[ # ] Use Cydia App ‘Backgrounder’ to Run Multiple iPhone Apps Simultaneously
/* Posted October 3rd, 2008 at 7:31am *//* Filed under Apple, Apps, iPhone */
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Ever wanted to use your favorite chat program on your iPhone and keep yourself logged in while you browsed the net? Or have Pandora radio continue to stream while you browsed your photo album? There is a very promising new app called Backgrounder that all jailbroken iPhones can run that will enable multiple iPhone apps to run at the same time. From the Backgrounder description:
Run applications in the background!
Backgrounder is a Mobile Substrate-based extension to Apple’s SpringBoard application launcher that allows applications to run in the background (applications are normally terminated upon suspension)
The Backgrounder app is available for download from Cydia, your one stop source for all jailbroken apps. Once installed, you can send any app to background simply by holding the Home button until you get a pop up showing “Backgrounding Enabled.” Release the Home button after you see the dialog and you’ll go back to the home menu but the app you’ve put into the background will continue to run. I’ve tested this with the AIM chat app and have remained signed on even as I put it into the background with Backgrounder. I’ve also fired up Pandora Radio and was able to continue to hear my tunes stream from the Internet even while I performed other tasks, something I’d been wanting since the Pandora app came out.
The app is a little buggy and you can only send one instance per app into the background (makes sense). To close the app, start it up again (and you’ll be at exactly where you left it) and hold the Home button again, this time until you get a dialog showing “Backgrounding Disabled.” After releasing the button, the app will close and you’ll go back to the home menu.
If you really want to push the envelope, you can even specify what apps you want to run in the background enabled by default, it’s a simple modification to an XML file, which you can easily get access to with DiskAid:
/var/mobile/Library/Preferences/jp.ashikase.backgrounder.plist
Where you simply need to modify the <string> tags with the app name.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>enabled_apps</key>
<array>
<string>com.apple.weather</string>
<string>com.apple.calculator</string>
</array>
</dict>
</plist>
To get the app name for any jailbroken app, just look up the ID from the package details in Cydia. To get there go to the Manage tab on the bottom toolbar and select an app to display. Then scroll down.
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How do you find the app name for any non-jailbroken app? for example Palringo.
[...] you want to run applications in the background such as instant messaging clients, facebook etc. – so when you close them for a moment, the connection remains active. Simply hold down the home button for a second and the application in focus is set to run in the background while you do something else. (see backgrounder) [...]