iOS’ native text selection menu is somewhat cumbersome to use, and so it should come as no surprise that jailbreakers have requested alternatives to it for eons. With that in mind, jailbreak tweak developer Satvik has come to the rescue with a new free release dubbed SelectionPlus.

As you might recall from the native text selection menu, users would need to tap and hold before releasing to invoke a column-oriented interface. A setup like this isn’t particularly useful on an iPhone because the handset’s display isn’t particularly wide, and it sometimes necessitates several taps to move between all the options.

SelectionPlus solves this problem by replacing the native column-oriented text selection interface with a vertical row-oriented interface. Moreover, rather than compelling you to tap on little arrow buttons to move from one column to the next and risking the inconvenience of tapping outside of the hitbox, SelectionPlus lets you scroll vertically through all the options.

In the screenshot examples above, you’ll notice that SelectionPlus is fully-customizable. The tweak adds a preference pane to the Settings app after installation where you can set the tweak up to your needs:

Here, you can:

  • Enable or disable SelectionPlus on demand
  • Choose the number of options that are shown on launch
  • Configure a custom cell height
  • Configure the separator line width
  • Configure the window width in portrait mode
  • Configure the text alignment
  • Choose a custom background color via a color picker
  • Choose a custom border color via a color picker
  • Choose a custom separator color via a color picker
  • Reset all options to their defaults

The developer provides a Respring button at the right side of the navigation bar so that you can save your changes as you make them. This is a necessary step; otherwise, your option selections won’t be appended.

We particularly like that you can choose the number of options that appear in the interface at first glance, and we’re also fans of the size adjustments, which are perfect for fat-fingered individuals who often have trouble tapping inside the stock hitbox constraints.

From what we can tell, SelectionPlus is a significant upgrade from the native text-selection menu, and those interested in trying it can download the tweak for free from the Nepeta repository in Cydia or Sileo. SelectionPlus supports all jailbroken iOS 11 and 12 devices and is open source on the developer’s GitHub page.

What’s your favorite part of SelectionPlus when compared to the native text-selection menu? Discuss in the comments section below!