Kirikae: Jailbreak App Switcher for iPhone, iPod Touch
1:10 am, September 16th, 2009, Tim Cox
Kirikae, a free jailbreak app switcher/launcher for the iPhone, is yet another forbidden app that shows exactly how simple power features can drastically improve the iPhone user experience. With two clicks of the home button you can switch between apps while automatically backgrounding the app you leave. Kirikae was initially released on September 7, and the recent update (version svn.r49) adds more great features to an already killer app switcher.
Kirikae works just like you think it should. Double click your home button to bring up the app switcher, select the app that you want to switch to, and Kirikae keeps everything active thanks to Backgrounder. You can use Kirikae to quickly access backgrounded apps from the home screen as well. The app itself is light on system resources which is always a concern when you’re dealing with Mobile Substrate.
Another handy feature is the ability to quit apps from within Kirikae. Just select the application that you want to quit with the customary finger slide, then hit quit. As it should, sliding your finger over SpringBoard gives you the option to respring.
Kirikae’s newest feature adds a favorites tab to the app switcher. To select apps to add to the favorites tab, open up the Kirikae app from SpringBoard (not using the home double tap). Similar to apps like Poof!, just turn on the apps you want to show up in the favorites tab.
The favorites tab is a great addition to Kirikae, but I would love to see the next update let me order my favorite apps in a non-alphabetical sequence. Also, Kirikae opens immediately which is a problem when invoking during the opening of another app. The task switcher window pops up for a second then switches back to the opening app which seems glitchy. But trust me, I’m not complaining.
Kirikae is a free download available through Cydia.
Posted by Tim Cox in Reviews, iPhone | Comment on this article
Tim Cox is the social media and communications coordinator for a private university in the Los Angeles area. He has written for a number of online and print publications and has presented on technology and social media at the national level. One of his greatest accomplishments was networking a Mac Plus with a Mac Pro. In his spare time he writes music, poetry, and trains for Street Fighter IV tournaments. He is married with 5 beautiful kitties. He encourages you to 
Kirikae, BTW, means ’switch’ in Japanese.
Joseph, on September 16th, 2009 at 1:57 am
That looks great. If only it would move to the normal OS!
Ade, on September 16th, 2009 at 2:49 am
This cannot possibly work better than Springboard. If anything could possibly be better than Springboard, then Apple would have incorporated the features right there into Springboard. Apple always optimizes the user experience, every time.
iGenius, on September 21st, 2009 at 6:40 am
How could you for a process switcher in the itunes app store when Apple won’t even let you background without jailbreaking?
You understand why Apple doesn’t allow backgrounding, right? Its to save users from themselves. Can you imagine the Apple helpdesk calls after some idiot drops twitter,facebook, ipod, mlb baseball, youtube in the background and says my iphone is running slow?
nsfw, on September 24th, 2009 at 10:17 am
“You understand why Apple doesn’t allow backgrounding, right? Its to save users from themselves. Can you imagine the Apple helpdesk calls after some idiot drops twitter,facebook, ipod, mlb baseball, youtube in the background and says my iphone is running slow?”
Those people should have bought palm pre
Vadim, on September 24th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
So are launcher applications forbidden by apple? Or is it just that this application lets them run in the background? I’ve been trying to figure out what types of things gets an app rejected and all I have so far is trademark problems and duplicating existing functionality. Would another app launcher duplicate springboard?
Peter, on September 29th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
@iGenius wow really. Apple is that perfect. If that were so they would never have had to release updates to their firmware!
As a jailbreaker since day one (running apps before appstore was ever even unveiled) I must say there is always room for improvement.
Brian, on December 21st, 2009 at 3:44 pm
I would like to download kirikae. Where do I find it and go about downloading it
Richard, on January 28th, 2010 at 7:15 pm