How to Bring Back “Now Playing” in the Notification Bar in iOS 7 (Video)

I understand that Jony wanted to make iOS 7 as clean as possible, but the Now Playing symbol on the top right in iOS 6 when music was playing actually served a useful purpose. It let us know that music was playing, even if we thought we paused of stopped it. Of course, indignant developers make a tweak to reinstate that symbol, and it’s called NowPlayingStatusBar. It’s a long name for such a small tweak, but it’s extremely easy to instal and setup, so check out the instructions and video below, and enjoy!

I. Jailbreak your iPhone/iPad

To do this procedure you must be jailbroken. If you aren’t, you can head to our Jailbreak How To’s section and pick the jailbreak for your version of iOS (currently at the time of writing this is 7.0.4). Once done with that procedure and you have Cydia installed, head back here to continue.

II. Install NowPlayingStatusBar

1. Open Cydia (if it isn’t still open from the section above).

2. Tap Search in the bottom right corner.

3. Type in NowPlayingStatusBar.

4. Tap on NowPlayingStatusBar when it shows up.

5. Tap Install in the top right corner.

6. Tap Confirm in the top right corner.

7. Tap Restart.

III. Configure NowPlayingStatusBar

1. Tap Settings.

2. Scroll down to NowPlayingStatusBar and tap to open.

3. Tap the switcher to enable NowPlayingStatusBar if it’s not already on.

• Tap the switcher next to Align Symbol Left to make the symbol appear on the top left rather than the original top right.
• Tap Round for a circle rather than the original Play symbol.

IV. Use NowPlayingStatusBar

1. Tap to open Music.

2. Play a song, and the Now Playing symbol will appear.

 

Enjoy!