[Tutorial] Enable Native Multitasking, Wallpapers, Battery Percent on 8GB MC (4.0)

Ok guys, so after a bit of research, I have managed to unlock multi-tasking on my 8gb MC Model (3rd Gen) iPod touch, which is jailbroken on iOS 4.0 (This will also work on all firmwares released to this point (4.1), and all future firmwares released for the 2g/3g iPod). This will also work on 2g models (all capacities), and the 3g iPhone.

EDIT: I have also unlocked the "wallpaper" and "battery percentage" functions for my device. See the end of this post for details.

What you need


- iPod Touch 8GB (3rd Gen/MC Model).
- USB File browser (eg iFunBox) or SSH client.

Your iPod must be jailbroken, which is a quick and easy process. On. 4.0, just grab your iPod, and go to JailbreakMe, swipe the "Slide to Jailbreak" slider, and let it do its thing. If you have trouble with that, there are hundreds of guides around the forum which will help you out.
You can also do this if you are jailbroken with iH8Sn0w's Sn0wbreeze method, or if you used RedSn0w to jailbreak your 2nd gen iPod or 3g iPhone.

On more recent firmwares (upto 4.1), you can jailbreak easily with either Limera1n or GreenPois0n.

As long as you are jailbroken, you are good to go.

Guide

So, you have your jailbroken iPod, and are ready to go. I recommend you read the whole guide through before attempting anything. If you don't understand any terms etc, just reply and I'll get back to you asap. Right, here we go:

- Connect your iPod to your PC, and access the file system through either iFunBox or a SSH client (WinSCP).

- Navigate to \System\Library\CoreService\SpringBoard.app, and locate the file named N72AP.plist.

- Copy N72AP.plist to your PC Desktop. Make a copy of this file and name it N72AP.plist.backup (just in-case ).

- Right click N72AP.plist, and open with Notepad.
(EDIT: If your .plist file does not display correctly, download and install this tool, and open the .plist file with that program.)

- scroll to the bottom of the first section of keys (marked "capabilities" in the plist), and add the following line:

You MUST maintain the formatting of the file. The edited file should look like the following screen shot:


- Now save the file (file, save. NOT Save As), and close Notepad.

- Return to your file browser, and rename the original N72AP.plist file inside \System\Library\CoreService\SpringBoard.app to N72AP.plist.bak.

- Copy your edited N72AP.plist from your desktop to \System\Library\CoreService\SpringBoard.app. You can now close your file browser.

- Disconnect your iPod from your PC, and respring.

You should now be done and good to go double-tap the home button inside any app or at the springboard to display all open apps.

This worked perfectly on my iPod touch, and caused no side effects. Multi-tasking runs smoothly, and seems to cause no lag or side-effects. Obviously, I won't hold any liability if you mess up your iPod in anyway.

These are a few screen shots from my iPod, showing the Model number (to prove it's MC), Version (to prove its 4.0) and capacity (to prove it's an 8GB). Hopefully that should be enough proof for you to give it a try, as its 02.15am here and I want to go to bed, so no video yet.


Hope that helps, and any questions just ask and I'll reply in the morning .

EDIT: Also, a little playing around and I've managed to unlock the "wallpaper" function and the "battery percentage" too.

Wallpapers

For Wallpapers, just add the following line to N72AP.plist beneath the multitasking line:

Wallpaper Screen shots:

[IMG]http://cdn.ipodtouchfans.com/forums/imgcache3/7bffe3abd1b33a11134c638450f0b59d.png?orig_url=http ://i604.photobucke*****m/albums/tt127/ibizaGTi/IMG_0001.png[/IMG] [IMG]http://cdn.ipodtouchfans.com/forums/imgcache3/7b7b119c2ae80c3730088816e7bd9da4.png?orig_url=http ://i604.photobucke*****m/albums/tt127/ibizaGTi/IMG_0002.png[/IMG] [IMG]http://cdn.ipodtouchfans.com/forums/imgcache3/073cbb791d8554276595d3db450c9774.png?orig_url=http ://i604.photobucke*****m/albums/tt127/ibizaGTi/IMG_0003.png[/IMG]

EDIT: cyberghoser1 has made an excellent video demonstrating how to add both the Wallpapers and Multitasking features. Major thanks for doing that.

Click to see the demo video.

In my experience, wallpapers slowed down my device a lot! The reason for this is the way Apple has implemented the wallpapers, within some pointless overlays. To fix this, simply delete the following files from \System\Library\CoreService\SpringBoard.app:

Battery Percentage

The battery percentage guide takes a little extra editing.

First, add the following line to N72AP.plist as with the others:

Now, to complete the battery percentage step, you also need to do the following:

Open:
/Applications/Preferences.app/General.plist (again, copy to your PC and make a backup before editing).

Look for:


Edit the code to show the following:

You MUST maintain the formatting structure of your plist, so line up the <xxxx> tags with their corresponding </xxxx>.

Save your file, and copy back to your iPod like you did with your N72AP.plist.

Now just respring and go to Settings ---> General ---> Usage on toggle the battery percentage to on.

Any problems you can reply, or follow Dan. (ibizaGTiUK) on Twitter. I set up that account specifically to deal with queries regarding this, but feel free to ask any other questions regarding your iPhone/iPod there too and I'll do my best to answer asap.

EDIT: Some people have been asking why they should use this plist edit method instead of enabling the features through the use of apps like "Features" or "zToggle".

Although these apps may be a little easier than this method, there are several reasons I prefer to edit the plist files myself:
- Features uses a winterboard theme to enable the features. As with all winterboard themes, this has a negative effect on both your battery life and your RAM usage. This will give your battery a shorter life, and will make your device more "laggy" than enabling the options natively.
- zToggle does not allow you to add the Battery Percentage feature, and is only meant to be used on the iPhone 3g, NOT iPod touch. This could lead to negative side effects on the iPod.
- With the plist edit, you know exactly what has been done to your iPod. You know which features have been enabled, and exactly how they have been done. I feel more comfortable with this than using an app made by someone else.
- This method helps you learn about your iPod, it's file structures, and how to edit files. It's also more fun to do it yourself (?).
- Editing the plist files is likely to be more stable and long-lasting than the other methods.

If you have a 2g iPod touch (MB Model), you can enable these features using RedSn0w if you wish. This will enable the features natively, and basically patches the plist files for you.