MobileMultiUser for iOS V4 - enables switching user environment on family iPad or iPhone

MobileMultiUser V4 is improved on speed to switching user.
It takes about only fifteen seconds, compared to two minutes on earlier version.

MobileMultiUser protect your private account with password.

If you do not have iPads (or iPhones) for each your family member, and you have to share the it, MobileMultiUser will help you.

JB is required.
Installation instruction is on previous post.

Please enjoy.

MobileMultiUser is available on Cydia

Open Cydia, then

1. Go to [Manage] tab
2. Tap [Sources]
3. Tap [Edit] button
4. Tap [Add] button
5. Enter http://cydia.myrepospace.com/taka8aru and Tap [Add Source] button
6. Then Cydia processes repository. (It takes several minutes these days, because some major repository having trouble.)
7. Tap [Done] button
8. Select [taka8aru - MyRepoSpace], and you find MobileMultiUser

Please enjoy.

MobileMultiuser V3 for iOS 5 will be available soon

MobileMultiUser V2 - share your iPad with family under password protection

After my previous post, I added password GUI to my MobileMultiUser.

MobileMutiUser for iOS V2 (build #002 2011-12-25) [Download]

Installation and set-up are same as previous version.

Note, JB is required.
I was tested on iPad and iPod touch 4th generation with iOS 4.3.1.
I will test it on iOS 5 soon.

Comments or e-mail feed-backs are appreciated.

[Japanese version of this post]

MobileMultiUser - sharing iPad by switching user accounts, multi user support for iOS device

How many iPads do you have? Most of you and I have only one iPad at home. iPad is post-PC device because your grand mother can use it, for example. One and big problem occurs when you do not want to share your personal mail account or web bookmark with your family. So I developed a tool MobileMultiUser to switch user account on iPad/iPhone/iPod touch like Mac and PC. Notice: JB is required and your command line operations are also required on this version. Notice: Before you use this tool, you should backup your iOS device with iTunes, and you should duplicate the backup folder to prevent overwriting the original backup. MobileMultiUser for iOS Prototype 1 (build #001 2011-05-16) [Download] Features of MobileMultiUser:

• Icons for user accounts are placed at home screen of your iPad/iPhone/iPod touch. Touch the icon to switch user environment.
• What are saved between users:
• Preferences of standard apps
• icon position and wall paper (SpringBoard settings)
• settings and app data for Safari, Mail, and Notes
• Web Clips icon
• Flipboard's settings and app data
• What are shared between users:
• setting and app data for apps not listed above. For example, iTunes, iBooks, Pictures, YouTube and your installed apps.
• You can add a user by using following commands;
• cloneUser Creates new user environment by copying the current user environment.
• createUserIcon [-icon color] Creates specified user's icon on home screen. Because super user privilege is required to create icon, so you should invoke this command after su command.
• You can use MobileMultiUser on iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. I tested on iPad with iOS 4.3.1 and iPod touch 4gen with iOS 4.3.1.

How to install:

• Cydia packages required are; OpenSSH, Erica Utilities, Tape Archive (tar), and sed.
• Download MobileMultiUser-001.tar.gz from above link. After downlod it to your PC/Mac, copy it to your iPad. $ scp MobileMultiUser-001.tar.gz mobile@<ip address of ipad>
• Extract the package into /var/mobile/Library/AddressBook/MMU-parasite/ . MobileMutiUser parasites to AddressBooks folder, so its data will be backed up by iTunes. $ ssh mobile@<ip address of ipad> ipad$ cd /var/mobile/Library/AddressBook/ ipad$ tar xzvf ~/MobileMultiUser-001.tar.gz
• Create the first user named "defaultUser". ipad$ cd /var/mobile/Library/AddressBook/MMU-parasite/ ipad$ ./saveCurUser ipad$ su # ./createUserIcon defaultUser # exit
• Create additional user (Taro in following command). ipad$ cd /var/mobile/Library/AddressBook/MMU-parasite/ ipad$ ./cloneUser Taro ipad$ su # ./createUserIcon Taro # exit
• After add a user's icon, you should respring to see the new icon. ipad$ respring

Limitations of current version:

• There are no way to display the current user name. You can set individual wall paper for each user to distinguish between them. If you tap current user's icon on home screen, no action are occurred.
• You can save the user's environment only for applications listed at features section with current version.
• You have to invoke command line tool to create new user.
• System keychain database is shared between users. For example, if user-A and user-B defines same gmail account then the password are shared, and if user-A deletes the gmail account then user-B's gmail's password will be cleared. User-B could define gmail's password again.
• There is no password protection between users.

This tool is provided on an "as is" without warranty of any kind. Feel free to post comment or e-mail to me when you have any questions, suggestions or encouragement. [Japanese version]

Mac OS X Server for Free

Apple's Mac OS X Lion Preview page states "Lion Server is now part of Mac OS X Lion."

It means the most easy to manage server operating system will be free for Mac OS X Lion users.

Macs, iPads, iPhones, and PCs at home or at office will be under single administration in easy way.

You can choose your on promise server or cloud as your like, even at your home.

Nowadays, one or more devices per one person makes complexity.

Mac OS X Lion built in server will be the answer.

HP/Palm webOS 2.0 and beyond

According to the latest press event on 9-Feb-2011, HP will release S, M and L size webOS devices on this summer (my report in Japanese). The webOS might be numbered 2.2 for Veer and Pre 3, and 3.0 for TouchPad (clearly stated on wikipedia). In addition to the news for new device, webOS 2.0/2.x will not be released for original Pre and Pixi (by tough decision).