Change Accent colors on Windows Phone 7 Samsung, LG, HTC devices

January 15, 2011 by
 
After seeing this thread at XDA, I’ve put together a quick accent color changer for Samsung (and now HTC and LG) devices running Windows Phone 7.

The app simply lets you edit the name and color value for all 10 of the installed accent colors. Simply edit the color, and then switch your theme in the Settings app for the changes to take effect. There’s a button to reset the theme to default.

You can download the XAP which will work on any Samsung, LG or HTC Windows Phone 7 that is developer unlocked.  The source code may also be downloaded.

Update: I’ve added the ability to restore default colors.
Update: I’ve added support for LG and HTC!
Update: Some people are reporting that HTC doesn’t work, but I haven’t made changes since it was confirmed working, and I don’t have a device to test.

Comments

67 Comments on Change Accent colors on Windows Phone 7 Samsung, LG, HTC devices

  1. chris on Sat, 15th Jan 2011 3:48 AM

    2. thats awesome now do the same for the HD7…………please

  2. Dave on Sat, 15th Jan 2011 3:51 AM

    3. @chris – I don’t have an HTC phone so I won’t be making HTC-specific software. I think they already have a tool that’s very similar though. Check over at the XDA forums for more info.

  3. dave on Sat, 15th Jan 2011 5:08 AM

    4. Any hope this Will work on LG phones?

  4. mark on Sat, 15th Jan 2011 6:16 AM

    5. This is great… Us there link which will explain about developer unlocking and what it involves so I can get this running on my Omnia

  5. Sami on Sat, 15th Jan 2011 7:43 AM

    6. Any chance of this working on the Optimus 7?

  6. Uros on Sat, 15th Jan 2011 8:32 AM

    7. Hy, nice work here, but is there a way to put things back to default ?

  7. Lolrik on Sat, 15th Jan 2011 9:01 AM

    8. Awesome! Thanks buddy!

  8. vong on Sat, 15th Jan 2011 12:37 PM

    9. hey dave, what apps are those on your phone there? can you please post instructions on how to do this?

  9. Christian Hood on Sat, 15th Jan 2011 2:30 PM

    10. Where do you get the NativeIO.dll?

  10. Christian Hood on Sat, 15th Jan 2011 2:32 PM

    11. Nevermind, found it in the bin folder.

  11. Dave on Sat, 15th Jan 2011 2:52 PM

    12. @vong I have lots of apps that I wrote for myself, but I don’t plan on releasing them because I don’t want to host the infrastructure.

  12. Dave on Sat, 15th Jan 2011 2:54 PM

    13. @Christian Hood – The source for NativeIO (my Homebrew project native code component) is available in the webserver example I’ve posted. I’ll include the source for it in the update I’m planning later today.

  13. Dave on Sat, 15th Jan 2011 2:54 PM

    14. @Uros – I’m planning an update later that will let you reset themes to default.

  14. Dave on Sat, 15th Jan 2011 2:55 PM

    15. @mark – I only support the official developer unlocking method, which you can review at create.msdn.com

  15. Dave on Sat, 15th Jan 2011 2:55 PM

    16. @Sami @dave – Only Samsung phones are supported, it uses code specific to drivers that exist only on Samsung phones.

  16. frank kiehner on Sat, 15th Jan 2011 5:06 PM

    17. once I download the xap, what do I do with it and how do I install it?
    Thanks

  17. Dave on Sat, 15th Jan 2011 5:09 PM

    18. @frank – Once you download the XAP, you may install it using the Application Deployment tool, located at “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows Phone\v7.0\Tools\XAP Deployment\XapDeploy.exe” (Remove the (x86) if you aren’t on Windows x64)

    Note that you must a) have the Windows phone tools installed, and b) you MUST have a developer unlocked phone. If you are not a Windows Phone developer then this is not useful for you.

  18. wsantiago on Sat, 15th Jan 2011 5:59 PM

    19. Thanks Dave! This app is what finally got me to unlock my Focus. Looking forward to more of your work!

  19. Ryan on Sat, 15th Jan 2011 6:01 PM

    20. Hey Dave, as a suggestion, put this at the beginning and end of your ListBox SelectionChanged event so you can select the same color multiple times in a row:

    if (lstColors.SelectedIndex == -1)
    return;
    // do stuff
    lstColors.SelectedIndex == -1;

    Also, this doesn’t seem to apply to all accent brushes within applications, but primarily just affects the main tiles.

  20. Dave on Sat, 15th Jan 2011 6:06 PM

    21. @Ryan – We need /Windows access to change the XAML styles that third-party apps use, but first-party apps will use the new accent color.

    I’m not sure that is the best way to handle ListBox clicking, feels very Winforms-ish to me, but I’ll look into that, thanks!

  21. Christian Hood on Sat, 15th Jan 2011 6:20 PM

    22. Doesn’t seem to work on the developer devices (Samsung Taylor) or at least it doesn’t work on mine.

  22. Jessie on Sat, 15th Jan 2011 8:17 PM

    23. That’s fantastic man!

  23. poy41 on Sat, 15th Jan 2011 10:57 PM

    24. dont work on my lg quantum optimus. cant save anything.

  24. Dave on Sat, 15th Jan 2011 11:06 PM

    25. @poy41 – I’m working to fix LG support. I’ve re-uploaded a new XAP you can give it a try again if you’d like. This is hard for me because I don’t have an LG device to test with. Thanks for testing. :)

  25. Saitek009 on Sat, 15th Jan 2011 11:14 PM

    26. Dell Venue support would be great. Just sayin’ ;) Looks useful

  26. poy41 on Sat, 15th Jan 2011 11:15 PM

    27. @Dave
    works now, but cant change the name of the color. none the less, really nice work!

  27. Dave on Sat, 15th Jan 2011 11:23 PM

    28. @poy41 – Awesome! I’ve added string writing – can you confirm that it works for me?

    Thanks!

  28. Dave on Sat, 15th Jan 2011 11:23 PM

    29. @Saitek009 – definitely would need to get physical access to the device to add support. Feel free to mail me a VP. :)

  29. poy41 on Sat, 15th Jan 2011 11:34 PM

    30. @dave
    100% working now from what i can see. (LG Quantum Optimus) Awesome work! keep it up!

  30. Saitek009 on Sun, 16th Jan 2011 5:10 AM

    31. @Dave Haha, yeah… I know… Thanks for your other good work though. Really love rockin’ your flashlight app. :)

  31. wsantiago on Sun, 16th Jan 2011 10:31 AM

    32. Flashlight app rocks too.

  32. Paul on Sun, 16th Jan 2011 1:38 PM

    33. Doesn’t work on HTC Trophy 7 — app starts blank black screen then closes.

    Shame – seems a lot easier than messing about with the colour strings!

  33. Cody on Sun, 16th Jan 2011 2:24 PM

    34. Doesn’t work on HTC Surround. Goes back to tiles after I click the icon. Have tried reboot reinstall etc. No dice.

  34. Dave on Sun, 16th Jan 2011 3:42 PM

    35. @Cody – I don’t have any solutions to offer, others have confirmed it working but without a debugger I cannot do anything for you.

  35. Dave on Sun, 16th Jan 2011 3:42 PM

    36. @Paul – I don’t have any solutions to offer, others have confirmed it working but without a debugger I cannot do anything for you.

  36. Fritz on Sun, 16th Jan 2011 4:13 PM

    37. Thanks! Worked fine on LG Optimus 7 (E900)

  37. Jafaifl on Sun, 16th Jan 2011 7:05 PM

    38. HD7 dont Work :(((((

  38. yves707 on Sun, 16th Jan 2011 7:09 PM

    39. The same problem here with my htc Mozart (germany) :(((

    Thx

  39. Cristian on Mon, 17th Jan 2011 3:48 AM

    40. Dave I installed the app on my HD7 and it worked great. I changed my theme to gray. The next time I went to launch the app I got a message: “Accent Changer has been revoked by Microsoft. Please uninstall it.” And then I get a button that says “Uninstall”. What do I do? I can get out of the message by hitting the Windows button and the theme remains unchanged for now.

  40. Max on Mon, 17th Jan 2011 4:32 AM

    41. Doesn’t work on my HTC HD7, same problem as Cody.
    I tryed is on the wp7 emu but i became an error report.

  41. Paul on Mon, 17th Jan 2011 5:34 AM

    42. @Dave – is it possible that it’s not working because I’d added other ‘extra’ colour themes with a different app earlier?

    Also, if there’s anything I can do to test why it’s failing for me on HTC Trophy, let me know.

  42. puzwackl on Mon, 17th Jan 2011 4:42 PM

    43. Worked great on Omnia7 (Germany), but no”this app has been revoked by Microsoft” message. What will happen, when i ininstall it? Will the modified colours disapear??

  43. The Man on Mon, 17th Jan 2011 5:20 PM

    44. Please fix this on the Samsung Taylor. I have tried everything!

  44. Ryan on Mon, 17th Jan 2011 6:08 PM

    45. @Dave: About the ListBox event I suggested, yeah it’s totally Winform-ish. But until there is an “ItemSelected” event instead of the less useful (IMO) “SelectionChanged” event, even Microsoft handles this the same way (this is what the default VS template does at the end of the SelectionChanged handler as per MSFT).
    I just found myself frequently adjusting a color, going back to the initial screen to see it in contrast with some of the other colors, then clicking the same one again to make further adjustments, and it doesn’t respond until I pick another one first.

  45. Dave on Mon, 17th Jan 2011 6:11 PM

    46. @The Man – I can never support pre-production devices. If you have a non-retail Samsung Windows Phone, you will not be able to use Samsung specific API.

  46. Dave on Mon, 17th Jan 2011 6:12 PM

    47. @Ryan – Yeah, it sucks but that does seem to be the best solution. If you didn’t notice, I did include it yesterday. :)

  47. Max on Tue, 18th Jan 2011 2:09 PM

    48. It works!!!! (HD7 Germany)
    but there is a nother thing,
    in the app it´s called “SAMSUNG ACCENT CHANGER”
    maybe you can change it in only “ACCENT CHANGER”

  48. Ian on Tue, 18th Jan 2011 6:33 PM

    49. Now working on my HTC HD7 :)

    Fantastic and thanks :)

  49. Eric on Tue, 18th Jan 2011 8:47 PM

    50. @Dave
    Any chance of making it so we can type the Hex code in? I’ve found the hex values for my college and nfl football teams and would love to be able to specify them directly instead of trying to select them exactly using a touch screen ;)

    TIA and for all your hard work you’ve put into this!

    Btw, on a Samsung Focus myself

  50. Kevin on Wed, 19th Jan 2011 9:17 PM

    51. It appears the XAP file download link points to the source code. when I unzip, it looks like the source code – and I do not see a XAP file anywhere, or am I missing something?

  51. Dave on Wed, 19th Jan 2011 9:35 PM

    52. @Kevin – the link is to a XAP file. If you download it and it has the extension .zip, rename it back to .xap. It is not source code.

  52. Chris on Thu, 20th Jan 2011 1:55 PM

    53. Awesome app! Do you think you could add a textbox to input the hex/RGB code directly?

  53. Justin on Thu, 20th Jan 2011 2:51 PM

    54. Thanks for making this app. Saw you on WMPoweruser. My brother and I use Dell Venue Pros – could you try and add support for it?

  54. jason on Wed, 26th Jan 2011 1:09 AM

    55. Hey Dave, will the accent color changer ever be available to the general public. Been hit up numerously by people who can’t stand the 10 offered colors.

  55. TeJazz on Mon, 31st Jan 2011 5:46 PM

    56. Works like a charm on my LG E900 Optimus 7. Major props, mate. If you ever come to India, you be sure of a free Pizza awaiting you.

  56. wever on Tue, 1st Feb 2011 11:01 AM

    57. I love you.

  57. Dave on Mon, 7th Feb 2011 6:38 PM

    58. @jason – no, I use APIs not suitable for the marketplace..

  58. mnxn! on Sun, 27th Feb 2011 10:34 PM

    59. hey bro. worked great on my LG Quantum! great work. especially after failing myself with RegistryEditor and AdvancedConfig. One suggestion, since it seems this would be easily implementable, could you possibly add an editing theme feature? that would really help make this the perfect app. thanks a ton.

  59. Brad on Wed, 2nd Mar 2011 9:56 PM

    60. Simply amazing man. I finally like my new phone!!! Just added my own ringtones as well and I’m finally liking it. I don’t think MS realized how important this is for the average user. Thanks a ton! Now wondering what other apps I didn’t know about :)

  60. Alex on Mon, 21st Mar 2011 8:36 PM

    61. Very good contribution many thanks, works perfectly on my LG E900h

  61. Max on Thu, 24th Mar 2011 3:13 PM

    62. What are the chances of adding the ability to type in the html color color as well as touching to it on the screen? This would simplify trying to set a specific color. Nice app!

  62. munkeyphyst on Fri, 1st Apr 2011 3:43 PM

    63. love the app :) exactly what i wanted.

    fwiw, i changed the default magenta to a dark blue, but when the accent color is used within some apps, the accent color still shows up as magenta. Doesn’t bother me, but thought I’d pass the info along.

    thanks again for the app.

  63. munkeyphyst on Fri, 1st Apr 2011 3:44 PM

    64. nevermind, just read that you already knew this. :)

  64. Nathan Rice on Wed, 6th Apr 2011 2:55 AM

    65. love this app, totally works great. i can choose a whole different color for my hubs. yeah!!!

  65. knarker on Wed, 22nd Jun 2011 8:49 PM

    66. Excellent app. Works great. Cheers man =)

  66. Benny on Thu, 10th Nov 2011 2:13 AM

    67. Have used this app with delight since launch. It worked perfectly. Now, after upgrading to Mango, it suddenly does not run anymore (“…the request is not supported”). Does this app not work with Mango?

  67. Dave on Wed, 28th Mar 2012 10:42 AM

    68. @Benny – Mango is not supported.