Switcher Mod Question...

Hi Guys,

I did a search and couldn't find an answer... so I appreciate any help you guys can give.

I downloaded Switcher Mod because I wanted an app that would, by default, close out any apps once I hit the home button and keep the app switcher from clogging up with idle apps. ie... if I'm playing solitaire... and hit the home button to leave the game... I don't want the Solitaire icon to sit in the app switcher (and have to manually X it out).

It was my understanding that Switcher Mod would make sure the only apps that showed up in my app switcher were apps that were currently multitasking and any apps that were idle would not show up.

So I have Switcher Mod running and in its settings I have "Recent App Icons" set to "Remove". I'm assuming this setting is what will remove any already-closed idle app from the app switcher.

Now, my question is... apps that I've opened, then closed... still show up in the app switcher. They are not "removed". If I bring down SBSettings and respring, THEN all of the idle apps in the app switcher disappear leaving only the currently multitasking apps.

If this Switcher Mod requires me to respring each time I want it to clear out the idle apps... then what's the point. I might as well take my time and manually X out of each one.

So if anyone has any suggestions as to what setting I need to have set in order to have Switcher Mod hide/remove any idle app by default from the app switcher after I close out of it, I'd appreciate it.

Also, what exactly is the "Inactive Recent Icons Alpha %" Slider for in the Switcher Mod settings?

 

I actually don't mind having apps open in the app switcher that are actually multitasking. I just want the ones that are NOT multitasking to be "taken care of" by Switcher Mod.

You say that the ones that stay in the app switcher must be the ones that are still multitasking...but EVERY app that I've opened and closed will stay in the app switcher without fail. Any of the games, Light, Contacts, Photos, Weather, Safari, Engadget, Camera, Clock, Notes, etc etc... they all remain in the app switcher after I press the home button to close out of them. It doesn't seem like the Switcher Mod is doing anything to get rid of them. And they all can't possibly be multitasking after I close them out.

I literally haven't seen the Switcher Mod get rid of ANY recently opened apps in the switcher. I can't figure it out.

 

Alright... so today my unusually high level of Google-fu somehow found me BigBoss' website where I ended up talking to THE BigBoss eek via IRC (and some other knowledgeable people) and I was able to ask him my questions directly regarding Switcher Mod.

So, me being a Windows user, I really had no idea how the iOS worked on the iPhone. I assumed that apps that were not VOIP/GPS/Radio apps "closed" when you pressed the home button and relaunched if you opened them back up. ie: I thought there were 2 states that an app could be in; multitasking and closed/idle.

This is basically incorrect. What I learned today is that anytime you open up an app, then "close" it using the home button, there are basically 3 states that the app can be in from then on...

NOTE: All current App Store apps are designed to be able to multitask.

1) If the app uses VOIP (Skype), GPS, or the wireless radio then the app may very well stay open in the background and be multitasking.

2) What Benji said is the second state. If the app does NOT use VOIP/GPS/Radio then the app is saved, closed, and saved in the RAM. This way the iOS can just start the app back up where you left off last time without doing much work. BigBoss said that this second state is technically considered to be a multitasking state as well by the iOS. Thus, Switcher Mod will not "remove" these apps from the app switcher as they are still "multitasking".

3) The third state is where the apps are actually closed. And this happens when the iOS feels it needs the RAM space and will close out a number of apps to free up space. These apps that have been closed out by iOS will normally still show up in the app switcher, but THESE apps are the ones that Switcher Mod will "remove" as they are now no longer multitasking. NOTE: The NON-APPLE apps (Cydia apps, etc) that do not have multitasking built in will skip the 2nd state and go straight to this 3rd state and Switcher Mod will also "remove" these from the app switcher.

Phew... so... I had to readjust my expectations of what Switcher Mod will do. I understand now that almost all of the apps I regularly use (Mail, BiteSMS?, Phone, Contacts, Weather, Games, Clock, Flashlight, Google Maps, etc) will all go into either the 1st or 2nd state of multitasking when I hit that home button... and thus Switcher Mod will not remove any of them until iOS decides to free up some RAM space and actually close some of them out. This is why they all still show up in the app switcher

Now, if I actually want to have manual control of what apps are open, multitasking, or actually closed then I'd have to take dhlizard and Benji's suggestions of installing RemoveBG or Backgrounder. I can then set all apps to actually close when I hit the home button... and THEN Switcher Mod will remove them from the app switcher.

Anyway... Having learned all of this now... I no longer need my app switcher to be "uncluttered". The way iOS manages the apps is actually quite amazing and smart. It seems that the apps that are stored in RAM aren't a drain on the battery at all. I initially wanted to "unclutter" the app switcher of "idle" apps... but honestly... the only pro to doing this is aesthetic (app switcher isn't as cluttered)... but the downside is that the iOS has to do more work when you actually open up apps (as opposed to opening them from RAM).

So I've decided to not go the RemoveBG or Backgrounder route... and let the iOS manage the apps as it does an excellent job of it. And I'll let Switcher Mod remove apps that iOS has closed on its own. The rest of the apps that are multitasking can stay in the app switcher

I know that some of you guys already know all of this... but there are a lot of iOS/iPhone newbies out there with the new ViPhone (like me) and hopefully this will help some of them out.

Hanwei