Stock Android should score native theme support! Here are some gorgeous themes that support this
posted by Peter K.
/ Jan 31, 2016, 1:56 AM
The looks of stock Android Marshmallow and Lollipop arguably look way better than their previous iterations, but still, there might be people who are not quite liking it. What if you hate teal, or, God forbid, the dominating white backgrounds? If this is the case and you're aching to change certain aspects of the Material Design interface of your device, well, you can't do much if you're running vanilla Android.
Delve into the land of custom ROMs, though, and the things will be quite different. Provided that you opt for one of the more popular and widespread aftermarket Android distributions - CyanogenMod, for example - then your theming endeavors will be crowned with success. The latest iterations of the third-party Android ROM come with a built-in Theme Engine that allows you to easily change the looks of the interface. Thanks to this, you can change the looks of your Marshmallow or Lollipop device as easy as abc - just download one of the available themes on Google Play, select what elements of the UI you want transformed and... well, that's pretty much it!
Check out some of our favorite themes for CyanogenMod and see what you're sadly missing on!
Check out some of our favorite themes for CyanogenMod and see what you're sadly missing on!
Blue Tint
Download ($1.50)
It doesn't take a genius to notice that Blue Tint is, well, gorgeous on all fronts. It comes with the full package - deep dark backgrounds, a stunning font, and stock icons to die for. Apart from the interface, Blue Tint paints over more that 25 other apps. Really, if you only need one theme for the rest of your life, Blue Tint should be a prime candidate for the job.
Blue Tint
Swift Dark
Download ($1.60)
Swift Dark
Deep Darkness
Download (free)
If you really dig darker shades, Deep Darkness will undoubtedly float your boat from day one. This theme really puts emphasis on dark teal and black hues, which warrants for a rather good experience for all dark theme lovers. Deep Darkness also paints over a multitude of stock Google apps, just as you'd expect it.
Deep Darkness
LunarUI
Download (free)
This one is also dark, but with a twist - LunarUI also shows a lot of love to vivid colors, which are gently intertwined with the predominantly dark hues. That's rather cool, as it employs best of both worlds. Don't miss this one, it's free!
LunarUI
Volt
Download ($1.59)
We like minimalist interface icons and we won't lie, Volt looks stunning! Starting from the font, the icons, and the selected colors, the theme is the posterchild of what we'd like Android to look like.
Volt
24 Comments
1. maxha97
Posts: 100; Member since: Aug 28, 2012
As a lite user of nexus 5x, i patiently waiting for official android n. To me just pure android is fine.
those feature which can be permitted through rooting is interesting though...
posted on Jan 31, 2016, 2:33 AM 0
6. vincelongman
Posts: 5645; Member since: Feb 10, 2013
Stock Android 6.0 already supports the RRO theme engine
First committed by Sony back in 2014, I think it was first in their 4.3 or 4.4 skin
Some 5.0 custom ROMs and 5.0 OEM skins have it too
But there's no stock theme manager
If you have root you can use Layers Manager (Rebel linked it below)
posted on Jan 31, 2016, 5:31 AM 2
2. RebelwithoutaClue unregistered
For users who don't want to install a custom rom, but do have root and Android M, there is layers manager (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lovejoy777.rroandlayersmanager&hl=nl)
posted on Jan 31, 2016, 4:15 AM 2
7. chocowii
Posts: 478; Member since: Jan 30, 2014
Does this applies to vanilla only or can be to Xperias, Galaxys or such?
posted on Jan 31, 2016, 7:48 AM 2
12. RebelwithoutaClue unregistered
Not sure, I only know it can't be used on Cyanogen based roms
posted on Jan 31, 2016, 9:55 AM 0
15. gustavoace
Posts: 187; Member since: Nov 13, 2012
It works on my rooted N5 running 6.0.1 stock.
posted on Jan 31, 2016, 3:17 PM 2
5. uchihakurtz
Posts: 427; Member since: Nov 12, 2012
Google will probably introduce it on Android 9.0, like how late they implemented "Battery Saver" 2-3 years after OEM has them.
posted on Jan 31, 2016, 5:14 AM 5
8. FrankUnderwood2
Posts: 243; Member since: Oct 01, 2015
Since Android Lollipop, Samsung has implemented the "Themes" feature really well. All the Themes are really good and you definitely a Theme according to your liking. It not only changes the widgets and icons, but the whole Ui, including dialer and messages and even Notification and Menu. Its rather a sigh of relief who hate custom Touchwiz Ui. I really hope LG too gives this option in thier G-5 and other smartphones starting 2016. Have't used HTC, can't comment on that.
Also, Themes in both Lenovo and Huawei aren't bad either. Only sore point is lack of App Drawer. Yes I know that can be done with Nova or other launcher, but I personaly prefer features supplied by the OEM itself rather than implementing a launcher over custom ROM. Waiting for LG's take on theming against Samsung.
posted on Jan 31, 2016, 8:01 AM 4
20. celinedion
Posts: 44; Member since: Jan 19, 2016
Lg had done theme manager since lg optomus 4x, long long long time so before Samsung did it. In fact, Sony and lg are the pioneer of theme manager, alright the implementation is different back then and now
posted on Feb 01, 2016, 6:04 AM 0
21. celinedion
Posts: 44; Member since: Jan 19, 2016
Lg had done theme manager since lg optomus 4x, long long long time so before Samsung did it. In fact, Sony and lg are the pioneer of theme manager, alright the implementation is different back then and now
posted on Feb 01, 2016, 6:04 AM 0
13. MrElectrifyer
Posts: 3960; Member since: Oct 21, 2014
One of the reasons why I want Cyanogen OS to become the stock Android. Clean yet very advanced. This has been a sub-part of my OnePlus One since KitKat, which it came with.
posted on Jan 31, 2016, 12:18 PM 1
18. giannisgx89
Posts: 1; Member since: Feb 01, 2016
@PhoneArena check out those themes! ;)
Flux, Flux White, Liv, Liv Dark!
posted on Feb 01, 2016, 3:23 AM 0
22. KidAndroid
Posts: 39; Member since: Nov 04, 2014
Just use a Launcher that supports icon packs, there's not need to use an entire new ROM . Nova is undeniably the best. It will give the ability to change the entire look other than the settings menu and notification shade which are already as good as it gets on stock android.
