Fix Swype with custom ROM (Aospc in particular)

So I've been messing around this weekend trying to get the LICENSED Swype installation that came with our handsets to work on Aospcmod, and through a mess of trial and error I finally figured out what was going on and got it to work. Yes, I know there is another thread here that has you downloading the trialware beta and doing other 'hinky stuff' to make it work, but I'd rather use the licensed copy that came with my phone, thanks.

Swype appears to peek at the build.prop on our handsets and if certain variables don't match what it expects to find it will error out into unlicensed mode where 'swyping' doesn't work and you get a 'Swype not licensed for this device' type message.

In particular Swype seems to look at ro.product.model and ro.product.brand (in build.prop) - for some reason whoever is compiling Aospcmod for the Optimus V has seen it fit to change these values from what they were in the stock FroYo build.

So - to make a long story short if you are using a custom ROM, you've pulled the Swype.apk and libSwypeCore.so from the stock rom and put them into your custom rom, and you still can't get Swype to work you should edit build.prop and change these lines from:

ro.product.model=LG-VM670
ro.product.brand=virgin_mobile

to:

ro.product.model=VM670
ro.product.brand=VirginMobile


How do you edit build.prop? Well if you've installed a custom ROM I'd like to think you can figure it out for yourself. My method was:

1. Connect your phone and use ROMTools option 4 to mount /system as r/w
2. adb pull /system/build.prop
3. Make the above edits to build.prop (USE A REAL TEXT EDITOR - NOT WINDOWS NOTEPAD!)
4. adb push build.prop /system/build.prop
5. Reboot

Need the original Swype.apk and libSwypeCore.so from the stock ROM? Simple! Use SwypeRestore.apk posted by another user of XDA - it will pull the Swype from a backup of the stock ROM (You DO have a backup, right?) and install it to your current setup. You can find SwypeRestore here:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=841603


Once you've fixed the build.prop, installed the Optimus V stock Swype.apk and libSwypeCore.so, and rebooted the phone you should be good to go - a fully legitimate and licensed Swype install on your custom ROM!

Hope this wasn't too complicated sounding.


I was going to attach a fixed build.prop for Aospcmod, but since the various values can change every time a build of Aospcmod is released I figured it would be better to have everyone do their own build.prop editing. :-/

Swype just released a new Beta 3.0:

http://beta.swype.com/

Uninstall the pre-installed Swype, then download the Swype Installer from the Swype Beta website, run it, and you will have the new 3.0 version.

What JS said

Sent from my Nexus One using Tapatalk

Unintalling Pre-Install Swype

Hey guys, to uninstall preload Swype:

Use root explorer to delete Swype.apk from your \system\app\ folder
then delete lib file for swype (sorry I don't remember the exact name) from \system\lib\ (search for *swype* should find it)

reboot
download beta and enjoy!