And they say iOS isn’t customizable… Fortunately for jailbreakers, it certainly is! DreamBoard, a $2.99 tweak that’s available in Cydia, will completely reinvent the way your home screens look. It’s very easy to use, and there are a number of different themes available. Check them out below!
After installing DreamBoard, you’ll notice a new icon on your SpringBoard. It’s not an actual app. Instead, it’s a shortcut that activates the actual DreamBoard interface. DreamStore is actually a small application that allows you to purchase and install themes. DreamStore isn’t installed with DreamBoard, so you’ll have to manually download the Debian package and install it via SSH or iFile. “Purchase? WTF??” Yes, purchase. Most of the nice themes cost a few bucks, but there are a few free (but not as nice) ones. DreamBoard actually comes with “Endroid”, an HTC Android clone that looks and acts like the real thing.
Please note that the initial screenshots that you’re seeing below is of an Android theme. If you’re anti-Android, there are lots of other themes available. You can view some of them in the photo gallery at the bottom of this post.
Using DreamBoard is very simple. After activating it, you’ll be taken to the theme selection interface. You simply scroll through the different themes that you have installed. Tapping on a theme’s screenshot will give you a few options.
The first option is to actually apply the theme, the edit button will take you to an interface where you can edit the icons that show up in certain places within the theme, reset will reset your icon layout, and cache icons (not supported by all these just yet) will cache the icons for better performance, and the cancel button will make the popup go away.
Here, we’re in the edit mode, where you can add icons to various places within a theme. You can also remove icons if you wish. Pushing the home button will save your layout and switch to the actual theme.
Here, you’ll see the Android theme called “Endroid”. It’s very similar to what you’d find on HTC Android devices. The weather widget is customizable, and there’s also a Facebook and clock widget. There’s even animated weather that will show up on your screen. Performance with this particular theme is alright. It’s fairly smooth, but it’s not as smooth as switching between regular SpringBoard pages.
DreamBoard itself has a few bugs. For instance, the multitasking dock is somewhat glitchy under certain conditions. DreamBoard is also very resource intensive, often using more than 130MB of RAM. Where I would previously have 300MB of free RAM, I would then have about 170MB of RAM after I apply a theme. Going back to my regular SpringBoard setup will free up that used memory quite a bit. If you’re aren’t a heavy multitasker, then this won’t affect you, although opening apps is just a tad slower. The developers are working on making DreamBoard carry a smaller memory footprint.
Feel free to check out some of the other available themes in the below photo gallery.
Also, feel free to follow Brian on Twitter.
Photo Gallery
Brian Sweet is a young 20-year old student who loves technology (PCs, Macs, iPhones) and auto racing. Brian also writes for JailbreakZone, and is the host of the This Week in iPhone podcast (not affiliated with TWiT). Follow Brian on Twitter (the quickest way to get in touch), or visit his website.
64 responses to “DreamBoard – Reinvent Your iOS Home Screens”
Why the hell did people buy an iPhone if all they want is to make it look like an Android?! This is worse than buying a fake Rolex! In this case, you are taking the best phone made and making it look like a knock off.. Fucking idiots
can be run on iphone 3g?
Shudder…
Looks ugly! Every single one!
Calm down Steve J. , take deep breaths, most people do not choose freedom over walled gardens.
@670dff713e95720cf995350fc26e20fe:disqus ¬¬
wtf?? what are you talking about, maybe people like the apps and that stuff, but not the ui of the system… or just want some customization. some of u people are just….
Would probably make things extremely slow and sluggish.
There’s a difference between what something looks like on the TV & Internet and what something looks like on your actual device.
Did you bother to look at any of the other ones, or did you immediately see a screenshot of Android and went straight towards writing up a stupid comment?
I think that the fact that iOS is capable of these kinds of customizations is the most important thing to get out of this blog posting.
Gross…your a tool if you have an iphone and make it look like android!
Looks amazing, but I’m too lazy to do this much customization.
you’re*
hey buddy what about the hundreds of other themes…
I have no desire to make my iPhone look like an Android. That said, I have jailbroken mine for light customization. I like Apple’s overall homescreen layout, I just wish that they would let users ‘tweak’ the lock screen to add the information they would like to see without having to open five different apps. I like ‘Intelliscreen’ and ‘SBRotator’, but that’s about as far as I want to go with my iPhone’s customization.
the only good use for this tweak is to pull a practical joke on someone by installing it on their iPhone.
Did you even look at the other images? There are other themes…
They should’ve chosen a different theme to use as an example. This really looks silly using an android theme. This theme would not even make sense for any ios user to use. It’s like having an iphone but pretending to have an android phone. Silly theme.
well, than at least the feel would fit the looks
Is there a way to make it look like an old Nokia 6210?
How is this different/better than Winterboard?
See what some of you idiots lack to realize is the instability of things like this. My comment was meant to be geared more towards jailbreaking in general. See, if you bought an iPhone chances are you were drawn in by Apple’s never ending strive for stability, integration, and ease of use. By jailbreaking, you lose all of that. I jailbroke my phone once and had to restore after my iPod starting playing on its own; taking screenshots on its own (have the camera roll to prove it); home button stopped working; the list can go on and on. Jailbreaking turned my iPhone into a slow, fragmented copy of the HTC Hero and seeing that there is now a package that allows you to make your phone look like an HTC astounds me. The mere fact that SOMEONE will choose this theme disgusts me. Jailbreaking is stupid and the people who jailbreak are stupid for investing in an iPhone. Ironically enough, you more than likely bought one because you were sick of dealing with the very same shit that jailbreaking does. Some of you people are just…………
Been Jailbreaking since original iPhone, not really had any problems with it. Sure it’s not for everyone, but I can’t see why I can’t do whatever the fuck I want with my phone, and you do whatever the fuck you want.
You’re obviously just too stupid for Jailbreaking or even life in general.
I like that CoM reviews JB Apps as well as traditional AppStore apps. Please keep it up despite the narrow-minded name calling in the comments.
I love comments like this! Some dude I never met assumes I’m too stupid to jailbreak my iPhone and therefore I am also too stupid for life in general. Real mature! You’re assumed “flawlessness” of jailbreaking over the years does not account for the fact of instability nor does it account for the loss of performance that jailbreaking does to your iPhone. But thank you for this reply as it obviously “touched” you on a personal level. May I suggest a girl? Long walk around the neighborhood? Anything to get you away from the stuffy computer as it seems you haven’t been away from it lately..
Tool.
It’s setup and forget. Each theme sets itself up, and requires no effort to get setup properly. DreamBoard just theme’s your home screen, while WinterBoard theme’s a lot more than that.
Well, there are other ones. I chose the Android one because most people know what HTC Android devices look like.
I was actually entertaining the idea until I saw that deambord is $3.00 and then you ave o actually purchase the themes on top of that. Not gonna happen
another idiot who just has no idea how to jailbreak and obviously does not get the idea behind it and or what we can do once jailbreak has been done
You’re obviously mad at pixels. Get a life. Also I’ve jailbroken my iPod and decked that shit out with every thing you can possibly think of and it works fine. Maybe your iPhone doesn’t like you because your a self-important twat boy? Just a thought…
lol@@you:disqus for calling the teapot black…or are you the kettle? maturity doesn’t seem too high on your list of virtues either. coming on to a thread and calling people idiots because they don’t have the same views as you is a bit close minded as well as immature. just because jailbreaking didn’t work for you doesn’t mean millions of others who enjoy it are fail. i’ve jail broken three of my ipod touches and two iphones and have yet to have any problems remotely similar to yours.
nerd rage ftl. go flex your keystrokes elsewhere.
You’re a idiot.
You’re a idiot…again