[Review] Get More of Your Song Information In the App Switcher

[Anthony Bouchard]

This tweak really puts a lot of information in the App Switcher for you.

Not too long ago we reviewed a tweak called AlbumArt on AppSwitcher which put the currently playing album art on the App Switcher iPod controls so you could see what was playing in a more pleasant manner. However if you're looking to have more information than just the album art, you might want to check out a new jailbreak tweak that just hit Cydia today that has been dubbed NowPlayingDetailInfo. This jailbreak tweak is by the same developer that brought us AlbumArt on AppSwitcher; deVbug. The idea behind this jailbreak tweak is to put as much information as possible into that little iPod space in your App Switcher so that when you go to use the iPod controls, you will know more about what you're listening to.

From the image above, you can see the difference from the stock iOS iPod controls to the iPod controls after NowPlayngDetailInfo has been installed on your jailbroken iDevice. It's a little more cluttered than I would prefer, however it gets the job done pretty well in that it shows all of the song information that you would normally see if you were actually inside of the Music application. You get to see the song name (which is shown by default anyway), and then also the album and the artist on top of that. As you can see though, the iPod control buttons are pushed very high in the App Switcher which I think is a bit of a turn-off.

Some people might enjoy having the extra information in the App Switcher regardless of the appearance and some won't. But if you want the extra information in your App Switcher, then NowPlayingDetailInfo is a nice jailbreak tweak to check out. Right now, it's free in Cydia under the BigBoss repository so that means you can try it without the burn of losing any money on it. The iPod controls still work even though they're pressed up at the top of the App Switcher a bit; that's a plus for this jailbreak tweak.

In my opinion of the tweak, it does what it's supposed to do, however the appearance just doesn't fit me. There are no settings to configure. When you install NowPlayingDetailInfo, the tweak will start working as soon as you begin playing a song. The only way to get rid of the look in the App Switcher is to remove NowPlayingDetailInfo altogether. Unfortunately, there is no way to simply disable it or toggle it from iOS; maybe in a future update though. This tweak does require iOS 5.0 or higher to work. Nice job deVbug.

Name: NowPlayingDetailInfo
Price: FREE
Repo: BigBoss
Version: 0.0.1-5
Developer: deVbug
Editor's Rating:  4/5

Will you be trying NowPlayingDetailInfo? Let us know what you think of it in the comments.

Sources: Cydia, deVbug

[stylin97]

sweet!... does the same thing MultiMusicInfo does on 4.x ... been waiting patiently for this mod since upgrading to iOS5

[ipodtouchman77]

Looks too cluttered for me personally. I'm ok with just knowing what song is playing.

[keenpois0n]

yay! just like someone mentioned above, this now replaces the multimusicinfo in whole. if the dev ever decides to update it, he will have all of his potential customers getting this instead of his $0.99 tweak. good on ya devbug!

[thekirbylover]

Makes YouTube.app show a blank screen for me on 5.0.1. Uninstalled.

[MetallicaFan1991]

Every day another pointless tweak comes out. Also the buttons not being centred will drive me crazy.

[Anthony Bouchard]

Every day another pointless tweak comes out. Also the buttons not being centred will drive me crazy.

The only way a tweak could be pointless is if it didn't do anything. This will be a treasure chest for someone out there.

[tomdotcom]

Seems to work fine on iOS 5.0. YouTube is not affected. Guess it must just be a 5.0.1 issue.

[keenpois0n]

works great for me, i4 on 5.0.1

YouTube is fine.