Here are some instructions on how to get themes onto your iPhone.
If a theme is not available through the installer, you will have to add it manually yourself. First, you will need to use the installer.app and install OpenSSH on your iPhone.
You will then need to install WinSCP on your computer. Macs come with openssh but if you’d like some alternatives check here. To connect to WinSCP you will need to go into your settings on your iPhone into Wi-fi, click on the little arrow next to the Wi-Fi you are connected to and get the ip address. Now open WinSCP on your computer….the Host Name is your ip address (with the periods) the user name is root and the password is alpine. Don’t worry about the Private key file, you don’t need to put anything there. Hit login.
Once WinSCP opens, the themes go into the var/root/library/SummerBoard/Themes folder on 1.1.2 and lower and in the var/mobile/library/SummerBoard/Themes folder on 1.1.3 and above. . Once you are in that folder you will see all the themes that are on your iPhone. This is where you will want to add your new themes.
Create a folder somewhere on your computer that is the title of the theme you would like to add (ex…Chalkwork) then inside of the Chalkwork folder create another folder called Icons (with a capital “I”). Inside the Icons folder put all of the icon images that you would like to have. They must be named the same as the Title of the app, starting with a capital (Ex…Calendar, Customize, SummerBoard, Photos, Stocks….). You can also add a Dock and Wallpaper to the Chalkwork folder, they also need to be capitalized (do not put them in the Icons folder…just in the main Chalkwork folder). Once you have a folder of the theme with a folder of icons inside it you just drag the whole folder, Chalkwork, into Themes on WinSCP and hit Copy. Once it is done transferring you can go on your iPhone into SummerBoard and select the theme you just added. Note: your iPhone has to be on for the file to transfer!
If you are downloading a theme that is in a zip file…you will have to open the zip file and then create a folder on your computer that is the same name as the theme you are trying to download. Then copy the Icons folder from the zip file into the folder you created on your computer. This unzips the file so that you can add it to SummerBoard through WinSCP. You can also copy the wallpaper and dock out of the zip file into the file you created if you would like them too.
If you have any further questions…email help@appleiphoneschool.com
If you would like to add information about this process please use the comments!! Thanks!





















December 9th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
Thanks a lot for this tread (and your answer in the other post).
I changed the dock, but can’t find where are the dock icons… could you help me ?
Thanks
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December 10th, 2007 at 3:32 pm
All icons will be in the Icons folder when you download a theme (if it is a SummerBoard ready theme for version 1.1.1). The stock icons in the dock are Phone, Mail, Safari and iPod. However, you can use Customize to change those icons by rearranging them in the Icon Display Order in Customize.
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xulfi reply on August 21, 2008:
hi..i m frm india..i was wondering can u tell the procedures for uploading themes onto iphones..when the phone is not connected to a wifi network?
December 13th, 2007 at 5:29 am
What program do I need to use for transfers with a mac?
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December 22nd, 2007 at 3:18 pm
hey, the pictures i chose for the icons aren’t showing up when i put them into the folder, what am i doing wrong? i converted them to .png and made 64×64 and named them the right way and it still didn’t work.
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LTS reply on March 18, 2008:
all my icons appear except Weather. None of the theme I downloaded work
for Weather.
December 28th, 2007 at 10:20 pm
can i put themes or applications from my computer?thanks
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December 28th, 2007 at 10:50 pm
@pau - I’m not sure what you mean… like Windows or OSX themes? They won’t work, only themes made for the iPhone.
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December 28th, 2007 at 11:24 pm
how can i use my computer to put my iphone themes..i followed the new folder etc written above..i have summerboard on my iphone how can i copy it??thanksss…..
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December 28th, 2007 at 11:34 pm
@Pau…Did you try the process above…what part exactly are you having problems with?
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December 29th, 2007 at 12:28 am
my winscp aint workin is there any other program that u could just connect the iphone and download stuff from there
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January 4th, 2008 at 10:07 am
what program can i use to transfer the themes from a mac. the winscp abive is an exe file. thank you very much
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January 4th, 2008 at 10:17 am
You can use iDemocracy for Macs.
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January 4th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
Thank you!
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January 10th, 2008 at 9:23 am
How to I put the Tinkerbell them onto my iphone? When I unzip there is only a .pkg file there.
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January 10th, 2008 at 9:33 am
.pkg files do not work with summerboard. You must download the theme files for the program you use to change themes. Like Summberboard or iSwitcher. I’m not sure what .pkg is used for.
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January 14th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
do u need a router to connect
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January 14th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
Yes, to connect via OpenSSH…you need a router.
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January 17th, 2008 at 7:07 am
hi can any1 tell me where 2 locate the .pkg file on iphone, i downloaded a theme called duracell.pkg through iphone hack tool kit, & would like to remove this file from the phone itself, would be thankful if any1 could guide me in removing it
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January 17th, 2008 at 8:27 am
Themes are put in the root/Applications/SummerBoard/Themes folder. Just delete it from there!
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January 23rd, 2008 at 12:58 am
NO SE QUE HACER ESTE IPHONE ME DECEPSIONO NO TIENE NADA BUENO NI JUEGOS TIENE PERO NI PARA GRABAR VIDEO!1 NO SSE QUE HAER PARA QUE ME GUSTE Y TAN CARO
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January 28th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
is there a way that I can download themes and games from this site without unlocking my iphone? (my service is with att) thanks for your help.
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February 2nd, 2008 at 5:17 am
@Ali solo jackealo y le puedes poner lo que desees.
- I CAN’T ACCESS TO SUMMERBOARD IN ROOT/LIBRARY/
DOESN’T APPEAR. I HAVE AN 1.1.3 JAILBROKEN!!
ANYONE KNOWS WHY?? I ALREADY INSTALLED IT FROM INSTALLER!!
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keith reply on February 24, 2008:
hey Masuser,
Same thing is happening to me, have you solved this problem? please let me know and could you please hlep me?…thank you
yamman reply on February 26, 2008:
im getting the same thing. i do not see Summerboard in Library. I also have 1.1.3 Jailbroken
edse reply on February 26, 2008:
I had the same problem, but i went and install a couple of SB Themes.
Choose anyone, close WinSCP, connect again, and you’ll the SB
folder on WinSCP
February 7th, 2008 at 6:09 am
when I entered the password on winscp it says access denied… please help
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February 7th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
@beloved - negative big dog, themes and games only work on jailbroken iPhones.
@alyns - 1.1.3 loggin is ‘mobile’ password ‘alpine’ (if i remember correctly)
- but 1.1.2 and earlier is ‘root’ password ‘alpine’
try those and let us know if that helped.
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February 8th, 2008 at 10:12 am
im very noob to the whole hacking thing i just got my iphone for christmas..i am an at&t customer alrdy…how can i jailbreak my iphone
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February 8th, 2008 at 10:32 am
is purchasing iphonegeek worth it?
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February 16th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Ok, after you download your files to change themes where do you go on your phone to change them? I go to SMB and there not there.
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Alex reply on March 7, 2008:
Same question.
I did everything till the copying all the theme folders I want to Summerboard
But after that what do I do?
On my iPhone I can’t find Summerboard to change the theme.
Please help!
February 21st, 2008 at 8:51 am
hi i have downloaded some themes from “themes (customise) and themes (apps)” but after downloading how do i go about to view or change it on my iphone?
pls help
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February 21st, 2008 at 7:35 pm
hello there …. i need a new source for the maps , weather , notes , stocks an soo on … cuz the applerepo.com is not working pls i need help can u mail me at my email a_3budiii@yahoo i’ll be thanksfull to ur help
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February 21st, 2008 at 7:57 pm
hello there i really need the new source of “”applerepo.com”" pleas if u can help me mail me at this email : “a_3budiii@yahoo.com”
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February 22nd, 2008 at 7:47 am
HELP ME PLEASE
bonjours j ai t
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February 25th, 2008 at 11:46 am
se non ho una connessione wifi che programma devo usare per collegare l’iphone al pc e vedere le cartelle interne dove mettere i temi?
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February 26th, 2008 at 10:28 pm
I have a jailbroken 1.1.3 iphone and I can’t seem to connect to it using WinSCP. I get a window saying “network error: connection timed out” Are there any specific settings or anything I need to change?
Please Help!
Thank You!
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March 8th, 2008 at 10:42 am
itsquy, same thing happen to me, i got an error message also saying the same thing. i’ve got a 1.1.3 jailbroken iphone. thanks and somebody help us…
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March 12th, 2008 at 6:37 pm
How do I import .pkg theme files into an iPhone that is jailbroken already? iPhoneHackToolKitv1.0 asks you to jailbreak the phone again and sends a “restore” file to the phone. Will this ‘undo” any changes that I’ve already done to my unlocked phone???
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March 18th, 2008 at 2:34 am
my winscp is not working pls help me ……im using vista i did everything but i doesnt work at all
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March 19th, 2008 at 2:25 am
I followed your instructions for adding a theme from a zipped file but I do not see the theme on my summerboard or in installer.
could you help me please?!
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jake reply on March 19, 2008:
nvm. i got it to work
March 20th, 2008 at 10:58 am
OK….don’t know if I am just abnormally stupid or what. I downloaded 2 summerboard themes to my macbook, put them on the desktop, connected to my iphone using Fugu, and dragged the files over…..can’t find the da*n things anywhere! Did I drag to the wrong spot? I know they are there, just can’t find ‘em! Same thing with some themes I got through installer from Apogee….said they installed and then nothing! Any and all help will be appreciated!
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March 23rd, 2008 at 5:16 am
Hi. The theme I copied showed up on my SMB theme list but when I tried using it my theme didn’t change, instead the default icons appeared. Would appreciate your help very much.
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March 25th, 2008 at 12:45 am
I don’t know why but all the themes that work on my phone wouldn’t show up on the list on WinSCP. Only those that i installed from the installer showed up. Themes that i am trying to add to them would be in the ” non-working folder” and i couldn’t find them in the theme list in summerboard. Does any one know how to fix this problem? Many thanks.
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March 25th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
umm ok. so i tried doing this but when i went to WinSCP it didnt have the summerboard folder.
what do i do now?
oh and also im running of firmware 1.1.4 on my Itouch if that helps anything?
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March 27th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
There seems to be a lot of confusion and half instructions on how to get themes to work. I have a 1.1.4 phone and a 1.1.3 phone currently (one is my fiance’s). First thing is to start from scratch with the whole SMB. Uninstall any themes you may have installed and uninstall SMB and the fix for it as well if it’s installed. Then follow these instructions EXACTLY.
1. Restart your phone (hold power until the slider bar on top shows up and “Slide to Power Off”).
2. Turn the iPhone back on and open the Installer app.
3. Click on the Install option at bottom of screen.
4. Install Summerboard
Now, this is VERY IMPORTANT…
5. Without restarting, install the SMB Themes Fix in the “Tweaks (1.1.3)” folder.
6. Now restart your iPhone (again, Slide it off then back on)
You should now be able to download your themes and then go to SMBPrefs and select the ones you want to use.
It took em a lot of work finding these instructions and I even did the WinSCP (which also worked) but I find that this way is much faster and works for 1.1.3 and 1.1.4 also.
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Bart reply on April 17, 2008:
Please add to this brilliant explanation;
Change the protection on the summerboard folder and all folders recursively to 0757. Only then you find the themes you’ve installed in the menu!!
hope this helps.
ScuBart
March 29th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
i have a problem when i transfer my theme from scp to summerboard it shows up but when i apply the theme it doesnt give me the theme i downloaded it gives my the orginal theme of the iphone
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March 30th, 2008 at 8:39 am
I’ve started to make a few themes of my own - it’s easy and remarkably relaxing! I can easily install these to my own iPhone using WinSCP, but how do I package them together in order to send them to one of the sources shown in Installer, so that other users can download them? As an example, lets call one of my themes “Outside” - the file structure on my PC is:
In the Outside folder:
[Icons]
Wallpaper.png
Dock.png
So that Wallpaper.png is the - duh!- Wallpaper and Dock.png is the - again, duh! - Dock background. The [Icons] sub-folder contains the various icons for the theme, such as Mail.png for the mail icon, etc. If any icon isn’t in this folder, the iPhone OS merely uses the default icon “hard coded” in the OS. Thus the minimum icons for a theme must be named after all of the applications on your springboard home page (YouTube.png, Mail.png, Contacts.png, Calendar.png, etc).
Anyway, back to my question - in what format are these packaged for the sources and how do I get them there . . .?
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March 30th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
SOMEONE HELP nothin i transfer my wsc to my iphone works i can see them on my phone but when i apply anything it doesnt work!!!?!?!?
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April 2nd, 2008 at 11:28 am
How do i get icons into my iPHONE?
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Douglas reply on April 2, 2008:
SSH
April 16th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
I did step by step of the tutorial, but still the 2 themes that I placed in the summerboard do not show up in the Theme option of Summerboard. Through winscrp, I can not see the other themes I have installed and working. Any idea where they are stored ???
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April 21st, 2008 at 1:25 pm
I can get the theme on my ipod touch but the icons don’t change
Anyone can help?
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April 24th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
hi I have the iphone and I just want to change my original theme to my own creation but I need a easy way to do it, also i want to know how to remove if I have to go to the repair center one day…
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April 24th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
I need help
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April 26th, 2008 at 12:41 am
I hav bought a second hand i-phone where there are already themes installed inside. but when i try to install them, it says “host cannot be found.” can you help me?? thanks
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May 1st, 2008 at 2:06 pm
is any of this possible without a WiFi Connection? I have a jailbroken phone, but no connection to wifi.
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May 20th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
My WinSCP will not work. I used my ip address, and all it says is “host has not answered for 15 seconds. Still waiting… ”
Help please!
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May 27th, 2008 at 11:17 am
var/mobile/Library/SummerBoard/Themes
the above folder is where i found all my SMB themes. Copied the newly created theme to this folder, and it worked like a charm….
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May 28th, 2008 at 12:03 am
is there a way to change the slider icon?
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May 28th, 2008 at 7:54 am
Is there any program to organize photos as you take them? i have pictures of my son and pictures of girls doing bad things next to each other. I was hoping to be able to add folders and organize it alittle bit. Thanks
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June 25th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
hey someone knows how can i get vista 3.0 theme
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July 5th, 2008 at 9:47 am
I’m trying to figure out the whole adding themes to my iphone and I installed WinSCP, but when I put in the user name and password, it won’t authenticate the password. Any ideas?
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redfoot reply on July 27, 2008:
@MHarms
You’re using a WiFi connection right? Go into ‘Settings’, go to ‘WiFi’, click the little arrow to the right of whatever your wifi is called, then click “Static”. Change the IP address one digit higher (so if it’s currently 192.168.1.17, change it to 192.168.1.18), and try to connect again using WinSCP.
Host: 192.168.1.18 (or whatever you put in)
Username: root
Password: alpine
July 13th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
this is great info..thanx a lot. was able to transfer themes to iphone with a fly..
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July 14th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
hello i cant see the thems when i puted on mu iphone why !? i rest the summer bord by default what i can do to see the thems ???
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July 28th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
if i do something wrong.. can i damage my iphone or lock it?
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July 28th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
can’t we use a lot of memory to install applications? instead of using all of it in music and videos??
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July 31st, 2008 at 11:49 pm
how i can uploard my iphone applications to my iphone into my computer
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August 6th, 2008 at 1:43 am
HELP is there a sourse or something that i can use on youtube because it doesnt work it says “cannot connect to youtube” so if someone knows something please tell meeeeee ok.
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August 8th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
Trying to connect with FUGU and have 1.1.4 on iphone jailbroken. Can not get it to connect. Entered IP address and user of root and also tried user of mobile but it just times out and goes back to connect screen. Never get password screen. Any ideass???
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August 12th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
[...] how to: How do I get themes onto my iPhone? | Apple iPhone School __________________ crxMPG | Benjamin FT Jones | CollegeVegan [...]
August 13th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
network error: connection refused
?
and do i need to put something in port number?
i just want to get customize on my iphone 3g but i find it impossible i cant download installer or cydia because a blue question mark appears on jailbreakme!
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September 4th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Do i have to have a wi-fi connection? And i tried to install the installer.app on my phone but it didn’t have the right version? because my phone says it has version 2.0.1 or modem firmware 01.48.02 and the install.app says 1.0.0, 1.0.1, & 1.0.2??
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September 9th, 2008 at 2:29 am
Hey, this has nothing to do with themes but,
When I tried to install something using installer on ipod touch it always says host cannot be found. Please help!!!! I really want to get games onto it, and it doesn’t work. Is there a way to add in the apps manually? Please help!!! Thxx!
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October 4th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
I open the WinSCP and entered my IP Adress and the user name and pass but when i click login it says error connection refused. Any ideas. Help me out here? Thanks
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November 4th, 2008 at 12:31 am
i have a summerboard theme and i dont know how to remove it and put my photo as a wallpaper i tried it as set as wallpaper but its not going the summerboard
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November 27th, 2008 at 2:19 am
hey i cant find my var/root/library/SummerBoard/Themes folder on my WinSCP do i need to download or wht?
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November 30th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
[...] How do I get themes onto my iPhone? | Apple iPhone School That’s how to install it. [...]
December 2nd, 2008 at 7:01 pm
i downloaded the quickpwn and launched it, i did the steps but its not progressing, is there any other way i can get themes on my iphone?
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