WinterBoard is a great program for customzing the visual and aural feel of your iPhone. It works by hooking into the iPhone's system and replacing the stock graphics, or audio files, with whatever custom files you'd like on the fly. WinterBoard itself does not require the use of SSH to talk to the iPhone, as there are hundreds of themes avaialble in Cydia for simple, push of a button installation. However, as this series of tutorials will demonstrate, you can easily use SSH to create your own themes and replace graphics and audio files for a truly custom look.
With the introduction of the iPhone 4, and its higher resolution screen, a new set of graphics was created to support the iPhone 4. They are larger in size and their file names are unique. iPhone 4 graphics (sometimes referred to as HD graphics or retina display) are twice the size of non-iPhone 4 graphics. For example an application icon that is 59 x 60 pixels in size for the iPhone 3G, is 118 x 120 pixels in size for the iPhone 4. iPhone 4 graphics also have an @2x designation that appears just before the .png extension for example icon@2x.png. It's important to note that if the iPhone 4 needs a particular graphic and one doesn't exist with an @2x designator, it will default to the non-iPhone 4 version of that same graphic. When the iPhone 4 does this it upscales the graphic. The graphic may appear fuzzy or have other visible artifacts as it is not meant to be viewed at a higher resolution.
What is a theme? A theme is the graphical "look" of a phone. In the case of the iPhone, a theme consists largely of the way the SpringBoard, dock and all the program icons look. A theme can ultimately involve every single graphic being changed. Usually no one goes to that extent to customize their iPhone - it's just too many graphics to change. There are a handful of graphics you can change to create a dramatic look, however.
You can change the iPhone's appearance with a couple programs. You need Cydia, WinterBoard, OpenSSH (if you want to upload your own personal images), and a program to make your graphics. I use Adobe Photoshop (you can get a free trial of this program), you could also use Adobe Photoshop Elements (which also has a free trial, and is less expensive option than Photoshop at $99). You can learn more about these trial versions at this page. GIMP is a free alternative to Photoshop, which is also a very powerful program. You can download GIMP here. If you don't want to create your own images, you can use the themes that are already available through Cydia in the various "Themes" folders.
Here are some examples of themes that are available for 4.x firmware. In order are: iWood-Realize, CandyMilk, Vending Machine Free, Glass Orb, Chromatic Neon, and Amphibious. Currently there aren't many themes available for the iPhone 4.
To install WinterBoard, launch Cydia and press the Search button. Enter winterboard in the text box and it should appear as the first choice.
Press it to select it. Follow through with the rest of the installation process and reboot the iPhone when requested. Once installed, you'll see an icon for WinterBoard. There are two ways to launch this program, either press this icon...
...or launch your Settings application where WinterBoard has added its own submenu. I'll cover using the Settings application. Press the WinterBoard menu entry. If you press Select Themes, this is where you can select what you want to modify on the iPhone.
There are many basic themes included by default. Several of them don't work on 4.0 firmware yet. Keep in mind you can combine themes by selecting more than one. You can also change their order in the list. When one theme is higher up on the list than another theme, and they both change the same element, the theme on top will have priority. When you select an item it will have a check mark next to it. Then you press your Home button and the iPhone will respring and load the changes.
The first theme is White Icon Labels. Here is the before and after.
The User Wallpaper and User Lock Background themes have been made obsolete with iOS 4. You now have direct control over what image goes on your lock screen and SpringBoard pages through the Settings application in the Wallpaper menu.
The Transparent Dock theme doesn't work correctly.
The Solid Status Bar theme doesn't work correctly.
Server Lock Example uses an HTML file to call some text from a server and display it on your lock screen.
The Saurik theme has provides an alternate slide to unlock message, and features two wallpaper images that dissolve in and out of each other. I don't like how the wallpaper meets the dock. This theme could benefit from a transparent dock.
No Undocked Icon Labels removes the application name from any icon not in the dock.
The No Docked Icon Labels theme doesn't work correctly.
The Dim Wallpaper theme doesn't work correctly.
The Dim Icons theme doesn't work correctly.
Black Navigation Bars makes the top bar of any menu black.
With the introduction of the iPhone 4, and its higher resolution screen, a new set of graphics was created to support the iPhone 4. They are larger in size and their file names are unique. iPhone 4 graphics (sometimes referred to as HD graphics or retina display) are twice the size of non-iPhone 4 graphics. For example an application icon that is 59 x 60 pixels in size for the iPhone 3G, is 118 x 120 pixels in size for the iPhone 4. iPhone 4 graphics also have an @2x designation that appears just before the .png extension for example icon@2x.png. It's important to note that if the iPhone 4 needs a particular graphic and one doesn't exist with an @2x designator, it will default to the non-iPhone 4 version of that same graphic. When the iPhone 4 does this it upscales the graphic. The graphic may appear fuzzy or have other visible artifacts as it is not meant to be viewed at a higher resolution.
Section 1: Introduction to WinterBoard
Updated: August 23, 2010What is a theme? A theme is the graphical "look" of a phone. In the case of the iPhone, a theme consists largely of the way the SpringBoard, dock and all the program icons look. A theme can ultimately involve every single graphic being changed. Usually no one goes to that extent to customize their iPhone - it's just too many graphics to change. There are a handful of graphics you can change to create a dramatic look, however.
You can change the iPhone's appearance with a couple programs. You need Cydia, WinterBoard, OpenSSH (if you want to upload your own personal images), and a program to make your graphics. I use Adobe Photoshop (you can get a free trial of this program), you could also use Adobe Photoshop Elements (which also has a free trial, and is less expensive option than Photoshop at $99). You can learn more about these trial versions at this page. GIMP is a free alternative to Photoshop, which is also a very powerful program. You can download GIMP here. If you don't want to create your own images, you can use the themes that are already available through Cydia in the various "Themes" folders.
Here are some examples of themes that are available for 4.x firmware. In order are: iWood-Realize, CandyMilk, Vending Machine Free, Glass Orb, Chromatic Neon, and Amphibious. Currently there aren't many themes available for the iPhone 4.
To install WinterBoard, launch Cydia and press the Search button. Enter winterboard in the text box and it should appear as the first choice.
Press it to select it. Follow through with the rest of the installation process and reboot the iPhone when requested. Once installed, you'll see an icon for WinterBoard. There are two ways to launch this program, either press this icon...
...or launch your Settings application where WinterBoard has added its own submenu. I'll cover using the Settings application. Press the WinterBoard menu entry. If you press Select Themes, this is where you can select what you want to modify on the iPhone.
There are many basic themes included by default. Several of them don't work on 4.0 firmware yet. Keep in mind you can combine themes by selecting more than one. You can also change their order in the list. When one theme is higher up on the list than another theme, and they both change the same element, the theme on top will have priority. When you select an item it will have a check mark next to it. Then you press your Home button and the iPhone will respring and load the changes.
The first theme is White Icon Labels. Here is the before and after.
The User Wallpaper and User Lock Background themes have been made obsolete with iOS 4. You now have direct control over what image goes on your lock screen and SpringBoard pages through the Settings application in the Wallpaper menu.
The Transparent Dock theme doesn't work correctly.
The Solid Status Bar theme doesn't work correctly.
Server Lock Example uses an HTML file to call some text from a server and display it on your lock screen.
The Saurik theme has provides an alternate slide to unlock message, and features two wallpaper images that dissolve in and out of each other. I don't like how the wallpaper meets the dock. This theme could benefit from a transparent dock.
No Undocked Icon Labels removes the application name from any icon not in the dock.
The No Docked Icon Labels theme doesn't work correctly.
The Dim Wallpaper theme doesn't work correctly.
The Dim Icons theme doesn't work correctly.
Black Navigation Bars makes the top bar of any menu black.
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