AppSlide Gives Your iPhone a Back Button, Sort of [Video]

The iPhone’s all-touchscreen design caused Apple to make some steep compromises. The device lacks physical buttons that can be found on the simplest of phones. Though the list is long, it seems like the omission of a physical camera and standard back button sit at the top.

Lucky for us, we have the bright minds of the jailbreak community to make up for iOS’ shortcomings. Apps like Activator and FastSnap easily solve the first dilemma, and the new Cydia tweak, AppSlide, solves the second. Back button anyone?

Chpwn, a well known jailbreak developer, announced a new tweak yesterday. The utility allows you to assign the iPhone’s home button (or other Activator method) as a virtual back button, allowing you to jump back to the previous app you were in.

The functionality of the app is really hard to explain in words, it’s much easier to understand once you’ve seen it in action. Don’t worry, iDB has you covered:

[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-csxl9Z7UvA[/tube]

As with most tweaks, there isn’t a homescreen icon. What you can customize, though, is the way AppSlide is engaged. Just pop into the Activator tab in the Settings app, and select any method of your choosing.

AppSlide’s not only available for free in Cydia, curious developers can also grab the source code to the tweak. If you think a virtual back button would help your work flow or you’re just looking for a change of pace, check it out.

Have you tried AppSlide?