All Tutorials

Your One-Stop Destination for Learning and Growth

How to Make Your Android Device's Display System UI More Awesome

Android's System UI, which includes the status bar, notification shade, and navigation buttons, plays a significant role in your device's user experience. Customizing these elements can help make your Android device more personalized and efficient. In this post, we will discuss how to change the display settings of the System UI to make it more awesome.

Prerequisites

Before we dive into the steps, let's make sure you have the following requirements met:

  1. Root Access: To customize the System UI, your Android device must be rooted. Rooting gives you administrative privileges and allows you to modify system settings that are usually protected. If you are not familiar with rooting, please be cautious as it may void your warranty and potentially damage your device if done incorrectly.
  2. Terminal Emulator: You will need an Android terminal emulator app such as Termux or Magisk Terminal to execute the commands.

Step 1: Install a Custom System UI

The first step is to install a custom System UI (also known as a custom ROM or Pixel Experience). Custom System UIs offer additional features, visual enhancements, and improved performance compared to the stock Android system UI. Some popular custom System UIs include LineageOS, Resurrection Remix, and Paranoid Android.

To install a custom System UI, follow the instructions provided on the official website or XDA Developers forum for your chosen ROM. Be sure to backup all important data before proceeding.

Step 2: Install a Custom Theme Engine (Substratum)

Custom themes allow you to change the look and feel of your Android device, including the System UI. Substratum is a popular theme engine that can be used to apply custom themes to various parts of the system UI.

To install Substratum:

  1. Download the Substratum apk from the official website or F-droid repository and install it on your device.
  2. Grant Substratum all necessary permissions when prompted.
  3. Open the Substratum app and sign in with a free account.
  4. Download and install the 'Substratum Engine' and 'Overlay Manager' modules.

Step 3: Install Custom Themes

Once you have installed Substratum, download and install your preferred custom themes. Some popular theme repositories include the official Substratum repository, XDA Developers forum, and GitHub.

To apply a custom theme using Substratum:

  1. Open the Overlay Manager app in Substratum.
  2. Tap on 'Install' and select your downloaded theme zip file.
  3. Grant all necessary permissions when prompted.
  4. After the installation is complete, go back to the main screen of the Overlay Manager app and tap on the installed theme.
  5. In the 'Select Components' tab, enable the components you wish to apply the theme to (e.g., SystemUI, NavBar, etc.).
  6. Tap 'Apply' and then 'Reboot' to apply the changes.

Conclusion

Customizing your Android device's System UI using a custom ROM and Substratum themes engine can enhance both the look and functionality of your device. By following the steps outlined in this post, you will be on your way to having an awesome Android experience. Remember, always be cautious when modifying system settings and ensure you have proper backups in place before proceeding. Happy customizing!

Published January, 2017