Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Tips & Tricks Episode 47: Any App for Multi Window Unrooted/No Root Method

MW-Pen App Enabler Review

App Link: MW-Pen App Enabler

We are especially excited to announce the discovery for an app that will take any app and make it pen window and multi window compatible.  Apps that offered the ability to do this have existed in the past, but they all required the device to be rooted (hacked).  This app however works even if your device is unrooted.  This means multi window for any app on any device with multi window support is now possible.  It is an absolute game changer.

We did our tests using a few apps that we thought might give it the most trouble.  3D games and hardware accelerated games: Bouncy Ball 2.5D, Cut The Rope 2, and X-Plane.  To our surprise, all the apps worked, with some minor glitches.  You can either select the app that you have installed, or select the apk if the file is on your device.  After it’s done processing, an uninstall and reinstall of the newly modified apk is required.

Before You Uninstall The Original App

Save data, such as game data, for that app will be lost when any app is uninstalled, even temporarily.  Backup is possible for some apps, with an app called Helium, but keep in mind you can't restore backups to a modified apk install of the app.  If the app has no save data or it saves and restores your progress online, then it’s not really an issue.

How Does This App Work?

What we believe it is doing is that it modifies the configuration file for the app for multi window compatibility.  Since apps cannot write directly to protected folders in Android, it packages the modified configuration file into the apk installer, which will get placed when you reinstall the app.  Of course that’s easier said than done because the configuration file is encrypted and apks need to be signed.  But this developer has figured out how to do this all inside an app.

The reason we think this app is a game changer is that, at the moment, Samsung lets the app developers opt in their apps for multi window compatibility.  It is a good way to ensure that the multi window apps work without any problems.  The problem is some developers will never get around to making their apps multi window compatible, even though their app may work just fine without any modification.

And because of the slow adoption, people don’t multi-task as often as they should.  People forget to check to see if both apps are compatible.  But now, the difference is, the assumption can be made that both apps will probably be compatible, which can drastically change how the device is approached for multi-tasking.

Not Without Glitches

Forcing apps to do something they were never meant to do will be met with glitches.  For example all apps that officially support multi window all support rotation, however some apps you may force to do multi window may be specifically written to not support rotation.  Some apps will shape to conform around the size of the window, however some apps are fixed to the size it wants to display and will lead to some cropping.  However that majority of the apps seem to work without major issues.

Enable Multiple Instance For Any App

One last option is the MW Multi-instance Enable.  As the name suggests it will try to force the app to run a second copy next to itself.  Some apps will work.  However, this will undoubtedly cause a lot of crashes for apps that request a  limited resource.

Does Not Work For Paid Apps (Workaround)

One last thing we want to mention is that this app does not work for paid apps directly.  At the moment if a paid app is selected, it will crash.  However, the workaround is that if you have the apk for the paid app that was purchased, it can be modified for multi-window and pen window compatibility.