Apps

Multitasking 101: Activator

Guest Author ∙ Updated March 27, 2018

>When it comes to multitasking, the Apple line of iDevices falls short. Very short. Apple's claims are more or less valid; multitasking drains the battery. While this may be true in some cases, it doesn't completely hold up to that claim. There are millions of people who jailbreak their devices just so they can multitask.

As of this writing, all generations of the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch cannot multitask applications that are not part of the stock firmware. This means that you cannot download applications from iTunes App Store and minimize it (run it in the background). Have you ever become frustrated that you can't listen to Pandora radio and surf the web with Mobile Safari? Yeah? So have many of us.

Rumors are piling up that Apple will finally allow these 3rd party applications to run in the background. On white paper, this means you can run applications such as Pandora and play games simultaneously at the expense of a generous battery tax. At least the choice would exist. We own the devices after all.

The intriguing part of the iPhone is the fact that there is only one main button. Equally as important is the power button and the volume controls. This opens up new questions as to how to activate backgrounded applications. It's clear that Apple invents but it's also clear that Apple sometimes "borrows" code from the open source projects.

Enter Activator. A free and open source library and Mobile Subtract extension, developed by Ryan Petrich (better known as @rpetrich on Twitter), available to any developer to include with their development projects. That's great for developers. What about the average user?

To the average user, the only catch is Activator is a forbidden fruit and only available for jailbroken devices and only available in the Cydia Store. Anyone using Overboard and/or Snappy is already familiar with the library since Activator is a required library for both applications and is automatically downloaded and installed when either application is installed. It can also be installed as a stand alone application so there is no obligation to install anything else. Just do a search for "Activator" in Cydia and install. Then go to Settings.app and scroll down to your jailbreak settings table and configure your gestures.

Activator installs a handful of gestures, or activation methods, that can be assigned to any application, even applications from the App Store. How cool is that? This allows users to quickly access, or activate, background processes by simply swiping a finger or quickly tapping the home button. Of course, this genius developer also included support for using the volume buttons and the power button.

Assuming all said rumors of multitasking are true, what are your thoughts on handling backgrounded applications? Will Apple develop their own gesture code or "borrow" and close the doors? Activator is there... in all its glory. Free and open. One thing is certain; the current gesture API will need to be updated because one home button cannot do all the work.

My Thoughts On The iPad On Release Day

Guest Author ∙ Updated March 5, 2018

I'm usually up this early for work so it was no sweat for me to get up at 3:00 a.m. and have breakfast with a group of Twitter enthusiasts to get the new Apple iPad. I was one of the few people in the group who was actually not sold on the iPad. I have an iPhone. Why do I need an iPad? I listened to Steve Jobs and watched Apple's series of videos but nothing so far convinced me to buy one. I knew I had to have it in my hands to know if I really could use one. So, I tagged along.

Apple employees were willing to let me try the device even though I told them I had no intention of buying it.

Unfortunately the Wi-Fi at the Apple Store I was at in Hawaii was so flooded I couldn't use apps on the iPad that needed the internet and I couldn't browse Safari. But, there was still plenty to check out.

I immediately wanted to try a racing game and the iPad I was using had Real Racing HD [iTunes link]. I actually didn't like Real Racing on the iPhone and preferred other racing apps like Asphalt 5. I found the learning curve to be tougher. But, on the iPad I quickly learned how to drive well. I didn't even read the instructions so I didn't even use the brakes. Plus, the more recent racing games are notorious for slow loading (especially on the iPhone 3G) but the iPad handled the game with ease.

Another highlight: Pianist Pro [iTunes link]. I know how to play a variety of instruments including the piano. And the iPhone has been almost worthless when it comes to simulating a real instrument. But, Pianist Pro comes pretty darn close to at least a workable toy keyboard. The touchscreen was sensitive enough to handle the chords and arpeggios I threw at it. A drum machine is built-in. There's a dual keyboard mode for playing both the left hand and the right hand notes. The only real drawback to the app is that the white keys will only trigger when hit below the black keys making a chord like A-flat a little harder. Pianists and keyboardists will know what I'm talking about. If that can be fixed, it would be a near-perfect piano app for the iPad.

My favorite new native feature is the ability to use your photos as an animated picture frame when your iPad is locked. It's called Picture Frame. Use it and love it.

I'm definitely a lot more intrigued by the iPad now that I had a chance to have one in my hands. If I do get one, I'm more inclined to use the iPad at home and use my iPhone when I'm out on the road. If I do get an iPad I would rather get the 3G version so when I go on trips I'll always have the internet. Family that I visit in the continental U.S. doesn't have Wi-Fi. I can just activate the unlimited 3G for that month since there is no contract required.

Leave a comment to let us know what you think about the iPad after trying it out.

iRemix Considerably Improves Your iPod App

Sébastien Page ∙ March 31, 2010

Do you feel that the features of the iPod app of your iPhone or iTouch are limited? You're not alone. The other day as I was miserably stuck in a bus between Ninh Binh and Halong Bay in Vietnam, I was playing with my iPod and building an on-the-go playlist. I found it absolutely ridiculous that I couldn't add songs to the on-the-go playlist while playing the songs.

After doing a bit of research online (all this over the amazing Vietnamese 3G), I came across iRemix, a jailbreak app that aims at enhancing your iPod experience. iRemix is more a mod than an app per say. It integrates seamlessly with your iPod app, making it much better.

I was excited about iRemix because it was supposedly able to do what I wanted: easily add songs being played to the on-the-go playlist. But it also has other badass features:

Favorites: tap and hold on a song then add it to your favorites Bookmarks: tap the little bookmark icon to create a bookmark anywhere in a song or audiobook Quick add: quickly add songs to the on-the-go playlist Fast search: simple and powerful search feature Song info: easily get artist or album info. Also allows you to watch the video of the song as well as search for lyrics Enhanced FFW and REW: tap and hold the FFW or REW button to easily jump forward or backward by 15 s, 30 s, 1 min, or 5 minutes.

In the first image below, you can see the bookmarking feature, the "i" for information search, and the FFW/REW feature. Note that I added all of them for this screenshot but the screen doesn't normally look so busy. In the second image, you can see the "add to on-the-go" and "add to favorites" features.

These sounds like very simple features, don't they? Well, they are very basic but very powerful. So powerful that I suspect we will see some of them in iPhone OS 4.0.

iRemix is available from Cydia for $2.99 and comes with a 5-day trial period. This app is a no brainer for anyone looking to make enhance the iPod feature.

You might have already heard or even tried iRemix since it's not so new. If so, what do you think about this app?

Remotely Control Your Mac or PC with Remote Jr.

Cody Lee ∙ Updated March 27, 2018

I think I'm with Angi on this one. I generally don't pay for apps. But, if I really need an application because it performs certain tasks, and I can't find anything in the free section, I have to buy it. Remote Jr. by Pratik Kumar is definitely one of those applications.

I'm one of those nerds that is constantly trying to find a way to incorporate my iPhone into my everyday life, thus eliminating other remotes and devices. Like when my MacBook is connected to my TV, instead of having an actual wireless keyboard and mouse, I use my iPhone with an app like Logitech's Touch Mouse App.

This proved to be very handy as I could sit quite a distance from my TV and MacBook and pull up webpages, search movies on YouTube, and click through photos. I even had applications that would control my iTunes and the front row applications on my MacBook.

These were all great, but I discovered that what I really wanted was the ability to see the screen of my desktop on my iPhone, as I was controlling it. Just imagine all the possibilities (I say that with a joker-like grin with my hands in a Mr. Burns 'excellent' pose).

After sifting through Apple's App Store I didn't see a whole lot of options. As I started to filter out applications by options (desktop view, mac OS X compatible, etc...) it really just came down to Remote Jr.

After reading that the application also offered the ability to connect to a laptop or desktop over the internet I had no problem dropping the $7.99. The fact that it included a built in front row remote mode was also an added bonus.

But the real value is in the fact that it doesn't have to be on the same network as the computer you are trying to connect to. In general most remote control apps require that you be on the same wireless network as the connecting device, Remote Jr. apparently didn't get that memo.

I had to try this out. From my wireless network at work, I was able to see my MacBook that I left open at home. Without having to mess with the settings, I pressed on my MacBook's icon (that I had setup that morning), and within seconds I was connected to my MacBook at home. I was able to pull up pictures and type a to do list for when I got home.

The coolest thing was probably, right as I was leaving work, I set a playlist up in itunes to start playing. Not just any playlist, but a list of awesome songs that I would love to come home to. Sure enough, after a quick 10 minute commute, I opened my front door to "Welcome to the Jungle" by The Guns and Roses. Que 5 minute air guitar solo, "nunna nunna knees! knees! knees!"

So back to the application. It really seemed to impress more around every corner. Initial setup is a breeze. You run remote helper on your client mac or PC, and you open Remote Jr. on your iPhone. No entering in long and confusing IP addresses, no constant clicking "find" or "search", like all of us have come to expect with apple products, it just worked.

The front row mode on the phone performed like a champ, I was able to watch DVD's browse pictures, and of course play music, all from any room in my house.

Now, for some people, especially those who plan on doing a lot of typing, they may want to go with a full size wireless keyboard. The tiny keyboard on the iPhone screen won't meet everyone's needs. There is also some lag when switching from front row remote to live desktop and other modes, so if that is going to bug you, stay away. But for my needs, this app was perfect.

If you're looking for a way to control your computer from across the living room or across town, at $7.99 Remote Jr. is perfect for you too. Especially if you are a Mac user, this might be your best option for a desktop view capable remote application (and if you know of a better one, link it in the comments, we'll check it out).

Any question or comment, please feel free to ask.

Send iPhone Apps As Gifts

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated July 6, 2017

Giving an iTunes gift card is cool, but I think it's even cooler to be able to give specific apps as gift, and that's what Apple just made possible.

According to Mashable, this new feature has come to the App Store, allowing you to gift specific iPhone apps to other users.

On the drop-down box on each application’s page (next to the “Buy” button) there’s now an option that says “Gift This App.” From that point, you then just enter in details like name, e-mail address and the message that you want to include.

Apparently this feature has been around forever and allowed you to gift music from iTunes. I wasn't aware of it until today. A pretty simple bu neat feature... What do you think? [Via Download Squad]

What Would You Pay For An App?

Guest Author ∙ Updated January 23, 2016

I will admit, I’m a free app lover. A real cheapo when it comes to my apps. I currently have a 5 row springboard with 4 pages of apps and a ton hidden with “Poof!”, and most are free. I have just found that most of the things I want apps for have one available for free. Or a lite version. However, I am an admitted (and proud) oldskool video game junkie.

So… when Square Enix recently released two Final Fantasy games for the iPhone I was in. I didn’t know what they would cost but I didn’t really care. I bought into the hype gladly. When the apps were released (finally!) I hopped into the App Store that day to buy them. $9 bucks! Wow!

Up until then my most expensive app was probably $1.99. And I saw that was for EACH game, not both. I went ahead and plunked down the $9.00 and I have to admit, it’s pretty great. Very authentic, not laggy, the graphics are old style & good.

However, I wasn’t willing to buy BOTH games at that price. Why? The fact that I couldn’t try them with a “lite” version first. Now I know that in the grand scheme of things $9 bucks isn’t a ton of money, but for me it’s an expensive app, especially since I’m still rockin’ a 1st gen and who knew how it would work?

I’ve seen several apps around the $5 dollar range that I could probably be persuaded to buy if only I could try them first. And I have certainly bought paid apps after trying the free version and liking it. So the question is… how much should an app cost to require, or at least desire, a free version first? Because I have no problem paying for it, I just want to see if I like it before I do. If it’s a good one I will definitely buy.

Are some of these app developers shooting themselves in the foot by not offering a lite version, or at least a few days trial period so us users can give it a try? I know for me personally, I would buy more if I could try more. Thoughts?

Circuitous – A Different Take On iPhone App Switching

Guest Author ∙ Updated August 24, 2016

This is a guest post by iDB reader Jeton Aliji. If you'd like to send your articles to be published on the blog, make sure to check out the guidelines.

In the ModMyI repo today we have a new package called Circuitous, which is another app switcher, but this one has a more different approach which some of you might like.

Dan Zimmerman, the author calls Circuitous a “custom app switcher”. Circuitous shows applications in a dock on the right side of your springboard.

The app activation methods are controlled by Activator, the superb centralized gestures and button management for iPhone OS which is developed by Ryan Petrich. It's good to see more and more apps who use Ryan Petrich's library.

Apart from showing the dock (with an activation method you choose from Activator), Circuitous has an option to cycle through open apps (both forward and backward) by letting you choose the activation method to cycle through the open/backgrounded apps.

From my own experience, I find Circuitous very user friendly and less obtrusive than the other apps, as it covers only part of your springboard and not the whole page.

For activating the dock I have chosen the Home Button double press ( used to be kirikae on that spot, but now I activate kirikae by double tapping on the status bar).

Circuitous joins the rank of apps such as ProSwitcher and Kirikae, and the best thing of all these is that they use Activator to manage their activation settings.

Try it for youself, it’s free and of course share you thoughts about it.

Jeton is a 28 y/o Albanian who loves to play and try new Cydia tweaks and apps. He believes that the jailbreak scene is a showcase of the creative geniuses and the beautiful minds of the people that make the iPhone more that it was meant to be. You can find Jeton on Jeton on Twitter where he also has an iPhone Dev list where he keeps up with all things Cydia.

ScreenRecorder Records Everything You Do On Your iPhone

Sébastien Page ∙ March 12, 2010

ScreenRecorder is a new application by Elton Bolzanac that allows you to record a video of your iPhone screen. Per the description of the app:

This application let’s you take video captures of your screen. This is extremely useful for quick tutorials or demonstrations, or when you want to show proof of a new hack you have accomplished. There are obviously many other uses for this. For example, you could use this like a “Notes” application, but with video instead of words!

Keep in mind that video recording is a very intense process, so crashing is very frequent on videos that have a capture time of more than 45 seconds.

I haven't tried this app myself but from what I understand it is pretty unstable. While it sounds like a very promising app, I think it's a little pricey at $1.99. Maybe a few updates to make it more stable will make this app very useful.

Have you tried ScreenRecorder yet? If so, please share your thought by leaving a comment.

SBSettings Actually Makes Your iPhone Better?

Cody Lee ∙ March 8, 2010

When the iPhone initially launched in 2007, the much anticipated iPhone OS required an arsenal of jailbroken apps to perform even the mildest tasks such as MMS and video recording. But through product refreshes and several software updates, that list of apps is shrinking and the iPhone OS is now considered among the industries top mobile platforms.

Now that functions such as copy/paste and video recording are available in the stock OS, jailbroken applications like Clippy and Cycorder are no longer necessities. Now I know your thinking, "So what are you saying Cody, I no longer 'need' to jailbreak my iPhone?" Not even close.

As long as Apple continues to disable users from customizing their springboard backgrounds and their icons, and of course forcing them to remain with AT&T even though other carriers get far better coverage in their home area, and continue to ignore several other missing features, iPhone users will have a reason to jailbreak. One app I continue to jailbreak for, because you can only get it from Cydia, is SBSettings.

Now let me explain. The feature I think Apple continues to miss the boat on is shortcuts. If I want to turn my bluetooth on, it is a 4 step process, 5 if you count the unlock screen. Same with changing the brightness, it's a 4 or 5 step process. Other mobile platform developers have addressed the need for shortcuts to commonly used functions in the form of widgets or shortcuts in an always on screen task bar, but for some reason Apple resists.

Enter SBSettings By Big Boss. A simple, skinnable device manager that's actually been around for quite a while. The application and themes for it can be searched for and downloaded from the Cydia App Store, so of course it's available to jailbreakers only.

The first thing you'll notice about SBSettings is how easily and quickly it launches once installed. Requiring nothing more than a finger slide across the top banner, the application drops down in the form of a window with several icons. Now the default theme is gaudy but I found it was easy to install downloaded themes by clicking the 'more' icon you see in the image below.

The theme I use is 'iPhone Congruency' and I love it because it looks stock, like it is supposed to be there. Once you got it looking good, again from the 'more' icon, you need to decide which 'toggle' icons are showing. If you don't see a toggle you want, more can be downloaded through Cydia, and can be added in this same 'toggle' screen once downloaded.

I personally like the 'processes' toggle. Although the iPhone isn't known for having great multitasking capabilities, the phone can still get bogged down with Mail, SMS, iPod, and Safari apps all open at once. The 'processes' toggle lets you shut these apps down and give your iPhone a quick boost in recovered RAM.

With toggles to turn bluetooth and wifi off and on with one touch, this app is definitely a time saver. It also gives you other great features like a quick launch App dock to launch apps from instead of scrolling through all of your icon-loaded spring boards, and the ability to re spring (or restart your iPhone, once again with one or 2 touches instead of 5 and 6 touches.

Between the time saving shortcuts, ease of use, and the fact that I can make it blend in with the rest of the phone's GUI with a quick skin download, this free app from BIG BOSS available from Cydia is a must have in my opinion.

Hopefully Apple will stumble across this little gem at some point and really take the idea of 'widgets' and 'shortcuts' more seriously. It would really be nice to see some sort of implementation of Apple's popular dashboard widget screen get ported to their mobile devices. But for right now we must use the tools we have in front of us, and with apps floating around like SBSettings, maybe thats not such a bad thing. ;op

Infiniboard Brings Vertical Scrolling to Your iPhone Springboard

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated May 21, 2010

Chpwn is one of my favorite jailbreak devs because he creates really useful apps and mods that just make your iPhone experience better. He worked with Ryan Petrich on ProSwitcher, he developed InfiniDock, and today, he just released InfiniBoard. InfiniBoard is a jailbreak application that simply brings vertical scrolling to your iPhone springboard. It lets you add as many icons as you wish to any page, and access them by flicking up and down. I've played with InfiniBoard for about an hour now and it works as described. The way I went about it is that instead of moving my icons one by one to a page, I used MultiIconMover to move all my icons at once. It saved me lots of time. On the springboard, I left my first and second page of apps with 12 icons per page. These are the apps I use the most and I wanted to keep part of my springboard "clean". On the third page, I added every other application so I can just browse through them by scrolling vertically.

I'll have to test InfiniBoard on a longer period of time to figure out if I like it or not. So far, I think it's worth the $1.99. What do you think?

Milk Crater: A Different way to Browse Your iPod Music Collection (sponsored)

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 23, 2016

Back in December I tweeted about a new app called TUN3R, a sort of visual dial for Internet Radio. The app is interesting if you like Internet radio, but doesn't really go beyond that. The same folks have just released another application called Milk Crater which they claim to be the world's first real-time audio iPod browser. Okay, but how does it actually work?

Milk Crater generates a large grid created from your iPod collection. It uses cover art to generate the tiles, or if no cover art is available for a song, then it uses the song title.

The first time you run the app, it starts a "Dial Rebuild" process which can take anywhere from 10 seconds to a couple of minutes. It does this in order to generate a giant "dial" (which is more like a grid of cover art and song titles). This is where the fun begins. After generating this “dial”, you can move around it by sliding your fingers.

What really sets Milk Crater apart from other music apps (including the iPod app itself) is the fact that it switches audio in real-time as you slip and slide around the grid with your fingers.

Once you get the hang of it, you can start doing more interesting things like building playlists on-the-fly as you browse. It's also possible to export these playlists back into your iPod, through an e-mail export (the only way possible).

Another worthwhile feature is its search capability, which begins highlighting results on the "dial" as you type.

At this point, it's tough to say if it will replace the iPod app itself, but it may give it a run for its $1.99.

Favorite Apps of the Month

Guest Author ∙ Updated March 5, 2018

These are actually my favorite apps of February but I'm a little late...

Power Downloader [iTunes link] - This is a free app that lets you download a host of files to your iPhone like JPG, GIF, HTML, MP3, MP4, 3GP and more. But, what I like to use it for is downloading YouTube videos for later viewing at full resolution. However, you can only watch the video from within the app and there's no way to get the video off your iPhone. Obviously, Apple wouldn't have an app that would pirate YouTube videos. Since YouTube videos don't stream on 3G at full resolution on the iPhone, this helps to watch your videos more cleanly. There doesn't seem to be a size limit when downloading on 3G.

Which location-based app has more than double the amount of users of Foursquare and Gowalla combined and is free? If the answer is MyTown [iTunes link] you'd be correct! Unlike other location-sharing apps, MyTown plays much more like a real game. When you check in to places, you have the option of buying them for your virtual town. The properties you buy give you constant income and to upgrade them you need money. To level up, you need points and you get that by checking in to more places. I have to admit I'm kind of addicted to this. However, the GPS locating on this app is not very good and I have to type in my location most of the time.

I used Beejive for the longest time to instant message on my iPhone. I loved it for the most part but the app loading time was horrendous. Plus, I paid $9.99 for the app. Then came Meebo [iTunes link]. It's free and I believe it does load a little faster than Beejive. I'm sure it's even more magnified for me since I have the older 3G. 3GS users may or may not see that much of a difference. Sure, Beejive has a lot more features. But, I don't use most of them. I just want to IM. Meebo supports push notifications and when you bring up Meebo on your desktop, push notifications are disabled on your iPhone. Nice touch.

Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock [iTunes link] - Apparently, we sleep in cycles of light and deep sleep. Every night, we set our alarm to go off at a certain time in the morning but many times it is when we are in a deep sleep cycle. So, we're very groggy when it's time to get up. The Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock is app designed to change that. The app will sound a soothing alarm when you're in a light sleep cycle and then you can gradually get up. Just as a warning, sometimes your light sleep cycle could come 30 minutes before you actually want to get up. The accelerometer tracks the movement on your bed and knows if you're in a light or deep sleep cycle. So, yes, you will have to sleep with your iPhone on your bed. And, yes, I have knocked my iPhone off my bed a couple of times. What I really like the $.99 app for is tracking how long I'm in light and deep sleep. I posted a sample of one of my night's sleep. I have a lot of peaks and valleys. I am a light sleeper.

What are your favorite apps of the month?