How to customize your Sidekick 3 background
Here is a quick and dirty tutorial about how to customize your Sidekick 3 background in 10 easy steps, which is ever so necessary as the default ones from T-Mobile are atrocious.
Step 1 ) Plug the USB cable that came with your Sidekick 3 into your computer and into your Sidekick.
Step 2 ) Navigate to the drive where your Sidekick was mounted. (In most cases your computer will auto-detect and you may choose to browse the files in the folder, however you may need to double-click My Computer and then access the letter drive the Sidekick was assigned to)
Step 3 ) Once on the Sidekick drive on your computer, make a new folder called Themes
Step 4 ) Now make another new folder inside of the newly created Themes folder, calling it whatever you want the name of your custom theme to be.
Step 5 ) Select the main picture you want to use for your theme, this image should be a PNG or JPG file and must have dimensions of 240×138.
Step 6 ) Select the picture that you want to use for your sub-categories. (For example when you click Instant Messaging or Organizer on your Sidekick 3) Again, this image should be a PNG or JPG file and must have dimensions of 240×138.
Step 7 ) Open any text editor program, Notepad will do just nicely, and copy and paste the following into a blank file:
# ThemeName #
string Name(en_US) ThemeName
bitmap ring-background FileNumberOne.png
bitmap ring-folder-background FileNumberTwo.png
- Substitute the name of the folder you created in Step 4 with ThemeName
- Change FileNumberOne to the name of the image you selected in Step 5
- Change FileNumberTwo to the name of the image you selected in Step 6
- Save this file as Theme.txt
Step 8 ) Copy all of the files (2 images and Theme.txt) into the folder created in Step 4
Step 9 ) Make sure all of the files transferred to the folder and unplug your Sidekick 3 from the USB cable
Step 10 ) Go to backgrounds on your Sidekick 3 and select your newly created one and enjoy!
Example of my Sidekick 3 background:
81 Comments, Comment or Ping
tigress419
umm how do you add the open close sounds also
May 27th, 2007
Jon Holato
Under this line “bitmap ring-folder-background FileNumberTwo.png” add these:
sound system-hinge-open-sound open.wav
sound system-hinge-close-sound close.wav
Then change the names of open.wav and close.wav to match the file names of whatever sounds you want to play.
May 27th, 2007
nene
can we have more than one background file?
May 28th, 2007
Jon Holato
As far as I know you can only have the two listed above:
bitmap ring-background FileNumberOne.png
bitmap ring-folder-background FileNumberTwo.png
May 28th, 2007
bruss
how do u check 2 see if picture size is 240×138
Jun 1st, 2007
Jon Holato
You have to check the picture sizes on your computer before you copy the files over to your Sidekick 3.
For Windows XP: Just right-click on the image and select “Properties,” then click on the “Summary” tab. If you don’t see any dimensions click on the “Advanced” button and you will see the height and width.
Jun 2nd, 2007
alex
how do u get rid of the logos such as the 2 ppl the guy and the girl,the world logo 4 the internet etc etc???
Jun 8th, 2007
Jon Holato
You can change or remove them the people by adding some more lines to your customized theme file. For the guy and girl on the home screen the value is as follows:
bitmap chooser-phone-splash-screen phone.png
Simply replace phone.png which whatever image you want to substitute in it’s place (use a transparent image with the dimensions of 148×136 if you want to remove the people completely).
To change the logos for the various sections you can add the following code:
bitmap chooser-category-im-large im-icon-large.png
bitmap chooser-category-im-small im-icon-small.png
bitmap chooser-category-games-large games-icon-large.png
bitmap chooser-category-games-small games-icon-small.png
bitmap chooser-category-apps-large phone-icon-large.png
bitmap chooser-category-apps-small phone-icon-small.png
bitmap chooser-category-pim-large pim-icon-large.png
bitmap chooser-category-pim-small pim-icon-small.png
bitmap chooser-category-sms-large sms-icon-large.png
bitmap chooser-category-sms-small sms-icon-small.png
bitmap chooser-category-multimedia-apps-large mutlimedia-icon-large.png
bitmap chooser-category-multimedia-apps-small mutlimedia-icon-small.png
bitmap chooser-category-network-games-large network-icon-large.png
bitmap chooser-category-network-games-small network-icon-small.png
bitmap chooser-category-services-large services-icon-large.png
bitmap chooser-category-services-small services-icon-small.png
bitmap chooser-category-midlets-large midlets-icon-large.png
bitmap chooser-category-midlets-small midlets-icon-small.png
Again, just substitute the image names with whatever you want to call the files. The large images should be 44×44, and the small ones 24×24.
Jun 8th, 2007
Alyssa
How many Themes can you have saved on your sidekick 3 at one time. I saw someone else that had like 5 themes, but when I downloaded 2, only one showed up?
Jun 8th, 2007
Jon Holato
In theory I think you can have as many as you want, but unfortunately I’m not sure why only one showed up. Actually that same thing happened to me when I had my Sidekick 3 but not to my gf when she had one, very weird.
I guess the fix is to just use one at a time and only keep the one you want to use on your Sidekick 3.
Jun 10th, 2007
Double
How do you change the other picture splashes like text messages and web browser?
Jun 12th, 2007
Youngin
How can I put MY own music on my sk3?
Jun 12th, 2007
Ashley
can u please help me wit the open and close sound 4 the sidekick tell me step by step where do I go 2 find the soundz how do I make them people diaapear
Jun 21st, 2007
Ashley
help me
Jun 21st, 2007
Jon Holato
@ Double - check my comment in this post from June 8th, 2007.
@ Youngin - music how so, as general MP3 files to listen to or as the sounds that play when you open/close your Sidekick 3? If as the open/close sounds check my comment from May 27th, 2007.
@ Ashley - for the sounds, look at my first comment in this post, dated May 27th, 2007. As for making the people disappear, look at my comment from June 8th, 2007 in here as well.
Hope this helps you all, let me know if you need further assistance.
Jun 22nd, 2007
Ashley
were do I find the soundz at 4 the open and close sound
Jun 22nd, 2007
Ashley
were do I find imagez that are 148×136
Jun 22nd, 2007
Jon Holato
@ Ashley - you can use any sound for the open/close sound, it just has to be a WAV file, you just want to make sure the file isn’t too big or it could make your Sidekick 3 run slowly. You can find some sites that offer free WAV files here if you don’t want to make your own:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=free+WAV+sounds
To make images 148×136 you need to use a photo editor like Photoshop or GIMP, or you can use an online image resizer. You can find a few of those here:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=online+image+resizer
Jun 22nd, 2007
daisy
how do u get the open n close file to work
Jun 23rd, 2007
daisy
how do u get the wave file to work
Jun 23rd, 2007
JAymiee
where do i find images that are 240 x 138k??
Jun 24th, 2007
Jon Holato
@ Daisy - add the lines of code from my comment on this post from May 27th, 2007. Make sure you have the WAV files in the same folder as the images and the theme file on your Sidekick 3.
@ Jaymiee - you can find them anywhere. Google Images if you want, or you can use any picture you want and just resize it to those dimensions.
Jun 25th, 2007
sar7766
well now there is a new background for me to choose from on my sidekick and i select it and nothing changes…
Jun 26th, 2007
Tamara
How do i get a transparent image so that i just see my background and no girl and guy or no any other logo? Thanks
Jun 26th, 2007
Carin
silly people… GOOGLE it!
Jun 26th, 2007
Diego
Hey how do you make custom bubbles cause i wanna make ‘em transparent on my sk3.
Jun 26th, 2007
Invertigo
I really hit pay dirt with this forum, but the one question I have is this: Has anyone been able to get more than one custom Theme to show up in the SK3’s list of backgrounds?
Hopefully someone has a simple answer.
Oh and I have several really nice ones setup for any of you that would be interested, email me Spazz17@rocketmail.com
Jun 27th, 2007
Ashley
how can I find hiphop wav sounds for open and close sound on the sidekick??????????
Jun 28th, 2007
Jessica
i’m sorry i must be doing something wrong, but i cant get a background…i tried like a 100 times…please tell me what i’m doing wrong…i do everything right untill i get to #5…im am goin crazy!! please help me
Jul 2nd, 2007
Ashley
how can I get hphop wav soundz 4 the close and open soundz 4 the sidekick 3
Jul 2nd, 2007
Ashley
my bad hiphop
Jul 2nd, 2007
gnatty
i have my new theme up and running, custom bubbles and everything. my question is: how do i take a picture of it to share with others without resorting to taking a crappy web cam picture. for example…when you go to sk3themes.com, how did they get all the custom themes with the t-mobile stuff included? thanks =;-)
gnatty
myspace.com/gnatfink
Jul 3rd, 2007
Dennise
I am having the same problem as “SAR7766″…when I go to backgrounds on my SK3, a new background is listed, but instead of being titled what I saved it as, it comes up as “ThemeName/par”, amd when I select it, nothing changes on my phone…PLEASE HELP ME!! Also, in step #7, when I change the file name to the image name, do I also have to change the “png” part to “jpg” if my image is a jpg file??
Jul 3rd, 2007
britni
thought i would help out a little:
dennise: you need to convert the jpg image to a png image. you can convert with paint. i think there’s a simpler way but i don’t know.
Jul 8th, 2007
PJ
On June 12th Double asked “How do you change the other picture splashes like text messages and web browser?” and you said to refer to your comment on June 8th. But those listed pngs are just the large and small bubbles, no? How do you change the other 148×136 splash images, like the address book, etc? Do you have those file names? I have only successfully made the people transparent.
Jul 10th, 2007
Rachael
I tried this and it didnt work for me. i’m using a mac. could that be the problem?
Jul 10th, 2007
Leah
okay i know how to do everything except i want to hide the image of the girl and the guy talking on the phone so people can see my background
how do i do that?
thank you.
Jul 19th, 2007
mamaaa
how can i get rid of the people, the sonic download picture and all the other pictures on my menu so that all you can see is my wallpaper/theme/background….. where ken i fynd a transparent image to put there
Jul 21st, 2007
Diane
I dont know where to put the file for the sounds when you open and close i dont know what to do
Jul 25th, 2007
Jon Holato
Sorry all I’ve been really busy at work and traveling quite a bit recently so I’ve fallen behind on your comments. I think the answers to most of your questions are covered somewhere here either in the post or comments.
If you still need help leave another comment describing your problem in as much detail as possible.
Jul 27th, 2007
MR. HIPTOP
I tried Jon’s method of getting the splash page people off and it doesn’t work at all, no matter what I try. Please help!!!
Jul 28th, 2007
Nina
okay so it shows up on my sidekick but i don’t see my pics as the background? i don’t understand
Aug 10th, 2007
nicole
How do you create autotext cool graphics such as this !★LªFFΦN☆[ΘŮt]☆LÛÐ★]! ? My friend sent me several but I don’t know where she got them and I love it….can you please help me with the txt graphics if you can?
Thanks,
Nicole
Aug 15th, 2007
MEMPHIZ
IM LOST ON ALL OF THIS I NEED HELP LIKE FOR REAL
Aug 18th, 2007
MEMPHIZ
IM LOST ON ALL OF THIS I NEED HELP LIKE FOR REAL CAN YOU HELP ME OUT I GOT LOST ON THA Step 6 ) Select the picture that you want to use for your sub-categories. (For example when you click Instant Messaging or Organizer on your Sidekick 3) Again, this image should be a PNG or JPG file and must have dimensions of 240×138.
Step 7 ) Open any text editor program, Notepad will do just nicely, and copy and paste the following into a blank file:
# ThemeName #
string Name(en_US) ThemeName
bitmap ring-background FileNumberOne.png
bitmap ring-folder-background FileNumberTwo.png
Substitute the name of the folder you created in Step 4 with ThemeName
Change FileNumberOne to the name of the image you selected in Step 5
Change FileNumberTwo to the name of the image you selected in Step 6
Save this file as Theme.txt
Aug 18th, 2007
Jonathan Nova
Thanks,
Jon Holato
Your comment are very helpful, clearly and friendly. My English is not well but, however, I could understand everything you wrote.
Thank You!
Aug 21st, 2007
Jonathan Nova
Thanks,
Jon Holato
Your comment are very helpful, clearly and friendly to do. My English is not well but, however, I could understand everything you wrote.
Thank You!
Aug 21st, 2007
CheeseRaven
Man ty to all u guys
I made an awsome halo theme and vista OS theme from this thread
Gotta say, keep up the good work : )
Sep 11th, 2007
Jason
Wanted to get rid of the lady and guy on the phone logo and just keep the background where do I find a “transparent image” thank you in advance. Jason
Sep 12th, 2007
Jason
Sorry to blow up your page was also wondering if it is possible to change the screensaver on the sk3 any info would be greatt.
Jason
Sep 12th, 2007
Andrey
I would like to know how to put my own ringtones onto the Sidekick3.
I have done it all the time with my other phones but I just can’t figure it out on this phone.
And also, I have no idea how to send pictures through text on this phone either, I only know how to send them through email on this phone, how do I send them through text?
Sep 13th, 2007
Jon Holato
@ Jason - you can find a number of tutorials on how to create transparent images here:
http://www.google.com/search?q=create+transparent+image&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
As for the screensaver, not really sure what you’re referencing, unless you mean background, in which case this post outlines how to do that.
@ Andrey - You have to buy ringtones through the Sidekick (I think it’s the top menu option). As for picture messages, according to the Sidekick 3 features page on T-Mobile.com the Sidekick 3 does not have picture messaging capability (but as you mentioned you can send via email):
http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/phones/Detail.aspx?tp=tb2&device=7a083f08-7f33-4941-ba63-d6904503dc71
Sep 14th, 2007
Jason
Thanks… When I said screen saver i meant the Sidekick 3 logo when u have key guard on appreciate all the help…
Jason
Sep 15th, 2007
gnatty
to change your screen saver on you sidekick go to settings, then down to key guard & security and it’ll have the sidekick 3 logo on the top left corner. just click it and choose the picture logo and from there you’ll be able to select what ever photo you want as a screen saver =;-)
Sep 15th, 2007
Ian
jon -
I made the sound file, and I put it in the folder of the theme. After googling around. I coverted it to Wav, file is 30k, everything is in the text file, just not working when I open or close. Theme works fine, so does icons, all .png works best. I have photoshop, so that makes it a lot easier. Any ideas on the sound?
Sep 22nd, 2007
justine
ok so how do i know if:
Step 9 ) Make sure all of the files transferred to the folder and unplug your Sidekick 3 from the USB cable
?
Sep 24th, 2007
Ian
NOTE*You must have both an open and close sound for it to work.
Sep 24th, 2007
Jon Holato
@ Ian - thanks for posting your resolution to the sound problem for all to see.
@ Justine - just go into the device when it’s plugged in via USB and go into the folder and make sure all the files are on the Sidekick.
Sep 25th, 2007
Elisa
Jon,
I followed your instructions for changing the SK3 backgroung and it worked, thanks.
But, I can not get rid of the people!!!
I have tried all the combos of your value line.
Could you spell it out like you did for the background change.
Thanks
E/S
Oct 18th, 2007
Jason
I love this site, it has helped me so much customizing my sk3, but i was wondering aside from the girl and guy on the phone selection, is there any way to remove the other icons (i.e. email, text messages, address book, etc). I want it to be just like the phone, and remove the picture and not the words, so if you have a code like that, could you post it up please?
Oct 21st, 2007
Jason
i tried the other codes you had
bitmap chooser-category-im-large {im-icon-large.png}
bitmap chooser-category-im-small {im-icon-small.png}
bitmap chooser-category-games-large {games-icon-large.png}
bitmap chooser-category-games-small {games-icon-small.png}
bitmap chooser-category-apps-large {phone-icon-large.png}
bitmap chooser-category-apps-small {phone-icon-small.png}
bitmap chooser-category-pim-large {pim-icon-large.png}
bitmap chooser-category-pim-small {pim-icon-small.png}
bitmap chooser-category-sms-large {sms-icon-large.png}
bitmap chooser-category-sms-small {sms-icon-small.png}
bitmap chooser-category-multimedia-apps-large {mutlimedia-icon-large.png}
bitmap chooser-category-multimedia-apps-small {mutlimedia-icon-small.png}
bitmap chooser-category-network-games-large {network-icon-large.png}
bitmap chooser-category-network-games-small {network-icon-small.png}
bitmap chooser-category-services-large {services-icon-large.png}
bitmap chooser-category-services-small {services-icon-small.png}
bitmap chooser-category-midlets-large {midlets-icon-large.png}
bitmap chooser-category-midlets-small {midlets-icon-small.png}
and only a few changed. the IM, Games, Apps, and Organizer were the only ones to change. nothing else changed. am i doing the codes wrong or are the codes wrong. (everything in the {} i changed to mypic.png)
Oct 21st, 2007
James
One quick question. Is it possible to change the titles that show up such as “Phone” and “Address Book” to something different?
Oct 30th, 2007
John
Will this work on SK LX?
Oct 31st, 2007
SamiSous
i followed all of the steps but when i select the background i want it doesn’t show up… what di i do wrong
Jan 8th, 2008
Devan
This website was amazing it helped so much just one question I have a my fav 5 plan and I was wondering if you knew the code to change that
Jan 20th, 2008
Arman
I have the Sidekick LX and I have created few themes and they work great, that includes changing the background1 and background 2. changing the sound to open and close the screen, changing the logos (games, organizer, applications,phone messaging, and instant messaging) I have changed the bubbles behind the icons. and I have taken off the big icon of the phone.
But I would like to know:
1. how to change the other icons (catalog, email, phone, my faves, address book, web browser, camera, and music)
2. how to take off all the other big icons
3. how to use my music as ring tones without having to download it from the catalog.
If anyone knows the answers, I would really appreciate it.
Jan 20th, 2008
Glendo
I did everything in the instructions, however on my sidekick when I go to Backgrounds, I see my file that I created but when I choose it, it doesn’t show my backgrounds. Did I do something wrong?
Jan 20th, 2008
gfresh
no you “CAN NOT” use your own music as a ringtone, you have to use the catalog for rintones. **sorry
Jan 23rd, 2008
gfresh
oh by the way, is there anyway to change the “T-Mobile” service logo in the top left corner?
Jan 23rd, 2008
Dezzy
jon,
check dis now all my frnds hav metropcs..
I tried 2 send dem pix on the email on fone
to therenumber@mms.metropcs.net y dosent it work is there a way 2 send pix 2 metro fones?
Feb 9th, 2008
caroline
I can’t see da icons on aim mine’ or anybody elses for the past 3 days now I tried reseting the phone more than once and still nothin can you help me pleaseeeeeeeeeee
Feb 14th, 2008
Thy
How do I delete a custom theme?
Feb 17th, 2008
kirstie
I tried doing that and it never showed up on my sidekick I tried a bunch of times it will show on my computer that it is on my phone but when i look under backgrounds on my phone it’s not there
Feb 24th, 2008
Kai
i followed all the directions for how to set a picture as my background but when i go on my phone (ThemeName) come up but when i apply it my picture don’t come up can you please help me
Apr 19th, 2008
NeoMatrixGod
I would love to change the icons, but could you please let us know which ones change which icons and if they work on the slide as well. Thank you.
Apr 20th, 2008
Sam
im compleately lost…..
the 1 thing I wanna find out is when ur scrooling down to look for a application, there is a buble around the icon, I wanna know if dat bubble can be changed 2 sumding else (my friend has the lx nd istead of a bubble she has lyk a splash of paint) if so i wanna kno how. thanksz. hope u can help.
Apr 22nd, 2008
Domaneeshu
Dude.. thanks for the 411. Worked great, i sampled a whole mess of Amen breaks and now my sk3 is rockin. i dont understand why everyone has so many problems. i think you spelled the whole procedure out quite clearly. Resizing images and sampling/converting .WAV is kindergarden work. Awsome, A++ …. as for the bubble issue… you would have to find out what the bubble’s file name, size, and wether the transparency is pre-set (I.E. photosho layer) or if the sk3 creates the transparency. Possibly theres 2 images for the icons… 1 for bubble, and 1 for no bubble. Gonna play around when i get out of work=)
Apr 28th, 2008
monica
i have a sidekick 3 and i want to get the LX. the guy at tmobile said that i could find out how to take my starwars and transformers backgrounds and music from one to the other. is it really possible? i hate to lose those!
Apr 30th, 2008
lynne
yeah i followed the directions and my theme name came up under backgrounds however when i select this option my background does not change? did i miss something here? please if anyone knows how to fix this please comment thanks
May 4th, 2008
issy
i did all this n it show up n errthin but when i go to set it nuttin change…
May 9th, 2008
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