ReachApp continues to impress by bringing a true side-by-side multitasking experience to iOS. Although there’s no indication as to when the tweak will leave beta, it’s been receiving steady updates over the last few weeks, and continues to improve stability-wise and functionality-wise.
ReachApp is definitely shaping up to be firmly in the running for jailbreak tweak of 2015. Check out some of the details from the last few updates and see why.
This keyboard can type in both the upper and lower apps
Unification is the name of the game for the tweak’s last few updates, as both unified keyboards and a unified status bar (see top image) make appearances. This means that you only need one keyboard to insert text into either of the apps displayed on screen, and you only need one status bar for both apps as well. It’s a change that makes sense, and it eliminates the real-estate restricting and unnecessary duplication of UI elements on screen.
One thing that’s definitely noticeable to me over the earlier builds of ReachApp is the smoothness. The animations and interactions with multiple apps is just so much more smoother and fluid that it has been in the past. That’s not to say that bugs no longer exists, because there’s still plenty of those, it’s just to say that the tweak doesn’t feel nearly as choppy as it did in its initial builds.
New Widget Chooser options improve the app selection experience
Refinements to the widget chooser, which is the method for accessing an additional app to add to the split screen view, are welcomed as well. You’ll now find the ability to hide recents, page icons, and improved dynamic resizing. New, too, is the ability to tap on the grabber to display the widget choose again to select a new app to add to the split screen view.
ReachApp has made some significant strides over the last month, but it’s still very much in beta, and therefore, still hindered by bugs. But it is very exciting to watch the evolution of this concept into a real-working tweak, that provides real-world benefits. I’ve been using ReachApp on a daily basis, and let me tell you, it’s so awesome to be able to access multiple apps side-by-side. Even in my limited testing, the benefits stick out like a sore thumb.
If you’d like to try out the latest version of ReachApp, which is version 0.0.3-31 as of this writing, then add the following source to Cydia:
http://elijahandandrew.com/repo
What do you think about ReachApp? Have you been keeping up with all of the updates? What’s your experience been like with the tweak?
