The best way to customize the look of iOS 7’s Messages app

Message Customiser Bubbles

Messages Customiser [sic] is a brand new jailbreak tweak that just hit Cydia’s ModMyi repo, and it’s one of the, if not the best way to customize the stock Message app’s look on iOS 7. The most remarkable thing about Messages Customiser, besides the fact that it work great, is that its developer has made it available free of charge.

If you’re looking for a way to customize the look and feel of the stock Messages app, and you don’t want to break the bank in the process, then look no further my friends. Check past the break for the full video demonstration.

After installing Messages Customiser, you’ll find a new preference panel for the tweak nestled within the confines of the Stock settings app. From there, you can configure the look and feel of the messages app.

Inside the settings, you’ll find the ability to customize the colors of SMS message bubbles, iMessage message bubbles, and the other person’s bubbles. You can also alter the app tint—the colors of the various buttons found throughout the stock Messages app—and enable or disable gradient support.

There are quite a few colors bundled in with Messages Customiser. Here is a list of all of the colors found in version 1.0:

  • Dark Blue
  • Light Blue
  • Green
  • Red
  • Yellow
  • Orange
  • Pink
  • Purble
  • Teal
  • Dark Grey
  • Light Grey
  • Black

Any change that you make to the message bubbles or other features found within the tweak can be implemented by simply killing the stock Messages app and then restarting.

Messages Customiser contains three auxiliary features outside of the color section. You’ll find the ability to enable or disable the message tails—the little chat bubble tails that point to the side of the person making conversation—contact pictures, and wide message bubbles.

The contact pictures only appear within the list of message threads, and don’t actually show up within a single message. The wide message bubbles allow the text contained within a single bubble to span a wider length of the screen. Outside of the contact pictures, these are features that most probably wouldn’t notice, but it’s a nice touch.

Before any of you ask me, because I know it’s going to be a hot topic in the comment section, yes, Message Customiser plays nice with biteSMS. I’m running the 8.0.5 beta build of biteSMS, and it seems to work fine thus far. The message bubbles are still the color that I set them to within Message Customiser’s settings, and I can use all of the handy biteSMS features at the same time. Obviously, with biteSMS being in beta, and Message Customiser being a 1.0 release, problems can still happen, but I haven’t noticed any thus far.

If you’re looking for a tweak that will allow you to customize your message chat bubbles, and you don’t feel like fooling around with a theme framework like WinterBoard, then you should definitely give Messages Customiser a go. Not only is it completely free to download on Cydia’s ModMyi repo, but it’s a great tweak as well. Be sure to share your thoughts on Message Customiser down below.