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I have an iPad 2 (with iOS 5) and an Apple bluetooth keyboard. I could be much more productive if I could do Alt-Tab (I think this is Command-Tab) app switching using my keyboard. Is there any way to do this? Is there any way to switch between the two most recent apps or anything similar?

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4 Answers

up vote 4 down vote accepted

No, there isn't a way to do this. As an alternative, I would suggest enabling multitasking gestures (Settings > General > Multitasking Gestures). With them on, you can switch to the next/previous app with a four-finger swipe, instead of bringing up the multitasking bar. You can actually swipe through all of the apps in the multitasking bar, in the same order (order of last use). Note that getting to an app through this gesture does not change their order, so if you swipe left to get to an app, you will swipe right to go back.

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I'm afraid that's pretty useless for me. the reason why I bought a wireless keyboard was so that I didn't have to swipe and tap on the screen and keep the screen at arms length. :( what I really need is an external mouse, but when I bought a bought a Bluetooth mouse the iPad could not see it, apple support said they don't want people to use mice on an iPad' why do they care? – user18312 Feb 6 '12 at 7:54
up vote 2 down vote

In brief: It is possible, but not quite "alt-tab". Enable VoiceOver.

This is described here: http://decadentwaste.net/2011/03/navigate-using-a-bluetooth-keyboard-on-your-ios-device/

I believe this is also referenced from Graham Wheeler's answer. Sorry that I can't comment directly.

The article describes how to use the built-in "accessibility" options to navigate pretty much anything with the keyboard. I've tried it out using the basic Apple Wireless keyboard, which doesn't have a home button for example. I can now scroll, launch apps, switch apps from the keyboard.

Note, for comfort, I recommend setting the home button to enable/disable this voiceover mode. In addition, since the default for VoiceOver is to use spoken navigation for the UI, Opt-Control-S will mute the voiceover speech.

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up vote 1 down vote

See here: http://richmintz.com/2011/04/ipad-app-switching-using-your-bluetooth-keyboard/

I haven't tried it, but if your keyboard has a home button, you should be able to double click it to get the task switcher up. So it seems it should be easy.

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up vote 1 down vote

If you're jailbroken, you can install BeeKeyboard and Multitasktures to do this.

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