[GUIDE][THEMING]How to theme any Android App

[Raiz]

здравствуйте, прошу прощения если ошибся веткой, у меня открытие сайта происходит с ошибкой наверное проблема в браузере не пойму в чем проблема, у меня у одного так или у всех?

Hi there, could you please translate that in English for me, I tried to put the text in Google translate but the translation makes no sense.
Have a good day ?

 

[ForestCat]

Raiz,
The general question: Do you know of a reference/guide which explains the layout of the xml files which define ui objects, in particular, which image files are used?

The specific question: Samsung, in their infinite (NOT) wisdom, has decided that the .png standard is good enough for the rest of the android world, but not them. Enter .qmg, .pio, .spr, and, my favorite, an encrypted(?) version of .bmp.
So, the 'browse & replace' method in your OP re: changing icons/images within an app's res folder doesn't work.
Now, I am familiar w/ qmg2png and the like, but there are problems with this. Without listing them all, one of the big issues is that some images convert to blank white pictures, some images won't convert at all(.bmp), etc.

Specific Case:
Samsung Note 4
Stock rooted 6.0.1 Marshmallow
Trying to change the stock dialer keypad buttons.
Through long trial & error, was able to find & modify the InCallUI_M_OS_UP_Legacy.apk keypad buttons, put pushing the mod'd apk to the phone & reinstalling it via Root Explorer did not change the phone's dialer keypad. After 2 full ( and I mean full) days of decompiling apk's, copying res folders back to the phone to (try) to extract png's(the qmg decoders only work on the phone), copying thousands of png's back to the pc to browse for anything recognizable, etc., no joy.
I have searched the web/forum for all permutations of theme, skin, dialer, touchwiz, galaxy, stock, marshmallow, dialpad, SecContacts_M_OSup_Note_Legacy_USA.apk, etc, etc, etc. Just not finding anything anywhere which points me toward a way to modify the stock dialer appearance (other than background color) on a 6.0.1 (or even 5.1.1) touchwiz ROM. I hate to beg for help, but I'm out of ideas.
Thanks so much.

 

[richardx49]

Thanks alot for the guide

 

[Raiz]

Thanks alot for the guide

I got u fam

 

[Raiz]

Raiz,
The general question: Do you know of a reference/guide
...
anything anywhere which points me toward a way to modify the stock dialer appearance (other than background color) on a 6.0.1 (or even 5.1.1) touchwiz ROM. I hate to beg for help, but I'm out of ideas.
Thanks so much.

Hi , I'm gonna take a deep look into this, so it may take time, I'll edit this post when the answer is written and will mention you to notify you when it's ready

 

[ForestCat]

Hi , I'm gonna take a deep look into this, so it may take time, I'll edit this post when the answer is written and will mention you to notify you when it's ready

Thanks, man, I really appreciate it. I've been hammering away at it, but no luck yet. I suspect it may involve smali, etc, which I haven't got my head around yet. Was hoping there might be a way to add glass buttons(yeah, I'm dated) to the dialer keypad just using xml/png, but it's not looking promising...

 

[Raiz]

Thanks, man, I really appreciate it. I've been hammering away at it, but no luck yet. I suspect it may involve smali, etc, which I haven't got my head around yet. Was hoping there might be a way to add glass buttons(yeah, I'm dated) to the dialer keypad just using xml/png, but it's not looking promising...

So, First of all sorry for making you wait, I got busy lately, but I had the opportunity to look into your question

For your general question, here is a thread I made after this one, that adds a more deeply-thought approche to what I've done here, plus I linked some other thread from really good themers (like ticklefish) that teached me a lot of things , here you go:
[GUIDE][THEMING]How to find in the code what you want to theme by Me (lol)
and
[Newbies][Documenation]What's an apk and how does it work by Me (again)

In those you'll find links to xda thread, google documentation that I strongly recommend you to read, it helped me a lot. I know that those are "long reads" but to me it's worth it.

For you specific question, I'm sorry to tell you that it's a problem for me to, and so far I had no luck with that. I used to have a samsung back in the days, but each time I tried something I just gave up because of that. When you asked me that, I retried with no success. So on this one I won't be able to tell you, sorry for that, I know how much of a drag it can be to be stucked like that, hope you'll have some luck with that.

Have a great day :highfive:

 

[ForestCat]

For you specific question, I'm sorry to tell you that it's a problem for me to, and so far I had no luck with that. I used to have a samsung back in the days, but each time I tried something I just gave up because of that. When you asked me that, I retried with no success. So on this one I won't be able to tell you, sorry for that, I know how much of a drag it can be to be stucked like that, hope you'll have some luck with that.
Have a great day :highfive:

Thanx for looking into it, I really do appreciate it. Yeah, it's bad news, but I feel a little better that it's not just my lack of skillz. I do love the Note 4, but I'm starting to despise Samsung for their anti-consumer tactics. Then again, why would they be different from Apple, Google, MS, et al.

I do mostly like the feel/function/features of the MM touchwiz stuff, I just don't like some of their icons, color choices, etc. I haven't found a third party replacement I like as much, unfortunately.

I do hope somebody will find a solution for this. I think it would open a few doors for Samsung owners.

 

[CgMonkey]

Help

Hello,

I need your help regarding the Nextbit Robin. Mine don't boot at all the bootload is locked and the USB debug is off. And I don't know if the device charging when it plugged.
All this happened during the last installation of Lineage (Don't remember the version) under Windows 10, I usually use Win 7 to perform this operation.

Can I have your advise about my issue ?


Thank you !

 

[Autissima]

Hello, I recently tried to crack open an apk (with permission from the owner ofc) and change some colour values, just as you said here.
I originally thought I only have to change some value for a colour and everything should be alright, but when I then open the app, either absolutely nothing will have changed, or the app closes itself...
Do I have to modify the android_manifest or some other values as well?

I know this thread is pretty old, but I am desperate for some help by now.

 

[Raiz]

Hello, I recently tried to crack open an apk (with permission from the owner ofc) and change some colour values, just as you said here.
I originally thought I only have to change some value for a colour and everything should be alright, but when I then open the app, either absolutely nothing will have changed, or the app closes itself...
Do I have to modify the android_manifest or some other values as well?

I know this thread is pretty old, but I am desperate for some help by now.

I know it's old, but I'm still there don't worry lol.
It looks like a signature problem at first glance. Did you use when recompiling the "-c" to keep the signature unchanged ?
Also, sometimes it's that we forget to save the xml file before recompiling, so double check that.
More questions : did the recompiling process what successful with apktool? Did you use apktool? What's the name of the apk ?

For now I don't have much time to investigate but make sure to remind me of that story after the 11/12. From that date (if we still haven't figured out what's the matter) I'll be able to further investigate on my side, if you're willing of course to provide an apk and more details on the modifications you wanna bring.

But for now let's try to figure it out with questions & answers

 

[Autissima]

I know it's old, but I'm still there don't worry lol.
It looks like a signature problem at first glance. Did you use when recompiling the "-c" to keep the signature unchanged ?
Also, sometimes it's that we forget to save the xml file before recompiling, so double check that.
More questions : did the recompiling process what successful with apktool? Did you use apktool? What's the name of the apk ?

For now I don't have much time to investigate but make sure to remind me of that story after the 11/12. From that date (if we still haven't figured out what's the matter) I'll be able to further investigate on my side, if you're willing of course to provide an apk and more details on the modifications you wanna bring.

But for now let's try to figure it out with questions & answers

Hmm I didn't use -c every time, but I can try it again with that. I definitely saved the XML, at least once, I tried this for a few days now.
The recompile process doesn't fail, and as I said sometimes the app will even start, but it'll close itself again, after showing the normal splash screen.
It's a game made in Kotlin "Antimatter Dimensions" and I just want to change some colours around.

 

[TaylorBlake]

Wait, it's possible to customize an android app? I think I'm living under a rock because I didn't know that.

 

[Raiz]

Wait, it's possible to customize an android app? I think I'm living under a rock because I didn't know that.

Yes it is, all you need is a reverse engineering tool, and a brain. It's not easy, but it's possible !

 

[GAURAV THAKKAR]

Yes it is, all you need is a reverse engineering tool, and a brain. It's not easy, but it's possible !

Haha well said

 

[Autissima]

I admittedly originally used a slightly different process from yours, signing and aligning the apk on my PC, but I tried to stay close to your guide this time but still no dice :C

It just crashes, or has no effect, so is this still applicable for newer android versions?

Additionally, there is the "values-night" folder, which has the colours that according to the developer are actually the colours in the app, I guess I should change those too then?

Also, in some other guides about de- and recompiling apks, they said to transfer the META-INF and some other files?

Edit:
P.S.
I just noticed that this might be a problem, it's a Kotlin app, so that might muck it up?

 

[Raiz]

I admittedly originally used a slightly different process from yours, signing and aligning the apk on my PC, but I tried to stay close to your guide this time but still no dice :C

It just crashes, or has no effect, so is this still applicable for newer android versions?

Additionally, there is the "values-night" folder, which has the colours that according to the developer are actually the colours in the app, I guess I should change those too then?

Also, in some other guides about de- and recompiling apks, they said to transfer the META-INF and some other files?

Edit:
P.S.
I just noticed that this might be a problem, it's a Kotlin app, so that might muck it up?

Also, in some other guides about de- and recompiling apks, they said to transfer the META-INF and some other files?

That's the same as doing -c in apktool, this command will soon be deprecated tho. It keeps the signature unchanged. If you want to mod a system app then you need to keep the signature unchanged (using the -c). Else for the signature process I made a new bigger and deeper thread about how to sign apks, and much more.
Here it is

Additionally, there is the "values-night" folder, which has the colours that according to the developer are actually the colours in the app, I guess I should change those too then?

Yup change them if he said that.

It just crashes, or has no effect, so is this still applicable for newer android versions?

Apparently yes, but what app are you trying to mod ? (Name + if it's a system app or regular app)

P.S.
I just noticed that this might be a problem, it's a Kotlin app, so that might muck it up?

As long as there is xml to modify, I don't think kotline is a problem.

 

[Autissima]

Antimatter Dimensions, an incremental game, not a system app.

Edit:
I played around a bit with the apk, and not changing anything in it, but just de- and recompiling it doesn't work either, unless I tell apktool to not decompile resource files, which makes the entire ordeal of, well, changing resource files, a bit harder

Edit 2:
Ok, I opened an issue on apktools, and apparently it wrongly decompiled the "<" in plurals.xml's
So uh, yay, it works now, thank you so much.

 

[nihitthakkar]

There are some launchers with themes, you have to just install the launcher on your android device to apply the theme.

 

[nihitthakkar]

To create a theme, follow these steps:
1. Go to the Theme menu near the top of the right side of the Theme Editor.
2. Click Create New Theme.
3. In the New Theme dialog, enter a name for the new theme.
4. In the Parent theme name list, click on the parent from which the theme inherits initial resources.