For some iOS users, they may jailbreak iOS device for several times but they still can’t tell what’s jailbreak exactly. This tutorial is mainly explaining what is Cydia and what’s repository to you, you may get a clear idea of jailbreak after reading.

What’s Cydia?

Cydia has acted as a metonym for Jailbreak, but at its core, Cydia is just an App Store for downloading and managing new Jailbreak apps/tweaks. Apple (of course) doesn’t allow such third-party tweaks in its App Store, so Jailbroken users have to resort to Cydia as an alternative App Store. The only way to install Cydia on your iPhone/iPad is to Jailbreak your iOS device.

As a fun fact, the term “Cydia” is a scientific name for a worm that infects Apple (the fruit). Jay Freeman AKA Saurik, the mastermind behind Cydia, did choose the name very aptly.

What’s a Repository/Source?

Repos, short for repositories, is a place for hosting the Jailbreak tweaks/apps. This hosting is done on a web server on the Internet. Sometimes, it is used interchangeably with the term “Sources“. The current version of Cydia comes with a couple of sources added by default, namely — BigBoss and ModMyi. These repositories are home to hundreds of Jailbreak tweaks.

You may want to know How to Add A Repository /Source in Cydia