Well over a year ago now, we brought you news of a tool that solved the problem of users not being able to distribute themes for paid apps. Remote Theme Injector did exactly as its name suggests and “injects” the necessary themed elements into an APK, thereby allowing themers to make their work on paid apps available without distributing warez. The tool was often updated by its developer, XDA Senior Moderator and Recognized Developer Diamondback, whose name you might recognise from another project, Virtuous Ten Studio.
The Remote Theme Injector has since been incorporated into VTS, adding yet another useful feature into an already incredibly versatile piece of software for a variety of Android projects. VTS itself is essentially an IDE and a whole lot more, aimed at everyone from ROM developers to smali gurus, and now themers. It is capable of not only decompiling, modifying, and recompiling applications, but also modifying the m10 files that are a major component of HTC’s Sense UI, as well as the unpacking/repacking of boot images. That’s barely scratching the surface of what VTS is capable of, and I highly recommend checking out the VTS home page and XDA forum thread for more information.
The updated RTI bundled with VTS takes advantage of these features, and now allows for smali modifications to be included as part of the application themes. For a perfect example of just what is possible with RTI, check out the most recent batch of TapaTalk Pro/Free themes by XDA Recognized Developer and Themer Whiskey103. Whether you have the compulsive desire to ensure that all your installed apps maintain a strict theme or just fancy giving TapaTalk a quick makeover, this is definitely something worth looking into.