Hack the iPhone

How to change any graphic with a custom one

intel Mac & PPC





You can change most any graphic on the iPhone with any other graphic you want provided the dimensions are the same and you use the .PNG format with a transparent background. The instructions are the same for any graphic you want to change, the only difference is the path on the iPhone where the graphic must go. I've compiled a partial listing of the various graphics on the iPhone right here. The graphics in this list are right off the iPhone. They are the correct size and in the correct format so you can use them if you want without a problem. You should always make a backup of any graphic before replacing it.

Attention

I will be using Fugu to upload the files in this tutorial. These instructions can be applied to any files you want to add to your iPhone, provided you already have SSH installed. If you have not installed BSD Subsystem, OpenSSH, or BossPrefs (via the Installer) or used Fugu before, then you must read this tutorial first.

Just so you know, you can also use a program called Customize, in the Utilities folder of Installer, to change your graphics on the fly. Make sure you install the program SUID Lib Fix, in the Tweaks 1.1.4 folder first or Customize will not work. I will not be covering this program in this tutorial. It's a very easy program to figure out, however.







One of the most popular graphics to switch out seems to be the AT&T carrier name at the top of the screen. In this case there are two versions of this logo: one in white that looks good on dark backgrounds, and one in black that looks good on white backgrounds.




Here are some operator graphics I found floating around the 'net. I try to list the name of the creator when it's available. If you have graphics you want to submit, send them my way and I'll post them right here and give you the credit for it. Click the images below to download the files for that design. If you want to look through a collection of various graphics for the iPhone, check out ModmyiPhone.com.








Here are the stock graphics on the iPhone for AT&T, Cingular, T-Mobile and Vodafone.







If you download the stock carrier graphics above, you'll see there are two images. The image in black is called Default_CARRIER_ATT.png (substitute ATT for Cingular, T-Mobile or Vodafone as needed), the image in white is called FSO_CARRIER_ATT.png (substitute ATT for Cingular, T-Mobile or Vodafone as needed).

Step 1.

Depending on what carrier you use on your iPhone, ensure your replacement graphics match the carrier name. If you are someone who uses multiple SIMs in your iPhone, you'd need to swap out every pair of carrier graphics with your custom ones, otherwise they will default to the stock graphic when you swap SIMs.

Launch Fugu. Navigate to the /System/Library/CarrierBundles/ folder. Depending on which carrier you use, go into that folder and swap out your new graphics (don't forget to make backups first) with your stock graphics. If you are in the U.S. and want to use T-Mobile and change the graphics, you must go into the T-Mobile Germany folder and switch out the graphics there. In this example, I will show you how to switch out the AT&T stock graphics. Double click the ATT_US.bundle folder.




Drag and drop the files you want to swap out.




Confirm the transfer by clicking "Overwrite All".

Step 2.

Turn off the iPhone then turn it back on (or use the Respring program, in the Utilities folder of the Installer). Check your work. That's it!

Ok, let's switch out a couple more graphics...

If you'd like to see what other graphics you can change out, and what images I have ready for download, then check out this page.

I'm going to show you how to change a couple springboard icons now. Here's the tricky part, most applications on the iPhone use the name icon.png for the icon that you see displayed on the springboard. There are only three exceptions to this rule: icon-Camera.png, icon-Photos.png and icon-MediaPlayer.png. I will post the names of the folders at the end of this tutorial.

Step 1.

The best way to deal with changing out a lot of graphics, is to make subfolders for each application and put those into whatever folder you'd care to organize them in.

Step 2.

Launch Fugu (or your favorite SSH client). I've navigated to my calculator folder inside my phonedmg folder on the left, and to my /Applications/Calculator.app folder on the right. Just drag and drop the icon.png file over.




Now confirm the replacement by clicking "Overwrite".




Now just repeat the process. In this screen shot I'm in the camera folder in phonedmg, and the /Applications/MobileSlideShow.app folder. Note, this is one of the exceptions the rule, this is where the camera icon and the photos icon go. Neither one of them is named icon.png.




After a few other overwrites, here's what my before and after of my springboard look like. This is very simple!

Here's the location of all 17 icons that are on the home screen and dock:

/Applications/Calculator.app/
/Applications/Maps.app/
/Applications/MobileCal.app/    This is the calendar.
/Applications/MobileMail.app/
/Applications/MobileMusicPlayer.app/ icon-MediaPlayer.png is the iPod.
/Applications/MobileNotes.app/
/Applications/MobilePhone.app/
/Applications/MobileSafari.app/
/Applications/MobileSlideShow.app/icon-Camera.png
/Applications/MobileSlideShow.app/icon-Photos.png
/Applications/MobileSMS.app/
/Applications/MobileStore.app/    This is the iTunes store.
/Applications/MobileTimer.app/    This is the clock.
/Applications/Preferences.app/    This is Settings.
/Applications/Stocks.app/
/Applications/Weather.app/
/Applications/YouTube.app/