Theme-ing Without Winterboard

[donm3ga]

Can you change your springboard theme without using Winterboard? I am asking because Winterboard causes apparently slowdowns, which I would like to avoid all together.

Can I just drag and drop png files to replace the icons and dock? This won't cause any slowdowns right? Since its just calling a different png file.

Are the png files supplied when you download a theme from macthemes2.com?

[LSUtigers03]

I don't know if you could or not but you can try with SSH but changing every file every time would be a pain. I don't notice a slowdown with WinterBoard. I would give it a try first before you go this route.

[donm3ga]

I don't know if you could or not but you can try with SSH but changing every file every time would be a pain. I don't notice a slowdown with WinterBoard. I would give it a try first before you go this route.

I would just SSH the icons and dock right?

[rotobadger]

I believe you could (of course, assuming your iPhone is Jailbroken). You would just replace the icon.png with what you want. You would also be able to change the background as well. The disadvantage of doing it this way is it is a hassle evertime you want a new theme. But if you're going to stick with it it should be fine. You can do this with your sounds too using .caf files.

[jcde7ago]

You can't theme without Winterboard completely, the farthest you could get would be changing the home screen dock and wallpaper but other than that, you wouldn't be able to change the individual icons for every app as they are specially packaged and are integrity checked every time you run the app. Believe me, i tried before using Winterboard a while back, none of your AppStore apps will work...the icon images will be replaced if you simply replace the .png's, sure, but as soon as you try to open it, it will not let you. Unless you're using tons of widgets, Winterboard should be causing you very negligible lag, and it's far more convenient and safe.

[donm3ga]

You can't theme without Winterboard completely, the farthest you could get would be changing the home screen dock and wallpaper but other than that, .

Can you direct me to the wallpaper location? I have the dock location.

I thought I read on www.hackthatphone.com that its easy to replace the app icons.

Here is the hackthatphone.com link I am referring to: http://www.hackthatphone.com/20/custom_graphics.html. Or does this only work for native apps.

[TheConfuzed1]

Why are you so opposed to Winterboard?

There are some Winterboard theme elements, that cause lag, but most don't.

Rather than sweating something that you read, why not just try it and see how you like it?

[mavis]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone 3G (16GB, 2.1 PWNed): Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5F136 Safari/525.20)

Why are you so opposed to Winterboard?

There are some Winterboard theme elements, that cause lag, but most don't.

Rather than sweating something that you read, why not just try it and see how you like it?

I have experienced major slowdowns when using Winterboard to run basic themes (WP, dock, icons only) every time I've tried. I have a 2G iPod touch to compare the iPhone to, and the difference in app launch times and general responsiveness is extreme.

[donm3ga]

You can't theme without Winterboard completely, the farthest you could get would be changing the home screen dock and wallpaper but other than that, you wouldn't be able to change the individual icons for every app as they are specially packaged and are integrity checked every time you run the app. Believe me, i tried before using Winterboard a while back, none of your AppStore apps will work...the icon images will be replaced if you simply replace the .png's, sure, but as soon as you try to open it, it will not let you. Unless you're using tons of widgets, Winterboard should be causing you very negligible lag, and it's far more convenient and safe.

I'm still confused by this.

I am under the impression that if I download a theme from macthemes2.com, then SSH into my iPhone 3G, if I just go into the folder where the icons are for the theme and just drag them to replace each icon inside my iPhone that it should work fine. Is that not what Winterboard does anyway?

People on this board highly recommend www.hackthatphone.com to learn. After researching it contradicts what the quote says.

Someone please provide some clarity.

[CyberGreg]

Yes you can indeed ssh into your device and manually replace these items:
Icons for all the Apple and Cydia provided applications.
Icons for your WebClips
You can also replace system sounds

*with some extra work you can
Replace AppStore icons

Without WinterBoard:
You CAN NOT display any background on your homescreen
You CAN NOT display any of the other theme-able components, like UI images or pretty much any original file contained in an .artwork file

What you are looking to do is use a program like Customize, which for all I know has been abandoned by the developer due to the power and ease of WinterBoard.
:cool:

[macdim]

I've noticed massive slowdowns using Winterboard. So much so that when I would press on an icon, the whole phone would lag, and instead of opening the app, would start to jiggle them as if I had pressed them down for a long time. I now only jailbreak to get a video recorder and 5 icon dock. Those two things complete my iPhone experience.

[analytical44]

Yes you can indeed ssh into your device and manually replace these items:
Icons for all the Apple and Cydia provided applications.
Icons for your WebClips
You can also replace system sounds

*with some extra work you can
Replace AppStore icons

Without WinterBoard:
You CAN NOT display any background on your homescreen
You CAN NOT display any of the other theme-able components, like UI images or pretty much any original file contained in an .artwork file

What you are looking to do is use a program like Customize, which for all I know has been abandoned by the developer due to the power and ease of WinterBoard.
:cool:

Could you explain how to change AppStore app icons without winterboardd?

[jcde7ago]

Could you explain how to change AppStore app icons without winterboardd?

I will repeat this again, since no one seems to want to take the time to read through the whole thread:

YOU CANNOT REPLACE YOUR APPSTORE APP ICONS WITH CUSTOM ONES UNLESS YOU USE WINTERBOARD. THEY ARE INTEGRITY CHECKED, REPLACING THEM WILL BREAK YOUR APP, AND IT WILL NO LONGER OPEN.

Don't believe me? Try it. SSH into your Applications folder, choose an app, replace its icon. The custom icon will show when you respring, and you might even be able to open the app ONCE. Afterward, you will get a dialog box stating that your app is not working and it will not open. You will then have to uninstall the app and reinstall it, or plug the original app icon .png back in the folder. I know this cause i tried. But if everyone wants to keep insisting otherwise...then by all means, go for it.

[CyberGreg]

I will repeat this again, since no one seems to want to take the time to read through the whole thread:

YOU CANNOT REPLACE YOUR APPSTORE APP ICONS WITH CUSTOM ONES UNLESS YOU USE WINTERBOARD. THEY ARE INTEGRITY CHECKED, REPLACING THEM WILL BREAK YOUR APP, AND IT WILL NO LONGER OPEN.

Don't believe me? Try it. SSH into your Applications folder, choose an app, replace its icon. The custom icon will show when you respring, and you might even be able to open the app ONCE. Afterward, you will get a dialog box stating that your app is not working and it will not open. You will then have to uninstall the app and reinstall it, or plug the original app icon .png back in the folder. I know this cause i tried. But if everyone wants to keep insisting otherwise...then by all means, go for it.

I have no reason to test this but clearly it did work -> LINKAGE (http://www.modmyi.com/forums/file-mods/257761-changing-app-store-icons.html#post1624631)

Again have no idea if the process still works in 2.1 and frankly don't care... :p

[jcde7ago]

I have no reason to test this but clearly it did work -> LINKAGE (http://www.modmyi.com/forums/file-mods/257761-changing-app-store-icons.html#post1624631)

Again have no idea if the process still works in 2.1 and frankly don't care... :p

Again, YES, if you replace the icons your custom icons will show up fine. If you try to open those apps is where the problem occurs, they will NOT open, thus leaving Winterboard as the only viable theming option. So technically, NO, YOU CANNOT THEME WITHOUT WINTERBOARD.

And for further proof if you want, feel free to PM the posters at ModMyI who said it worked and asked them if they were able to access their apps after replacing each app icon without Winterboard ;)

[Airforcekid]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone 3G (16GB, 2.1 PWNed): Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5F136 Safari/525.20)



I have experienced major slowdowns when using Winterboard to run basic themes (WP, dock, icons only) every time I've tried. I have a 2G iPod touch to compare the iPhone to, and the difference in app launch times and general responsiveness is extreme.

I thought the 2nd Gen iPod touch couldnt be jailbroken yet just the 1st gen?

[mavis]

I thought the 2nd Gen iPod touch couldnt be jailbroken yet just the 1st gen?

That's right. I had a 1st gen Touch, jailbroken from 1.1.1 last fall right up to 2.1 in September. I sold it and bought the 2G Touch ... Between the two of them, I was able to compare 2.1 virgin, 2.1 jailbroken, and 2.1.1 to my iPhone 3G - the iPods are consistently faster than the iPhone (booting, powering off, launching apps, rotating images in Photo.app, etc) whether the iPhone is jailbroken or not - but the difference is much greater once Winterboard is installed. ;)

[ntrigue]

You can absolutely change AppStore icons without Winterboard.

SSH into Var/Mobile/Applications and double-click folder named after the App then find 'icon.png' rename it, drop your new 'icon.png' into the folder. Reboot iPhone. The only App that doesn't play nice with the above procedure is Star Wars Force Unleashed.

Login to modmyi.com for a few minutes and you'll discover that once you can SSH you can change anything with the right amount of will. This includes, background, sliders, text, etc.

[jcde7ago]

You can absolutely change AppStore icons without Winterboard.

SSH into Var/Mobile/Applications and double-click folder named after the App then find 'icon.png' rename it, drop your new 'icon.png' into the folder. Reboot iPhone. The only App that doesn't play nice with the above procedure is Star Wars Force Unleashed.

Login to modmyi.com for a few minutes and you'll discover that once you can SSH you can change anything with the right amount of will. This includes, background, sliders, text, etc.

Re-read the entire thread. No one said you couldn't change the icons.

[ntrigue]

Again, YES, if you replace the icons your custom icons will show up fine. If you try to open those apps is where the problem occurs, they will NOT open, thus leaving Winterboard as the only viable theming option. So technically, NO, YOU CANNOT THEME WITHOUT WINTERBOARD.


I did read the thread. Will use quotes in the future.

[jcde7ago]

I did read the thread. Will use quotes in the future.

Lol gotcha. Yes, you can change the icons. Will your app open afterwards? Nope. Which means manually theming by replacing the icons through SSH defeats the purpose of having those apps anyways as they will not open. Hence, you cannot PROPERLY theme without Winterboard unless you plan on never opening those apps whose icons you replaced.

[ianhhh]

yo.. ive read this thread, very funny,. so [at the risk of annoying someone] its def not poss to change my homescreen bkgrd via SSH ? has anyone managed this ? if so, where is the file i need to change? thanks..

[sevenalive]

I know this is an old post but it's the top results in google for the question i was trying to get an answer. So I figure I would post the correct answer because there is a user claiming modding the icon files directly causes the app to crash, that is incorrect. I have modded all icons for every native and app store app i have, even changed more than just the icon files in the apps without winterboard and all apps work just fine.

[iModr]

If anyone is interested im going to be running a project on a permanent theme for those of you that dont really care about theming all the time.

My idea is we make a tool that will instead of changing the file locations we replace them so instead of causing lag by loading 2 of the same damn icons it will be rewrote and the originals will be saved. No Lag!! :D

But email me if your interested and have your dev hands ready..

Thanx, iModr :apple:

[Sparky9292]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8H7 Safari/6533.18.5)

I can't stand the lag that Winterboard causes.

[Benji222]

I would love if this would work but what would it take?
you would have to bring a program to he applications folder on your phone, it would have to know all the application folder names and there icon names... then it would have to : "save the icon file from the appstore app folder, use FIXPNG (google search it) to then view/edit it, then open it open in like photoshop or anything else and paste the new icon of your choice over top of the old one and save it. then replace it like normal."~copy+paste from link.
sounds hard

[iModr]

I would love if this would work but what would it take?
you would have to bring a program to he applications folder on your phone, it would have to know all the application folder names and there icon names... then it would have to : "save the icon file from the appstore app folder, use FIXPNG (google search it) to then view/edit it, then open it open in like photoshop or anything else and paste the new icon of your choice over top of the old one and save it. then replace it like normal."~copy+paste from link.
sounds hard

Yes this would be a hard task indeed especially getting the program to recognize any new app icon or the fact that we would have to create a script line for every kind of themeable object.

I am sure the time and effort will pay off if tried. Even though I hate paying for stuff on cydia.. But to understand is not that hard if you ever have devd before.

I need several persons help on this so only give me a shout if you in fact know what your dealing with.

Thanx..

[Baggy Spandex]

I'm not understanding your problems. I've been replacing icons for all apps, appstore included, for years now. They're all named icon.png, no matter which application. I just open an ssh client and drag/drop the custom icon and overwrite the stock one. Respring and I'm done.

Excuse my ignorance if this isn't what you're speaking of.

[Benji222]

I'm not understanding your problems. I've been replacing icons for all apps, appstore included, for years now. They're all named icon.png, no matter which application. I just open an ssh client and drag/drop the custom icon and overwrite the stock one. Respring and I'm done.

Excuse my ignorance if this isn't what you're speaking of.

when they update it replaces the icon correct? How would it distinguish

[iModr]

I'm not understanding your problems. I've been replacing icons for all apps, appstore included, for years now. They're all named icon.png, no matter which application. I just open an ssh client and drag/drop the custom icon and overwrite the stock one. Respring and I'm done.

Excuse my ignorance if this isn't what you're speaking of.

I am not speaking of icons.

Okay picture this. BytaFont is a utility that replaces text font. Does not link font packages it rewrites the systems default text input. Okay. So the same concept of what I am creating. Instead of having winterboard (utility for system theming by linking) have something more like bytafont. So really it would be called BytaBoard or something to this sort... BytaBoard (unofficial) will be a utility for system theming by replacement of files, images, strings, fonts, ect...

I cannot say what this all entitles but. I will say I'm going to need some helping hands for this one.

No further information will be available until beta releases.