If you have used or are familiar with Installer.app in the past, Cydia should look rather familiar and be fairly easy to navigate. For those who have never used Installer.app or Cydia, I will try to explain how to use Cydia and how to get the most from your iPad.

Please note this only works on iPads that have already been hacked see our post on getting your iPad Hacked if you haven’t already. Once Hacked you can use the following:

First you need to find your new Cydia icon on your springboard  press the icon, it will start to load while it updates the sources and loads the welcome screen. If this is your fist time using Cydia or you haven’t used it in a while, you may get a notice “Essential upgrades” appear. These are the actual upgrades to Cydia application itself that will be needed to install new packages and applications. Press the essential upgrades and confirm to begin the download and installation of the upgrade. Wait for it to complete and close the window, press your home key and re-launch Cydia to continue (always recommended to restart Cydia to ensure new packages are reloaded).

To update applications if you have previously installed any, you will notice a notification next to the “Changes” menu. This indicates there are updates for your already installed applications. First press “changes” and press Upgrade all (will be top right of your screen) then press confirm to continue and download and install. (tip- in the “changes” you will also find recently added or changed applications and may be a great place to find anything new)

Now you should be able to upgrade and update already installed applications to your newly Hacked iPad.

I will explain how to load any new applications.

To install an application you will need to press the Install button (near the bottom) and here you can browse through the many different categories of applications available. Choose a category, then browse through to the actual application you are looking for and press the name of your  chosen application. In the top right you’ll find the Install button press this and then press confirm on the next page, it will now start to run downloading, preparing and complete . When completed press close, you are finished and your application will be installed. Hit your home key, the home screen will refresh and show your new icon.