By Many of you expressed distaste for the Google Play Store redesign yesterday. The user interface itself was quite nice, but the color scheme had many of us feeling like Google took a step back to the Froyo and Gingerbread days. Everyone has their own tastes, of course, so this isn’t the forum to criticize those thoughts. If you’re of the opinion that Google needs to include an option for a dark theme, we don’t have that quite yet, but this inverted Play Store APK should hold you over.
The APK will give you a nice, dark, sleek theme that might win over those who didn’t even have a problem with the original color scheme. I can’t say I’m not itching to give it a try even though the new Play Store doesn’t absolutely bother me. So how can you get this on your phone?
To get it, you’ll need to be able to flash .zip files in a custom recovery. Download this file and do just that, and you should reboot into blacked-out goodness. If it doesn’t work, you may want to try uninstalling Play Store updates via the App Info page, or head to /system/apps using a root file explorer and rename your Vending.apk to Phonesky.apk, then flash and reboot.
The deed, done by @B_boytm, doesn’t extend to just the Google Play Store app. All sorts of GAPPS, like Gmail and Google Play Music, have gotten the same treatment. You can give all of those a look at this RootzWiki thread, where you’ll also find the appropriate download links and instructions.
The problem with themeing the google play store (and other Google provided apps) is that it changes the signature used to sign them. As such, when Google releases an update in the Play Store (or, just pushes it out, in the case of the Play Store itself), the old signature will not match the new signature, and the update will fail.
Not too big a deal, as you can always revert if you need the latest and greatest, or wait for an update from the themer himself, but I feel this caveat should at least be mentioned.
Actually I use the stock META-INF so you would get the updates… On apps I sign you wouldn’t want the updated version until I update mine so that doesn’t matter…
Note that I never said you wouldn’t get the update, I said specifically “the update will fail”.
I continued on by saying “Not too big a deal, as you can always revert if you need the latest and greatest, or wait for an update from the themer himself” which is basically the same thing you stated.
I feel this caveat should at least be mentioned, however, as it will keep people from being able to install stock Google apps from the marketplace when updates come out, so as to minimize confusion for people who don’t understand how the APK signing process works. If people don’t actively check for updates from you, they will never get an updated Play Store, Gmail client, etc, which might be a problem if Google releases a bugfix for a serious issue.
It’s not that big of a deal.. dark vs. light. who the hell cares? both themes look nice. No reason to throw such a huge fit over a good lookin theme. It’s not hot pink on a neon green background so quit whining like a baby about it and just accept it, for the 5minutes a day that you use the app..
Agreed with weird color themes. But white on dark or dark on white is a very basic layout. Personally I read better when the font is light and the background is dark. Apparently that developer @B_boytm agrees with that idea.
Conveniently, dark background also helps to increase batteries life. Hope you’d agree with that too.
It helps on LCD but not OLED.
I believe you have that flipped. Dark backgrounds have a lower battery drain on OLED while with LCD it is indifferent.
The design in general seems like a huge step back. Aesthetically the dark just looks nicer though. I think the distaste is a combination of both changes.
Agreed. How much time are people spending in the Google Play Store for this to be an actual “issue”? This reeks of first-world problem.
I guess criticism isn’t allowed, then!
I prefer black on white on a reflective surface (eg, paper, eInk, etc).
I prefer white on black on a light emitting surface (eg, CRT, LCD, OLED, etc).
Would it be simpler that Google himself gives an option in their apps to change Dark.Light theme? If changing them is technically difficult to do, may be Google should send their Dev team to a training course to learn how to program Android?
I’m sure they know how, it’s just whether or not they feel the need to. Not everyone is going to agree with every design change.
Love black theme, looks so better
google should put a dark and light option seriously its not that hard…. google now its like a big lamp its too white
Btw PHANDROID you need a dark option. Get on it! :-)
Dark options…YOU A RACIST lol jp
Mate that was original.
The black won’t match KLP though. Which is going to be a light holo theme upgrade to Android that will match Google Now. Bet
sssssSTOP IT
thanks guys it look so much better now, is it me or the new play store a bit slower than before?
I like the dark look, thanks for the post.
Didn’t think people would find a problem with the theme. Its like the rest of the apps such as G+. I think the dark would look more out of place.
” Everyone has their own tastes, of course, so this isn’t the forum to criticize those thoughts.”
Surely you jest. This forum is rife with just that.
Nice job!
xposed framework solution would be far better. no separate .apk
I prefer dark themes. They are easier on MY eyes.
I installed this apk as instructed and my Google Play is still bright white.
Is this all Root only?
I can´t get it to work :( “To get it, you’ll need to be able to flash .zip files in a custom recovery. Download this file and do just that, and you should reboot into blacked-out goodness. If it doesn’t work, you may want to try uninstalling Play Store updates via the App Info page, or head to /system/apps using a root file explorer and rename your Vending.apk to Phonesky.apk, then flash and reboot.” I find Phonesky.apk so that should be ok. And when trying to flash zip it fails. Why? I´m not new to this, so I don´t get why it will not flash? Also tried to uninstalling Play Store updates.