Navigating through apps is probably one of the most important aspects of using software on devices like the iPhone or the Galaxy S III. Being able to move to new interfaces, use the features within the app and then navigating back to where we came from is extremely important, but we sometimes take for granted how this is achieved. Android fans generally appreciate the dedicated back button that exists on devices but iOS fans generally need to rely on developers incorporating the navigation methodologies or hope that an app is built around a navigation controller that automatically applies a back button to go to the previous location.
As time progresses, we are seeing more and apps making use of swipes and in-depth gestures to handle navigation within apps. One of the most well-known and popular developers in the jailbreak community, Ryan Petrich, has just released his SwipeBack package that essentially introduces the ability to go back to a previous page with a single swipe on the display. Installation of the SwipeBack tweak doesn’t really bring any new great functionality to apps, but is a rather nice and fresh method of incorporating gestures into all apps.
Installing, setting up and using the SwipeBack tweak couldn’t really be any easier. Standard Cydia based installation process applies, and considering this package doesn’t come with any configurable options, there is nothing that needs to be done to actually get it up and running. After installation, SwipeBack makes itself at home as if it were a native part of iOS, and after spending a few minutes playing around with the right and left swipe gestures, it feels immediately intuitive and natural. Users of other popular tweaks like Grant Paul’s Zephyr will immediately be familiar with how this works.
Although, I personally prefer the familiarity of the back button that is used within a navigation controller, there will undoubtedly be a lot of users who love the idea of navigating back and forth using gestures. Overall, it is a great and functional free of charge package and we recommend giving it a shot.
SwipeBack is available as a free of charge download from the BigBoss repository with no specific iOS version requirements being given by the developer.
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