Customising is one way of making your smartphone truly yours. With the options to theme at the app structure level, the possibilities are simply endless. If you've always been that custom theme junkie like me and have always wanted to make your device stand out of the crowd, let this be your guide to having the ultimate bragging rights in town. 🔥
Hex Installer on the Play Store.
The #hex_ interface.
Personalise section on #hex_.
Notice that Galaxy Store requires a rebuild.
Instagram.
Snapchat.
WhatsApp.
Samsung Health.
Gaana.
Spotify.
When it comes to customisability as a whole, Samsung has always served its users a plethora of options. From custom themes to being able to change your Always-On-Display setup, to changing your multitasking layout via Good Lock, you name it, and it was all there. And it doesn't even end at that. Samsung recently introduced the Theme Park on Good Lock that allows the user to design their own theme. Yes, you read that right. Couldn't get better than that, could it?
But what if I told you that your customising game could still be stepped up by a notch? Yes. This is where Hexed Installer comes into the picture.
What is it? How does it work? Does it require root access? Read along, and you'll have the answer to all those questions, and then some.
First things first, let me get one thing out of the way. This does not require root access.
Sweet, let's get with it then, shall we? Oh boy am I excited! 💯🔥
Apart from just being able to theme apps, Hexed brings with it custom app overlays and UI elements, that really change the look and feel of your entire experience.
So go ahead, search for 'Hex Installer' on the Play Store and install it. Mind you, this is a paid app, but believe me, you'll know that it's well worth the money you'll be spending by the time you're done reading this post.
Once you're done installing the app, you'll realise that there are actually two apps installed, namely, #hex_ and #hexified_. The former being the main app which has all the custom theming goodness, whereas the latter has a ton of readymade themes to choose from.
I'll get back to #hexified_ later on. For now, let's get going with what #hex_ can do.
Right, so this is the screen you'll be greeted with upon opening up the #hex_ app.
Swipe up from this screen to see developer announcements regarding new features and more importantly, bug fixes.
Now, head into the Personalise section.
From here, you can choose the colour scheme of your theme via Colouring.
Unfortunately, Android 10 has removed support for custom third party fonts, so that won't work.
The UI Mode will let you choose from various different UI Plugins that will change many aspects of the UI, from the icons to the UI elements in general.
Preferences houses the settings for other tweaks and mods like removing icon frames and replacing the 4G with the LTE icon on the status bar, amongst others. If you use full screen gestures, please set the navigation bar height to 0.
As the name suggests, the 3rd Party Apps section allows you to choose from the list of available apps that can be modded. Please bear in mind that some apps will require a rebuild of the theme when they're updated in order for the theme to work. This will be mentioned under the app name accordingly. Like this.
Once you've set all your desired preferences, go ahead and hit that Build and Install H button. It will install the theme and give you further popups to subsequently install the overlays. Now, this is where things get slightly tricky, but don't worry, I've got your back. Just follow my steps below, and you'll be sorted in no time.
Step I : Now that you're done installing the Hex Theme, head to the Galaxy Themes App and go to the list of your installed themes.
Step II : Apply the default theme.
Step III : Click on the Hex theme, and then click on "Try It Out". Let the theme get applied.
Step IV : Apply the High Contrast Theme II.
Step V : Restart your device.
That's it! You're all set and good to go with your custom Galaxy device! 🔥 How do you like it? 💯
Here's a bonus for you. To take full advantage of the entire Hexed package, open up the #hex_ app. Now click on the kog wheel on the top right corner.
Select Hexed+ Mode. Follow the two steps on screen. This will now enable overlays for even more apps on your phone.
As an added advantage, try increasing the number of threads that Hex will use via the "Set Maximum Threads" option. It defaults to 4, but you can always experiment with this number. Higher the number, smoother the UI experience but also a higher GPU load and vice versa.
Keep one thing in mind, however, that you'll have to be able to see the Hexed+ theme installed from the list of themes on the Galaxy Themes app. If you aren't able to view the Hexed+ theme, you'll have to redo the 2 steps mentioned in the previous paragraph. The procedure hereon is the same as before. Just follow the 5 steps I mentioned earlier.
Okay Dhruv, but what can I expect from all this? Yes. Now for the best part. Let me show you a few screenshots of the apps that I've themed.
Just one last thing. I would request you all to keep in mind that Hex is an app in beta. And anyone who's tried or uses apps in beta knows and understands that there will surely be a few bugs and hiccups here and there. Kindly bear with the developers as they're trying their level best to fix them, one by one.
I shall leave the rest to you. Experiment with different settings and colouring options. Figure out what works best for you.
It's your phone, now go make it yours.
Thank you for your time. 😄
Dhruv Jain.
