Theta

Instagram tweak for jailbreak and sideload. Open Theta from the settings gear on the home feed, or by long-pressing the home tab.

Tested against Instagram 441.0.0.

Requirements

• Theos with THEOS set (for example export THEOS=/opt/theos)
• Theos Xcode14.xctoolchain at $THEOS/toolchain/Xcode14.xctoolchain
• The patched iPhoneOS 14.5 SDK from this repo (see below). A stock Xcode SDK will not work — Theta is built with SDKVERSION = 14.5 and needs Theos-patched private-framework stubs.
• Python 3 (used by scripts/assemble.py during the build)
• A Mac with Xcode command-line tools

Jailbreak packages also need Cydia Substrate on the device (Depends: mobilesubstrate). Sideload builds bundle Substrate into the IPA.

Patched iPhoneOS 14.5 SDK

After cloning or forking, unpack the SDK into your Theos sdks directory:

mkdir -p "$THEOS/sdks"
tar -xJf sdks/iPhoneOS14.5.sdk.tar.xz -C "$THEOS/sdks"

That creates $THEOS/sdks/iPhoneOS14.5.sdk. Do not unpack it inside the Theta repo; Theos only looks under $THEOS/sdks.

Build

Prefer ./build.sh from the repo root. Do not set SIDELOAD and ROOTLESS at the same time.

./build.sh              # rootful .deb → packages/
./build.sh rootless     # rootless .deb → packages/
./build.sh sideload     # inject into input/Payload → output/Instagram_patched.ipa

Equivalent Make invocations:

make package
make package ROOTLESS=1
make package SIDELOAD=1

FFmpeg headers and frameworks live at layout/Library/Application Support/ffmpeg.framework. Sideload builds copy that framework into the app when it is present. Reel save still works without FFmpeg via a native AVFoundation fallback.

Install

Jailbreak (rootful / rootless)

1. Build with ./build.sh or ./build.sh rootless.
2. Copy the .deb from packages/ to the device and install it with Sileo, Zebra, or dpkg -i.
   • Rootful: packages/com.theta.tweak_1.0.0_iphoneos-arm.deb
   • Rootless: packages/com.theta.tweak_1.0.0_iphoneos-arm64.deb
3. Respring if the package manager does not, then open Instagram.

If Theos device install is already configured (THEOS_DEVICE_IP), make install / make install ROOTLESS=1 will install and reopen Instagram.

Sideload

1. Get a decrypted Instagram IPA and unpack it so the app binary is at:

   input/Payload/Instagram.app/Instagram
   

   Example:

   unzip Instagram.ipa -d /tmp/ig
   mkdir -p input
   cp -R /tmp/ig/Payload input/

2. Run ./build.sh sideload. That compiles Theta.dylib with SIDELOAD=1, injects it into the Instagram binary, stages CydiaSubstrate.framework, and writes output/Instagram_patched.ipa.

3. Install that IPA:

   • Sideloadly / AltStore / SideStore — open output/Instagram_patched.ipa and let the tool re-sign it with your Apple ID.
   • TrollStore — install the IPA on-device.

4. Open Instagram. Theta settings use the same gear / home-tab long-press as jailbreak.

If Substrate cannot be found automatically, set SUBSTRATE_FRAMEWORK_PATH to a CydiaSubstrate.framework directory, or place one at third_party/CydiaSubstrate.framework.

Known issues

Area	Scope	Status
Navigation (Tab Icon Order, Swipe Between Tabs, Launch Tab, Hide Feed/Explore/Reels/Messages Tab, Messenger Mode)	Sideload only	Broken

Jailbreak Navigation settings are unaffected. Everything else in Theta settings is expected to work on both jailbreak and sideload.

Layout

Source/
  Runtime/          Hook helpers, Substrate loader, sideload shims, entrypoint
  Hooks/
    Behavior/       Ads, stories, confirmations, privacy, live, …
    General/        Date format, external browser, liquid glass
    Media/          Reel tap controls
    Messages/       DM features
    Save/           Media / profile / audio saves
    UI/             Tabs, navigation, settings entry points
    Sideload/       Keychain / app-group fakes
  UI/               Settings, toasts, helpers, lock screen
  Media/            Download UI, AV1 transcoder, DASH
  ProfileAnalyzer/  Follower analytics
Include/            Public headers
scripts/assemble.py Builds TweakCOMPILE.xm (single TU for static hooks)