One of our favorite features lately of Android has been without a doubt Google Now voice search. Especially for those running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and above. Google’s continued to update it into one of the best parts of Android. Yesterday we introduced a black themed version of the new Google Play Store v 4.0.25, and today we have the same thing for Google Now. Time to get sexy!
While we can all agree that having more than one option is a good thing, we had tons of comments from readers saying they wish Google offered a light/dark theme on all of their apps. Sadly we just don’t ever see that happening, even though many 3rd party apps developers offer exactly that. We also know not everyone is a fan of black on their phones, but for those who are you’ll want to keep reading.
The same awesome developer we highlighted yesterday, @B_boytm has more than just the Play Store in black, he actually has 12 of Google’s most popular apps all in black color themes to get your entire device looking unique. He even offers Gmail in black with the holo-inspired blue text – and it looks amazing. For now though, we’re focusing on Google Now thanks to @djdarkknight96. Since I use it more than almost anything else these days I wanted it to be black too, and now it can be and here’s how to get it looking like the above picture.
Instructions:
– Download the APK (click here) [mirror]
– Remove GoogleQuickSearchBox.apk from system/app, uninstall from Play Store and reboot
– Install APK downloaded from above
– Enjoy that sexy black Google Now – widget included
This is Google Now/search version 2.4.10 and is the absolute latest version that was released earlier this month back on April 3rd. So you’ll be up to date and enjoying it all with a brand new black color.
As usual, messing with system apps and such can be tricky so proceed at your own risk. And don’t forget to backup any files such as GoogleQuickSearchBox before you remove them. Of course you can get Google Search from the Play Store, but still use caution. More details can be found at this RootzWiki thread. Enjoy folks and let us know how you like it in the comments below.
newbie. i downloaded the file to my gnex but i can’t seem to delete the original googlequicksearch. any more help??
u have to disable it, i guess!
how do I do that? Settings/apps/Google search?
Yeah, but it can also be uninstalled through Google Play Store!
same problem! Play Store only uninstalls the update. I then disabled the app and rebooted. I keep getting the error “Package with that name and different signature already installed” =(
remove it from /system/app too
Rooted? Use a file explorer to get rid of it. Uninstall search from Play Store and install the downloaded file. Enjoy
Not rooted
Very nice. Even better would be an inverted gapps package to flash all in one (or instead of the regular one) though.
AOKP has a new milestone release coming up next week or so and I’m not looking forward to repeat the process with all of the individual inverted versions so much.
I don’t have a file named GoogleQuickSearchBox.apk in my system/app folder.
I have a googleSearchWidget.apk, but that’s all. I’m on jellybean 4.1.2.