So far “ on just Day 4 of running the iPhone 3GS jailbroken “ I really haven ‘t installed very many jailbreak apps. It ‘s been a busy week and I just haven ‘t had time to look through Cydia very much and see what I might want. I have tried out a small number of apps though “ and have one that I like enough to have purchased it “ mQuickDo.
I mentioned this app in a recent post, as it is the one that delivers lovely, almost-instant app-switching capability to me on the 3GS. So by using this app, I can now select to copy a chunk of text in Safari, slide right along the bottom of the iPhone screen, tap on the icon for the Things task manager app to immediately switch to it, paste in the text, slide right again, and tap on Safari to continue reading. No more ‘middle-man ‘ visits to the home screen in order to launch a frequently used app. Hallelujah.
mQuickDo ‘s description in Cydia focuses on its abilities to provide ‘virtual Home and Power buttons ‘ for the iPhone. I think they should highlight the app-switching features “ as that is easily the most useful and powerful thing it does, in my view.
I honestly have only briefly tried out some of the other features in mQuickDo, as I just don ‘t feel a need for them. The feature I am using more and more often every day “ and finding a huge benefit “ is the app-switching. Here ‘s how that part works:
You make use of the tiny little bottom strip below the Dock to make a short or long swipe gesture to invoke (bring up) the list of apps you can switch to with just one tap. It will show icons for each one. I believe you cannot show more than five apps at once right now.
To customize which apps are shown to switch to, you first need to use the Backgrounder app and enable backgrounding for any apps you want to add. Then launch the app you want to add and change away from it (so it is minimized but running in the background). just launch the app you want to add. Then swipe to invoke mQuickDo “ and drag the icon for the app you want to add straight onto the App Switcher bar. Try to drag it straight on top of an app you want it to replace in the bar.
*** Update “ my original description above (the text that is now struck through) was incorrect, as Brian has helpfully pointed out in the comments, as follows: Quick comment about your explanation of how to add apps to the quick launch bar; It is not necessary to background anything to get it on the quick launcher. Just run the app and while it’s running, open up the app switcher and drag the icon down.
To adjust ‘Gesture Settings ‘ “ that control what action you want to invoke via each of a number of different types of swipe “ for Springboard and, separately, for when you are in applications “ launch the mQuickDo app via its icon.
Honestly, I ‘ve found a lot of the standard gestures very difficult or impossible to make work thus far “ but I ‘ve managed to make one work consistently in most apps, and well enough to make this a super useful app. I just use the ‘Long Slide Right ‘ gesture for both Springboard and within apps, to call up the App Switcher bar. That one works well enough for me, and that ‘s enough for now.
I ‘ve tried making a short slide up/down work and a few of the others and had no joy “ and again, for now I just don ‘t need these enough to care, as long as my lovely app switching is working.
Although it appears to me to have a lot of rough edges, and some inconsistency in how easily and consistently certain gestures work across the OS and apps, I ‘m still a big fan of mQuickDo already. An App Switcher app is something I ‘ve wanted to see on the iPhone for the longest time “ and I ‘m so glad that the devs at MCleaner have shown this is do-able.
On the 3GS, not only is it do-able “ but it ‘s a super-effective tool to have working for you. As the post title indicates I like this app enough to have purchased it, which I did earlier today. Even though I am not yet decided on whether I ‘ll keep the 3GS jailbroken, or for how long, I feel the devs for mQuickDo deserve the donation regardless of how long I end up using their app for.
If you ‘re jailbroken and you want an app switcher, you should definitely give mQuickDo a look. You ‘ll be able to use it as a trial for 3 days, and the cost to purchase it is $7.99.
Continue reading:
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TAGS: iPhone app switching app, mQuickDo
