Customizing your iPhone/iPod Touch – Part 1, System Strings
E-Mail me with any Questions Comments, Greg
**This requires SSH so you will need a JAILBROKEN iPhone.**
I will start off with some tools you WILL need.
WinSCP (or another SSH client of your choosing)
Erica Utilities (found in Cydia)
PDAnet (found in Cydia) — Not NEEDED but makes connecting from your computer to device easier.
Putty (Google it, its free!)
Start off by connecting your device (iPhone or iPod Touch) to your laptop via a wireless ad-hoc network.
Once your wireless network adapter says “CONNECTED!”, go on to find the IP Address of your device.
On your device open up PDAnet and follow the instructions, it displays for you.
Next go open up your SSH Client and type in the IP Address of the device as the hostname. (Log in using the username root, and the password alpine)
When connected goto your root folder, then go into the follow directory:
/System/Library/CoreServices/SpringBoard.app/English.lproj
Once there the file we need to edit is springboard.strings, I suggest making a back up now by making a duplicate copy of it and renaming it to springboard.stringsoriginal so you know you have it.
Now! open up putty and go to that same directory…remember your terminal commands? If not follow this:
cd /
cd System
cd Library
cd CoreServices
cd SpringBoard.app
cd English.lproj
Note the capitals!! Will not find the directory if you use lowercase.
now in your putty prompt type in the following command;
plutil -c xml1 SpringBoard.strings
**PLEASE NOTE**
If this command does not work, then you did not install Erica Utilities from Cydia
This step is important because it aligns the file to XML thus making it neater and less of a hassle to read through.
Now you can remain in putty and just use the VI editor, if you’re comfortable using. If you aren’t go back to WinSCP and right click SpringBoard.strings and click edit.
Dont mess with whats in the “<key>Example</key” lines. Only edit whats in between “<string>DISPLAYED TXT</string>” lines.
VIOLA! You now have gained access to your devices System Strings and can now fully edit all the txt on the device to your liking.
IMPORTANT NOTES:
Do not use ampersands “&”!!
Save after every few changes.
Suggestion! Download Powertools and soft respring your phone to make sure your text is working correctly.
Coming next Custom Ringtones, Custom SOUNDS (SMS, Mail, dial, etc), and How to create your own WinterBoard themes.
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