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Disable multitasking in iOS4, no jailbreaking needed Leer este artículo en Español Are you one of those unitask fans? Is your iPhone 3G too slow with multitask? Disable Multitasking by following these simple steps, no need to jailbreak again… SSH to the following dir “/System/Library/CoreServices/SpringBoard.app” search for the following file “N82AP.plist” and the open it with notepad and search for “multitasking” and […]

by
on June 23, 2010
(1 minute read)

Leer este artículo en Español


Are you one of those unitask fans? Is your iPhone 3G too slow with multitask? Disable Multitasking by following these simple steps, no need to jailbreak again…

SSH to the following dir “/System/Library/CoreServices/SpringBoard.app” search for the following file “N82AP.plist” and the open it with notepad and search for “multitasking” and change the <multitasking> value from <true/> to <false/>. Restart iPhone and you’re done.

Thanks to Pony-Ony for the trick!

Disable multitasking in a non-jailbreaked iPhone (update)

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Stephan suggests you can also disable multitasking on a non-jailbreaked iPhone by installing Total Commander (30 days free trial, Windows only). Then download and install the T-PoT plugin (free, open source) to navigate through your Apple device and find the “N82AP.plist” file at “private/var/mobile/n82ap“. Open the file and change the multitasking value from <true/> to <false/>. Save the file and restart your iPhone.

To learn how you can jailbreak your iPhone step-by-step have a look at these ebooks on Jailbreaking your iPhone from scratch.

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36 comments

  • rupert says:

    wow mate thats an excellent trick! thanks for finding out. my iphone was consuming the iphone life in a couple hours and now its working great again :)

  • tony says:

    i tried and it wont work cause you need to jailbreak the phone in order to have read write access is this supposed to work on all iphones?

  • Xavi Author says:

    Hi Tony,
    You are right. Unless you have an iPhone 3G or iPod Touch 2G you will need to have your device jailbreaked since Apple doesn’t give you the option to disable it which I guess they’ll do in the next update because a lot of people are complaining about it.

  • Jon says:

    How do you suppose we ssh without jailbreaking?

  • ruth says:

    this tip is basically worthless because it doesn’t disable multitasking, it only disables your ability to control multitasking/ipod controls/lock in portrait
    if u open up an application like pandora, when u exit the app, you can still hear the music playing and the battery still drains except even faster because u cant close any apps. i would not advise doing this

  • Pedro says:

    for me this works fine! the battery lasts longer

  • Nathan says:

    How do we access “/System/Library/CoreServices/SpringBoard.app” without SSH? I tried using DiskAid but I can’t seem to find the file.

    Please e-mail me back!!!

  • thomas says:

    i used FunBox to SSH.
    easy app , windows interface, easy to use

  • Jr4807 says:

    I did it use in ifile from cydia and my iPhone works fine now. So it do work.

  • Trishnah says:

    Here is a video tutorial.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY8bvc_s1x4

  • thebestecnologyisthename says:

    jailbreak it
    go to cydia/seach/ifile/install it
    go into ifile system/library/CoreServices/SpringBoard.app and search N88AP.plist enter and find for multitusking edit true for false
    thanks everyone

  • Michael says:

    Exactly how is this “no jailbreaking needed”? You are asking people to download a file from Cydia

  • Terry says:

    @Michael,

    Because most other methods I’ve seen require redsn0w to re=jailbreak the phone (and flash the firmware) with multitasking disabled.

    Or to put it another way, for those with jailbroken phones, this disables the multitasking without having to jailbreak it *again*

  • marcin says:

    Hello

    I have a problem with this. I changed value of multitasking from true to false and saved changes in notepad file.. but nothing have changed.. there is still true value for multitasking. What i’m doing wrong? I’m doing this using funbox.

    thx

  • James says:

    Just disabled multi tasking on iPhone 4 running OS4.0.1. Works like a charm and truly does disable multi tasking. Tested by running games etc and none went into freeze states. Also monitored memory usage before and after. All remain the same. Phone running way smoother now.

  • Pony-Ony says:

    zToggle is a new app you can find in Cydia, you will be able to toggle the Wallpaper features & Multitasking On/Off with just a simple click, no need to SSH and change values in files now just toggle the button on and you will be multitasking, you tired of multitasking click again and multitasking deactivated, i hope this will be helpful for all you guys.

    Pony-Ony

  • Hasan says:

    I haven’t checked out zToggle, but it sounds like a handy tool.I discovered that using iFile from within the iphone you can change the values around and it works once you restart the iphone; whether this trick actually disables multitasking – i cant say for sure..

  • tomi says:

    zToggle is great 3G moving like b4 love it n use it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • bekindtoedward says:

    i used multiflow and it seemed to have disabled the native iOS4 multitasking automatically

  • atsaradotinc says:

    Disable multitasking “withoutjailbreaking—-read properly buggars—AGAIN!”

    the article is correctly written but not much other options are here to try out if the first one is not working.

    why disable multitasking anyway? it doesn’t really drain your battery… its the apps that are running that drains it. so try to check for apps that uses 3g regularly and automatically updates/refreshes

  • geetika says:

    i have iFunBox and an iphone 3g with iphone 4 which i was going to downgrade (behind the times i know, i was out of hte country for a while) and came across this – but it seems i can’t overwrite the “true” it never gives me an error when I save, but doesnt make the change either – any help?

  • stephan says:

    you can do this without jailbreakin by downloadin and installing total commander and the installin the plug in tpot and usin tpot to access “N82AP.plist”

  • stephan says:

    using total commander go to dir private/var/mobile/n82ap

  • Xavi Author says:

    Thanks Stephan, I’ll add it to the post

  • David says:

    Guys thanks for the helpful posts. I wanted to disabling multitasking, on a non-jailbreaked phone, and have followed the total commander instructions above.

    However on accessing the iphone (a 3GS bought recently) I don’t see the same file directory: there is no “private” folder (for your “private/var/mobile location), but only ApplicationArchives, Books, DCIM etc. folders

    Understad that this directory is consistent with a non-jailbroken phone. Any idea if your trick still works with such a phone, or if there is another way to do it?

    Thanks

  • David says:

    Also re my post above, have tried SSH but find a requirement for a password when I navigate to the directory?

  • H says:

    ipod music keeps on playing even after pressing home button on iphone 3GS after this tweaks. didn’t work?

  • Aakash says:

    Please I didn’t find the springboard.app and please where is ssh…email me

  • Anonymous says:

    zToggle works like a charm

  • lorrie says:

    hi i got ripped off brought an iphone 4 off ebay and paid a bit for it now it is comin up as iphone disabled thinkin i got a stolen phone just wondering is there any chance i can jailbreak it as i cant even get in to it only turn it on and it comes straight up with iphone disabled connect to itunes?? please help

  • john says:

    hi lorrie, you need to do a hard reset. follow these steps:

    1) Press-hold the Home button (big circle below the screen) and the Sleep/Wake button (on top of the iPhone) simultaneously.
    2) Continue holding both buttons (Ignore the “Slide to power off”) until the iPhone shuts off and begins to restart.
    3) You may let go when you see the silver Apple logo.
    4) You have completed a hard reset successfully.
    5) Don’t be alarmed that it takes quite a while to load from the Apple logo to the main screen. This is normal.

    This should clean your iPhone completely. You can plug it into iTunes and reinstall the iPhone operative system.

    If this doesn’t work then you may have bought a stolen iPhone and your IMEI (phone serial number) is blocked, there are also solutions for that, search ‘iphone unlock imei’ in Google, you can do it for free and it may take a few hours.

  • Feathertail6345 says:

    I disabled multitasking that way but when then all my apps were transparent and now i cant use them :0
    Help?

  • bcn_camera says:

    Had my jb iPhone 3g with multitasking activated, but using it was getting quite clumsy, so very soon after that decided to install some aids to help closing multiple apps simultaneously and to free up memory. Closing apps and memory control shortly became a mandatory ritual every time I wanted to close the phone. So it was an even bigger nonsense and a pain in the side. Like Xavier said, I edited that plist file, and multitasking is probably gone, but those memory and apps control aids make my device crash or operate in safe mode. Figured out that you guys should be aware of this. Aaand… its “jailbroken”, not “jailbraked” :D

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