MediaBar14 adds music controls to the iPhone’s Home Bar

One of the things Apple does really well is provide a quality music streaming service that can be accessed from all of your favorite devices, whether they’re mobile handsets or desktop computers. On the other hand, Apple could always do better by improving the experience of the user interface, especially in terms of music control accessibility on the iOS & iPadOS platforms.

Jailbreakers know all too well about the many shortcomings of Apple’s stock user interface, and that’s one reason why there are so many jailbreak tweaks available to the aftermarket. MediaBar14, for example, is a newly released jailbreak tweak by iOS developer MegaDev that lends a hand to Apple’s user interface in this particular department.

As depicted in the screenshot examples above, MediaBar14 complements the Home Bar on compatible iPhones and iPads with Now Playing controls and information. Controls include buttons for playing/pausing the Now Playing track, and buttons for skipping to the next track or returning to the last track. Above that, the tweak shows the name and artist of the song currently playing.

We think MediaBar14 is a splendid idea because the Home Bar is something that appears just about everywhere in the operating system, whether you’re on the Home Screen, Lock Screen, or in an app. Music consumers are likely to agree, as music controls are normally hidden within the Control Center, Lock Screen, or Notification Center interfaces.

As you might come to expect, a tweak like MediaBar14 comes with options that users can configure based on their liking:

Here, you can:

  • Toggle MediaBar14 on or off on demand
  • Enable showing the title in the background
  • Hide the player from the Lock Screen (this would be redundant)
  • Always show the player
  • Configure a fade out speed
  • Configure a custom Home Bar width
  • Reset all options to their defaults

The developer includes a convenient button at the top right of the preference pane to save any changes you make on demand.

If you’re looking for a solid way to augment your iPhone or iPad’s music listening experience, then MediaBar14 is a good place to start. The tweak is available for $1.49 from the Chariz repository via your favorite package manager and supports jailbroken iOS 14 devices.

Do you plan to augment your handset’s Home Bar with the MediaBar14 tweak? Share why or why not in the comments section below.