SeeSaw re-maps the iPad's volume buttons to match the volume HUD slider direction in landscape mode

SeeSaw re-maps the iPad’s volume buttons to match the volume HUD slider direction in landscape mode

Anthony Bouchard ∙ January 13, 2024

One of the things that iPad owners must cope with on a regular basis is the fact that Apple’s tablet can go into landscape orientation one of two ways – left to right, or right to left. Still, the volume buttons remain in their same positions, with the one closer of the top of the screen boosting volume and the one further from the top of the screen lowering volume.

Since these button positions can play with the brain a little bit when using certain orientations due to the native volume slider direction, iOS developer ETHN has released a new and free jailbreak tweak called SeeSaw that remaps the iPad’s volume buttons in certain landscape orientation conditions so that the volume buttons always match the direction of the volume slider.

Users will notice this issue when rotating their iPad counterclockwise into landscape orientation from when the charging port originates at the bottom of the tablet in portrait orientation. When this happens, the volume buttons’ “true” direction faces opposite of the volume HUD slider. Specifically:

• Pressing the left volume button increases the volume and the volume HUD slider moves right
• Pressing the right volume button decreases the volume and the volume HUD slider moves left

See the issue? Why should pressing the left volume button make the volume HUD slider move right, and vice-versa? ETHN’s jailbreak tweak fixes this, making it so that pressing the left volume button makes the volume HUD slider move left (decrease) and pressing the right volume button makes the volume HUD slider move right (increase).

For what it’s worth, you can rotate an iPad into landscape orientation clockwise from when the charging port originates at the bottom of the tablet in portrait orientation, and the volume HUD already agrees with the volume button presses in this position. So it all depends on which way you prefer to rotate your iPad to enter landscape orientation.

While it appears to be only a minor UI/UX blip on Apple’s part, SeeSaw improves the experience with little effort by the end user, making things feel more consistent and natural.

If you’re interested in installing SeeSaw on your jailbroken iPad, then you can acquire it for free from ETHN’s personal repository via your favorite package manager app. The tweak is advertised as working only on rootless jailbreaks running on iPadOS 16.0-16.7.4, which means that it should support palera1n for A9-A11 devices and the upcoming Dopamine 2 jailbreak for A12+ devices. The developer also also confirmed that it works with the Serotonin semi-jailbreak and system tweak injection for the RootHide development team’s Procursus-based bootstrap.

There are no options to configure and ETHN has open-sourced the project on GitHub for those interested in learning more about it.

Are you going to be taking advantage of the SeeSaw jailbreak tweak? Let us know in the comments section down below.

Tags iPad iPadOS iPadOS 16 Jailbreak Jailbreak Apps & Tweaks News Review
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