feedback
Others
In the Others preference pane, users will be able to:
- Enable or disable customization in the Other preference pane
- Enable a fade out animation when scrolling
- Adjust the fade alpha level
- Adjust the notification Y positioning
- Enable NextUp support
- Customize NextUp positioning and size
- Adjust X & Y positioning of the NextUp interface
- Adjust the width & height values of the NextUp interface
- Toggle RoundLockScreen support on or off on demand
With its impressive aesthetics extensive roster of configuration, Lobelias is a wonderful way to upgrade your iPhone or iPad’s Now Playing interface with a unique and eye-pleasing new appearance that will make stock iPhone users jealous.
Those interested in trying Lobeias out for themselves can download the tweak for free from Litten’s personal repository via their favorite package manager. Lobeias supports jailbroken iOS 13 devices and is open source on the developer’s GitHub page for those interested in learning more about how it works.
If you aren’t already using Litten’s repository, then you can add it to your favorite package manager using the following URL:
https://repo.litten.love
Do you have plans to give Lobelias a try, or will you be sticking to the bland, default Now Playing interface that your iPhone or iPad comes with out of the box? Be sure to let us know by dropping a comment below.