PushTask - An iOS Multitasking concept

[cobbyco]

PushTask
An iOS Multitasking concept


Introduction​

About a month ago I created a (very) rough concept of how the dock and app switcher in iOS could be integrated together, and added a few extra essentials as well. After tweaking the design a few weeks ago, I decided that I still wasn't happy with a few things graphically and that I would have one more attempt at rethinking the iOS dock and app switcher.

Concept - home screen​

It should be noted that double clicking the home button anywhere on the home screen will NOT open the switcher, but instead open the last used app (regardless of whether it is currently running or not). The reasoning for this will be explained later.

Here we have the familiar iOS home screen. The only visible difference here is the graphical change of the dock. The icon reflections are the same ones used in OS X Mountain Lion, while the dock itself is a cropped down version of the one used in ML. We will refer to this view as the 'docked icons' section (or favourites, if you like). This section is the one you will see by default when you reach the home screen, either from the lock screen or from leaving an app. You can still change or reorder icons just like you can now with the dock, and all of the app icons will still take you to the corresponding app.

When you swipe right on the dock from the docked icons section, you will reach this view, the 'currently/recently running apps' section. This is similar to if you were on the music controls on the current app switcher, and you swiped over to the running apps section. The app icons also behave the same as the would on the current app switcher: holding puts the app into 'jiggle' mode where each icon has a minus on it's corner so the app can be quit. All of the icons will still take you to the corresponding app. It should be noted that apps in the docked apps section will NOT appear here. These apps can be quit in the same way as the other apps, just that you can only see them in the docked apps section.
Another graphical extra you can see here is a light illuminating under the each icon. This indicates that the app is still running/temporarily suspended, and will not appear if the app isn't running (so has closed in the background due to memory constrains/time limit reached). This is also a graphical feature found on the ML dock.

When you swipe left on the dock from the docked icons section, you will reach this view, the 'toggles' section. From here you can enable or disable frequently used setting quickly, such as Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Tapping on a toggle takes you to the corresponding section in the settings app to change the desired setting, so they behave like shortcuts. What four toggles are set here and what order they appear in is decided by the user through a section in the settings app. You can of course reorder them by holding an icon to put them all into 'jiggle' mode, and then drag them into place. For those interested, the 'Sounds- icon will change the ringer level, NOT the volume level; a useful feature for those that don't have a mute switch on the side of their device (iPod touch users).

Concept - in app

There is so much going on here that is new to iOS. The first thing you probably noticed is that the switcher has been completely replaced with the dock from the home screen. (This is still accessed by double tapping the home button in an app). It functions very similarly, but is slightly different in a few places. For a start, the default section you get to when you open the switcher isn't the docked apps, but is the currently/recently running apps. This is the same as the current app switcher that always starts on the running apps. (If however you are in an app found in your docked apps section, the dock will open to that section, pushing the UI up. Also, if you are in the Wi-Fi section of the settings app and you open the dock
The next thing you probably noticed is that the settings app has not been pushed upwards, but rather has been 'compressed' into a smaller view. (You can imagine an animation for this: similar to how Cydia pushes the UI when the top refreshing bar comes in.) Because the apps contents is still all on the page, the app is still usable. This means that you can fully interact with the app while the dock is up. Whats even better is that because of the dock's size the app has been compressed into the 3:2 aspect ratio of the iPhone 4S, meaning the app will function the same as it did on the older devices. All of this means you can quickly work and switch between apps without ever having to close the dock. Opening any of the apps on the dock will maintain the 3:2 aspect ratio and also the maintain the dock.
In this view, the icon and the open app are 'tethered' together meaning moving from one icon the next will drag the app itself with it. Switching between two apps is done by tapping on the icon

When you swipe right on the dock from the currently/recently running apps section, you will reach the docked icons section. Just like before, the currently open app is compressed down the the 3:2 aspect ratio of the iPhone 4S. This is especially useful for the music app, as you can use full music controls without leaving the dock. The fine tuned scrubbing controls are brought up just like they are on the iPhone 4S: by tapping the album artwork. (The music controls from the current switcher have been removed. You won't be able to access music controls unless the music app is in your docked apps section OR it is currently running.)
Also like before, the light under each icon shows whether the app is currently running or not. This does also work on the home screen: it just wasn't shown on the first screenshot because none of the apps in the docked section were running at the time.

When you swipe right on the dock from the docked icons section (so swiping twice from the currently/recently running apps section), you will reach the toggles section. Juts like on the home screen, tapping one of the icons will link to the corresponding section in the settings app; only in this view the dock will remain there, and a light will illuminate from underneath the tapped toggle. This light will remain there for as long as you stay in that section of the settings app. The light will disappear if you move out of the section of the settings app. If you manually enter a section of the app where you have a toggle linked to that section (and the dock is open), the light under the toggle will automatically appear.

Apps that use the default UI will automatically be able to take advantage of the compressed 3:2 app view. To 'uncompress' the app so it runs in 'fullscreen' mode again, tap on the app's icon in the dock or press the home button. Several apps, mostly games, use their own UI and so don't support the app compression feature. These apps will simply be pushed upwards and made unusable until you reenter the app, just like with the current switcher. Apps could theoretically be updated to support this feature, but it could require a lot of programming on the developers part.

Questions & answers​

Where can I get this tweak?
You can't. These are just screenshots edited pixel by pixel to give an idea of what such a tweak would look like. I haven't made this into a Cydia tweak.

Where did you get the icons for the toggles?
They were taken from the Cydia tweak 'Auxo'. They are not mine, and were used because they fit in almost perfectly.

Where did you get the dock graphics from?
They were taken from the Cydia tweak 'ActiveDock', however they were originally from OS X mountain Lion and were just cropped by the tweak creators to fit the iPhone's smaller screen.

You mentioned that you had already come up with similar concepts. Where can I find them?
While both these concepts are very messy, they are what make up this final concept:
First concept
Second Concept

My question still hasn't been answered.
Go ahead and comment below with your question and I'll try to answer it. Please don't comment on the older concepts as I don't check those anymore.

Thanks for reading this far down!

cobbyco​

(Did you notice the time and date on the screenshots? )