David Ashman talks LockInfo post iOS 5 notifications

By Rene Ritchie
last updated

David Ashman is the developer behind LockInfo, the popular notification and lock screen information app for Jailbreak -- and he's just seen Apple add their own version of both those features to iOS 5. So how does he feel about that, and what does it mean for the future of LockInfo?

Check out the video above, shot at WWDC 2011 the day after the keynote to see what he says. (Spoiler: While Apple may fill the needs of casual users, LockInfo is going to make the pros very, very happy for a long time to come.)

[LockInfo]

Rene Ritchie
Rene Ritchie
Contributor

Rene Ritchie is one of the most respected Apple analysts in the business, reaching a combined audience of over 40 million readers a month. His YouTube channel, Vector, has over 90 thousand subscribers and 14 million views and his podcasts, including Debug, have been downloaded over 20 million times. He also regularly co-hosts MacBreak Weekly for the TWiT network and co-hosted CES Live! and Talk Mobile. Based in Montreal, Rene is a former director of product marketing, web developer, and graphic designer. He's authored several books and appeared on numerous television and radio segments to discuss Apple and the technology industry. When not working, he likes to cook, grapple, and spend time with his friends and family.

33 Comments
  • I don't think native "quick-replies" are out of the question for the future of iOS. I'm a bit surprised they didn't make it into iOS 5.0, but I think now that Apple has everything BUT that in the notification, we'll see more of a push from end users to demand just that.
  • It's all great for adults who have eihisnfd their basic education, but I do not agree with? parents using technology like this to teach reading. Reading involves mentally translating symbols into images, ideas, and feelings, whereas technology like TV and computers do that for you (images/sounds), reducing your ability to do the reverse (images/feelings into words). Many kids can't express themselves in correct- colorful ways,and must cultivate good reading habits before the excitement of iPad
  • How will Apples coding to make iOS lock screen info visible effect the coding in LockInfo?
  • Sorry this is off the subject. Just to let everyone know who has the IOS5 beta. Apple made it where you can individually delete a recent call..
  • No quick reply = garbage ;(.
    Bitesms and lockinfo will remain
  • Hello, Found this blog on yahoo while looking for a reltead blog. found this to be a enjoyable read. Please keep blogging, i like your style and will be following your blogs.
  • Lockinfo all the way! Apple fi
  • Darn it! As I was saying...Apple finally gets around to implementing something that we've been asking for forever now, and then only does it halfway. Can I put weather on their lockscreen? How about my calendar? If not, I'll pass, and stick with Lockinfo, as it's so much more useful. Plus, I'd rather give my money to someone who actually listens to what their customers want instead of tells me what I want and expects me to fawn all over them as if they did something amazing for me.
  • Ohh kevin... !!
  • Lockinfo will continue to be better and allow a whole more customization than Apple will ever be able to respond too.
  • Ya I'm sure Apple will totally suffer, like each past quarter they are going to have terrible sales because of their crap job...oh wait...And if u wanna know the weather...use a window.
  • Actually apple integrated the weather into the notification pulldown.
  • wow! and android has had that same feature since day one and more in the notifcation tray. but wait its magical when stevie puts it in.
  • Yep! Just like when I could MMS again after being on the iPhone platform for two years. :)
  • Does anybody know if iOS 5 provides any icons on the status bar like LockInfo does?
  • No, it does not. There is no centralized notification center. You just have to check the "Apple" InfoShade to see if you have new notifications (especially since you can have apps put themselves in the aInfoShade, but not show an alert.
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  • the Xoom is better, the iPad2 owner says the iPad2. The Xoom has flash and iPad2 doesn't which is a win for Xoom, but the Xoom seems slewor to take a picture. Speakers: The Xoom has two small speakers, iPad2 has one slightly larger speaker. The sound is somewhat better quality on the iPad2 and the Xoom cannot achieve the same volume as the iPad2. But they are both pretty poor use earphones or an external speaker if you want decent audio. Battery life: Difficult for me to give an exact comparison, but based on family usage it seems the iPad2 has the edge here, but not by much. Internal storage: The Xoom has 1GB of RAM and 32 GB of flash storage. The iPad2 has 512MB of RAM and 16GB, 32GB or 64GB of flash storage I bought the 64GB model. External storage: The Xoom has an external card slot that supports SD cards, but the software was not ready in time for the product release. The slot is inoperative until Motorola releases an operating system update. The iPad2 has no external storage support. User Experience: The iPad2 was up and running quite quickly. I connected the device to iTunes and it automatically updated to the latest version of the operating Help other customers find the most helpful reviewsa0Was this review helpful to you?a0 | a0
  • Can't he sue? Since the FCC said Jailbreaking is legal, Lockinfo is legal. He could sue Apple the same way Apple is suing Samsung. Samsung says "there are only so many ways to make a phone, so they just happen to look similar" would be hilarious to hear the same thing from Apple about Lockinfo.
  • No, not unless he has a design patent that apple infringed upon.
    Your logic is also slightly flawed. The Library of Congress stated that jailbreaking is legal, but that doesn't matter. Lockinfo has never been illegal, so it was not suddenly made legal by the fact that the act that required it to be loaded became legal. The software was legal from the beginning, even when there was ambiguity as to whether jailbreaking was. The only way it could be illegal would be if it copied code verbatim from Apple, which it didn't.
  • He's absolutely right.
    The iOS version will be great for my wife, but there is no way I'm giving up lockinfo for it. Far superior! Apple should have hired Ashman!
  • Was that the Apple police we heard in the background towards the end if the clip?
  • I thought Apple either paid him off or hired him?
  • iPad 2 features are quite good goeunh. If the iPad 3 does not have that much difference with the iPad2 then, you are wasting your time waiting for the iPad3. The A5 chip and the 10 hours battery life i guess is good goeunh.
  • I think an app launcher, like favorite contacts, would be a great idea. No need for iOS notifications.
  • No it didn't... I have my local weather in my notification centre. It's above everything else that appears there. I can also swipe across the weather to show a full week of weather forecasts.
    I'm also not jailbroken.
  • the notification centre does show calendar events. Just not from the lock screen.
    I can't wait for iOS 5 to be jailbroken (untethered).
    Unfortunately, I only found out about LockInfo today! I must have been living under a rock! So I don't know what it's really like :(
  • My lockinfo and the callender was displaying information in Georgian, which suddenly disappeared and is no longer available in International Region Format, where all the countries are listed except Georgia. I have Iphone 3GS running on iOS 5. If anyone knows, please let me know how to revert the English display back to Georgian. My calender was also in Georgian and I miss it a lot.
  • Apple's implementation of notifications on the lock screen is pitiful. We're a long, long way from not needing LockInfo. Hands down the most useful bit of software I have on my phone.
  • Apple's implementation of notifications on the lock screen is pitiful. We're a long, long way from not needing LockInfo. Hands down the most useful bit of software I have on my phone.
  • Does anyone now how to get the full week of the weather on lockinfo iOS 5 thank you
  • Hi. I'm reviewing your Just Spring book and watned to download the examples from o'reilly. Do you have a zipped version of the example directory? At present, they're only offered to be downloaded a file at a time, which is rather painful and time-consuming. Thanks, Ken
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