It has been a long time (and when I say long time… I’m talking like August 19th of 2008 long time) since I have done a review of Dock, an application that allows you to launch other applications. Honestly, I didn’t even know if it was working on the 3.0 firmware so I decided to give it a shot and, apparently it does work on 3.0. I do think however, that this app has been through more transformations than any other app!

To use Dock, you just drag your finger up from the bottom right corner (or left… depending on your settings) to the middle of your iPhone or iPod Touch’s screen. This will bring up a list of applications. You can then drag your finger up and down to scroll through the applications. Once you are on the app that you would like to launch, just let go and it will launch. You can choose the applications you would like in each Dock via the apps settings.

There is also the ability to drag your finger from the middle bottom of your screen in the center of your screen. This will bring up a middle dock which displays a menu with five options; Media, Phone, Uncategorized, Utilities and Work. You can drag your finger left and right on the screen to switch between the categories. Each category then contains applications. To see the applications in each category, drag your finger upward on your screen. You can then scroll through the application by dragging your finger left and right again. To get back down to the main menu, drag your finger downward. To launch an application, just select it and release your finger.

When you install Dock via Cydia, it will add a Dock Prefs icon to your SpringBoard. Like in the previous version it allows you to; Enable/Disable Dock, the Line Glow, the Speed Dial option in Dock and the ability to display hidden application in Dock. You can also choose to have a starburst on the left or the right (or both). You can also choose what you would like the starburts to launch; Recent Apps or a specific category of apps.

There are six pre-set categories; Hidden, Media, Phone, Uncategorized, Utilities and Work. In the Media option you will find YouTube and iTunes. In the Phone option you will find; Maps, Messages, Phone, Safari and Weather. The Uncategorized option is basically all your applications both App Store and jailbroke. The Utilities option has the AppStore, Clock, Cydia, Settings and WinterBoard. The Work option contains Calculator, Calendar, Mail and Notes.

You can move apps to a different category by selecting a category, selecting an app and then selecting which category you would like to more the application to.

I found that there are two features of this application that do not work. The “Create a New Category” option doesn’t seem to work along with the “Disable Dock for apps” option. Not a huge deal since you can arrange the apps in the Categories already created.

Overall, it seems to work fine on 3.0. I haven’t had this app on my iPhone in quite a while and I forgot how fun it was. It brings me back to the early jailbreak days! Now all we need is the screenshot option that it used to have and we would be good to go. You can get Dock via the Ste Packaging source (which also reminds me of back-in-the-day!).

Note: Don’t forget to use the “Restart SpringBoard” button after you make changes in the app’s settings.

ScreenShots

Dock was one of my all time favorite application for a long time on firmware 1.1.4 and below! I ended up uninstalling it when it interfered with a few other apps. But, Dock is back and has a whole new look! For those of you who are not familiar with Dock…it is an application launching application. It it’s old version, it also allowed you to take screen shots. After you install Dock on your 2.0 firmware, you will need to restart your iPhone or iPod Touch. But, one it is installed and you have restarted your device, you can activate Dock by slowing running your finger along the bottom of your screen….below your dock at the very edge of your screen. You must keep your finger on the screen to keep Dock launched

You will then get a menu with five options; Media, Phone, Uncategorized, Utilities and Work. You can drag your finger along your screen to switch between the categories. Each category then contains applications. To see the applications in each category, drag your finger upward on your screen. You can then scroll through the application by dragging your finger on the screen again. To get back down to the main menu, drag your finger downward. o launch an application, just select it and release your finger.

If you leave the application stock, this is what you will find…in the Media option you will find, YouTube and iTunes. In the Phone option you will find Maps, Phone, Safari, Text and Weather. The uncategprozed option is basically all your application both App Store and jailbroke. The Utilities option has the AppStore, Clock, Cydia, Settings and WinterBoard. The Work option contains Calculator, Calendar, Mail and Notes.

When you install Dock, it adds a Dock Prefs icon to your SpringBoard. In the Dock Prefs, you can totally customize the application. You can choose to turn on/off Enable Dock, Show line glow and Enable Speed Dial. You can also change the categories that each application is in or create new categories. You can do this by selecting a category, then selecting an application within that category and then choosing which category you would like it to be moved to or create a new category for that application. You can also choose to have some application not even show up in the Dock app. The Disable Dock for apps option actually turns off Dock from launching in the applications that are checked. Thanks to Treadeater for the correction. To implement this, select Disable Dock for apps. It will then allow you to put a check mark (by selecting the application) on the applications that you do not want Dock to launch in. This includes both App Store and Installer/Cydia applications. Very cool…I love the ability to customize the application!

Another cool thing is that you can launch Dock from any application or at least all the apps I tested. Overall, a very cool concept but, slightly difficult interface. I found that it took a few tries to get used to the interface and even then I found it difficult to navigate at times. I also had a few crashing/glitching issues. Nate True does good work and am a huge fan of Dock…I will look forward to updates to this application.

Dock
The Dock application comes with a screenshot feature. A lot of people miss it because the screenshot icon is grayed out. To take a screenshot with Dock you just bring up the screen you would like to take a screenshot of and then open the Starbust that Dock puts in the lower right corner of your iPhone. Once the Dock is open select the Screenshot icon. You will hear a Camera sound as the screenshot is taken. The screenshots are put into your Camera Roll so you can just get them off your iPhone by connecting it to your computer and dragging them out of your Camera Roll onto your computer. The only issue with Dock is that it does not work with all applications and you sometimes can’t get screenshots of fast pop-ups. You can get Dock through the AppTapp Official source.

The Dock is a third party application that allows you to launch apps from a small little sunburst in the lower right corner of your screen. Watch this video for more info:

The following link was not created by Apple iPhone School…

Developer’s Site