Skip to main content

OS Experience jailbreak tweak brings OS X-like features to iOS

IMG_9195

OS Experience is a new jailbreak tweak for iPad that adds an extensive OS X experience to iOS. This tweak has been in development for quite some time and was actually announced before the iOS 7 jailbreak was released. Since then, the developer has been hard at work perfecting OS Experience to be the ultimate multitasking tweak for iOS. It’s very similar to an older discontinued tweak called Quasar, but this one takes multitasking on iPad to another level.

There’s quite a bit involved with this tweak, but everything seems to take on a native flow. OS Experience offers the ability to have multiple “desktop” configurations (up to five) with native apps running in a windowed mode. The tweak’s functionality does rely on multi-touch gestures that can sometimes feel a bit awkward, but they definitely get the job done.

When using an app, you can swipe down with four fingers to access OS Experience’s implemented menu bar for any app. Here you’ll have the ability to close the app completely or minimize it into a window on one of the predefined desktops. When the app is in a window, you can resize it, close it, and also drag it along the side to snap it to half of the screen. Using the “snap” feature, you’ll be able to effectively run two apps side-by-side at the same time. Pretty nifty.

Here’s an in-depth video review of OS Experience (via iTwe4kz):

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6RpIzjAMmM]

At any time a five-finger pinch/swipe will take you back to the system-default home screen with all of your icons, while another one will take you back into OS Experience’s default setup. The custom desktop configurations can be accessed with swipe gestures and windowed apps can be added each desktop with a simple tap and drag of the finger.

On the downside, OS Experience will completely replace the default app switcher in iOS 7, so if you’re a fan of having classic features this may not be for you. Along with that, at the moment you don’t have the ability to access Control Center. This tweak is rather new, and while I’m not sure of the technical restrictions, it may be something that can be fixed in a future update. Regardless of its limitations, OS Experience is certainly an interesting addition to jailbroken iPads.

Overall, this is a hefty feature-packed jailbreak tweak, but as mentioned in the video above, there is a bit of a learning curve. If you’ve used a Mac, there’s a good chance that you’re familiar with the desktop capabilities of OS Experience. It’s not for everyone, but true multitaskers will appreciate the level of complexity that this tweak offers. Check out the video above for a detailed look at this new jailbreak tweak. Currently, OS Experience is available in Cydia’s BigBoss repo for $9.99 and compatible with iPad.

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Comments

  1. It is nice with loads of potential, but it is also buggy… Very buggy. Trying hard to use it, but when it locks up and requires hard rebooting the iPad to get it so that the device will unlock again… Yeah… Basically, when it works, it is a joy to have.

  2. Wow. Buying. Going to make me use my iPad again.

  3. Andrew Messenger - 10 years ago

    This is a cool tweak but I’d wait to buy it until it’s been refined more.

  4. shredderguy1994 - 10 years ago

    That video could not have been anymore un professional. Reviewing an app and not knowing all the features? C’mon dont outsource the videos, make your own sometimes.

  5. Michael Perry - 10 years ago

    Oh great, another example of a part time developer bringing better/more useful features than Apples full time teams…

  6. Aryl (@iArylic) - 10 years ago

    You’re using Auxo 2. If Auxo is added you can swipe up with one finger to access the switcher. However! OS Experience doesn’t show the control center when you swipe up. However, set an activator gesture in order to “Activate Control Center.”

    The switcher in Auxo and the quick minimize don’t work. Disable those. This is just much quicker at both:

    1. Accessing OS Experience’s switcher without having to swipe up with 4 fingers, -and-
    2. Accessing the Control Center, with Auxo activated, and OS Experience going as well.

    Ahhh… thank you, e_swick. A bit more refinement and it’ll be perfect. Even on an iPad Air with nothing but iMessage (and the default “always open” apps [granted this might be my Background Manager or something else… ignore this if Mail and such isn’t permanently open for you]) it’s quite laggy when doing much of anything if the Live View is enabled. I’d disable that if I were you guys, for now, until these bugs are squashed.

  7. Harry Underwood - 10 years ago

    Beautiful!

  8. thejuanald - 10 years ago

    Wow this looks great, I’m going to steal my iPad back from my girlfriend for a bit and try this out!

  9. Anthonie Zapata - 10 years ago

    I like OS Experience, truly it’s pretty awesome.
    I do have an issue with it though. It does not close apps, they still run in the background which after awhile causes iOS to crash or behave very slowly. I realized this after uninstalling OS Experience and seeing all my apps open still from a 2 day period and spending a moment closing them all individually

  10. Anthonie Zapata - 10 years ago

    I enjoy OS experience, however, it doesnt close apps entirely they are running in the background, which means after awhile everything on ur device is open and running and you start to get crashes