Multitasking on iPhone, iPod + iPad with iOS 4

New to iOS, or just a long-time user who’s set in your ways? Then you might not know that the latest version of iOS allows newer iPhones, iPod touches, and all iPads to skip directly from one app to the next without needing to hit your Home screen. Simply double-tap the Home button, and the screen will slide up to reveal a tray of recently opened apps, any of which you can tap on to go directly to that app. In addition, you can tap and hold on any app to bring up small red buttons in the icons’ corners, which let you quit any apps that have become unresponsive or you otherwise no longer need to have open.

Swipe all the way to the right with the tray pulled up, and you’ll also find a screen with music controls for either the iPod app or any eligible third-party audio app—including Pandora—and either a screen orientation lock toggle or a mute button. iPad users will also see screen brightness and volume controls, all of which combine to give you quite a bit of control over your device without needing to ever “leave” your currently-running app.

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Comments

1

“skip directly from one app to the next without needing to hit your Home screen. Simply double-tap the Home button”

I wish there were some way to do this other than with the Home button - some kind of multitouch gesture, etc. The Home button, particularly on the iPod touch 4, doesn’t feel all that durable to me.

Posted by Paul on April 28, 2011 at 7:43 AM (PST)

2

“I wish there were some way to do this other than with the Home button - some kind of multitouch gesture, etc. The Home button, particularly on the iPod touch 4, doesn’t feel all that durable to me.”

There is if you are willing to jailbreak your ipod. The program is called Quickdo and allows to do many things just from a swipe of the screen!

Posted by Darren on April 28, 2011 at 8:35 AM (PST)

3

Just use the home button, #1. It’s okay, it won’t leave you on the side of the road with a dear john letter. It will multi-task for you and never ask for anything in return.

Posted by VULTR3 on April 29, 2011 at 11:16 AM (PST)

4

I remember (@#1) when I posted that here last year, I got SLAMMED for it.
Now, as a dev on iOS, I have the ability to do that on my iPad, and it’s great! I think once it’s all tightened up, Apple will offer it.
It makes it some much better, and I feel like my Home button will last longer now that my iPad 1 is out of warranty…

Posted by sb on April 29, 2011 at 11:48 AM (PST)

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