How to Use Customize: A Walkthrough

Customize v2.1.1 | Published by SpicyChicken | Via built-in Production Cydia Repo | Free

Overview

SpicyChicken has been working hard to get one of our favorite apps ready for the 2.0 software.  Customize lets you do exactly what the name implies. . . 'Customize' anything and everything dealing with the appearance and sound of your iPhone.

Some of the customizable options include:

Dock Background

Application Icons

Main Battery Images

Dialing Keypad Images

Notepad Background

Keyboard Images

Slider Images

System Text Strings

Here we'll walk you through changing an entire theme all at one time, as well as applying just individual parts of a theme. NOTE: This walkthrough assumes you have already jailbroken your phone, see our 3G Jailbreak Tutorials for Mac Users & Windows Users.

How-To

1. Download Customize v2.2.1 from Cydia  (see this Tutorial for help) 2.  Run Customize

When you start Customize it will connect to the Theme Server and allow you to browse through numerous themes ready to be loaded on your iPhone.  At the time of this, the theme server was under a really heavy load and it took us numerous attempts before we were able to connect and actually browse themes. 

If your screen shows the message above about 'Server Unavailable' you will want to hit the home key and re-open Customize.  It may take 10 or more tries before it finally connects. I'm sure this is likely due to the high demand on the server, and as things smooth out this message should go away. 3.  Create a new account To be able to browse the themes available on the theme server your phone needs to be registered to an email and password.  Put in your information on the following screen when it appears.  This will only happen the first time you load the program.  (If you got the Server Unavailable message you might also see this screen again, you need to close and reopen until you successfully connect to the server).

    

4.  Browse the available themes

Tap 'Theme Browser' on the main menu.  You will be put into the browser which has several options for browsing themes.  I'll tap 'Top 40' and see what themes a lot of other Customize users like.  After tapping 'Top 40' I immediately noticed the X360 theme, so for this walkthrough I'll use that one.  You may select whatever theme catches your eye.

    

5.  Download theme of your choice

After selecting the X360 theme I'm presented with a screen similar to that found when downloading apps in Cydia.  Tap 'Download' on the top right of the screen.

    

6.  Apply downloaded theme to the iPhone

Now that you have downloaded the theme you want (or themes if you're like me), then go back to 'Browse Themes' on the main screen, select your downloaded theme from the 'Local Themes' section of the 'My Themes' tab at the bottom.  You will get prompted with another information screen about the downloaded theme.  

    

From here, at the bottom, you will see a button for 'Apply Theme To Device'.  Selecting this will apply all available theme parts to your iPhone.  You can then hit the home button to exit Customize and look at your newly themed iPhone.

    

NOTE:  This currently will not work for backgrounds behind the icons.  You will have to wait for an update to SummerBoard or possibly a later update to Customize for this functionality. 

7.  Removing a theme that you've applied

Ok, so now you decided that this theme is ugly, I like the ultra elite look of the stock iPhone better, how do I get rid of this theme?

Well there is no 'Unapply Theme' button, you're stuck, live with it!  Just kidding. . . SpicyChicken has made a backup of the original iPhone theme, which you might have noticed in the list of local themes in the screenshots above (or on your own phone).  Just follow step 6 but select 'OriginalBackup' instead of your downloaded theme. 

8.  Applying individual icons or images from a theme

Let's say you like the Customize icon from the X360 theme, but really like the original iPhone theme for everything else.  Fear not, SpicyChicken has you covered.  

Open Customize, and on the main menu select 'Customize Images/Sounds'.  We're changing one icon, so I'll select 'Application Icons', though you could select Dock Image, Status Bar Images or any other iPhone part that you want to change.

    

Select the application icon you would like to update from another theme.  We're changing the 'Customize' icon, so I'll select it.  Select the theme from which you want to get the new icon from.  I chose X360.

    

Look at the Preview, if it's the correct icon, go ahead and tap 'Apply', then go back to your SpringBoard and look for your new icon.  Notice the totally stock iPhone appearance with the updated Customize icon below.

    

9.  Saving your custom changes to your own theme

Say you spend a lot of time customizing individual elements of the phone from different theme sets.  Now you want to be able to save that as your own custom theme so that you can apply it later.  SpicyChicken, again, has you covered.

From the main menu select 'Make Backup Now'.  You'll be prompted to enter a name for your theme.  You may not use any spaces or symbols in this box.  We fittingly called ours AppleiPhoneApps.  After you hit OK, Customize will begin backing up all of the images you currently have applied to the phone, and then you will be presented with a dialog box notifying you that the Backup was Created.

    

Your new theme will appear in the themes browser under the 'Local Themes' section and can now be applied like any other theme using step 6 above.

10.  Changing system strings and messages.

One of my favorite features of Customize is the ability to change system strings.  Anywhere there is text on the phone, that text can usually be modified from customize.  

To check out what's available to change, tap 'Edit System Strings' on the main menu. Select the language you wish to edit (I chose English since that's all I speak). Scroll through the available strings to change. Type in your new custom string. Tap Save at the top right of the screen when finished. 

    

    

Summary

Customize has been a great tool since its first release to the jailbreak community.  The release of version 2.1 allows those of us using the new 2.0 firmware to break away from the binds of conformity and make our iPhone our own.  So far it's a great start. This software is still a bit buggy, many have reported the error about connecting to the server, and backgrounds are still not able to be applied to the Springboard.  Despite that, it allows you to customize your phone and therefore delivers on its promise.  We look forward to future updates by SpicyChicken. If we missed anything let us know in the comments below!

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