[Nexus 6 Themes and Apps] micmars:
I am certain many of you have taken the plunge into Android M, and I think the latest revision is worthy of daily driver status...

I for one was reticent to stay on it for extended periods, mostly because of the trade-offs involved with the scores of feature rich, mature 5.1.1 roms on the one hand, and the comparatively stock experience inherent with a new operating system...

Then there is the ever-present desire on my part to run themed apps, be they hard coded, or stock variants that can be fully themed with either a theme engine overlay or layer...to me, white UIs should simply be illegal.

But as I have come to use the latest M, I have found it to be a joy to use. This was made certain thanks to the hard work of Team BlackOut (Bryan, Andrew, Patrick, Kevin) and [MENTION=4603975]daveyannihilation[/MENTION], whom have brought us themable versions of apps I regularly use.

So, with Android M having what seems to be system wide Runtime Resources Overlays (Sony's contribution to Android, RRO), we have a superb slate with which to work.

So with that out of the way, here is my current approach to getting Android M running the way I like...

Hard Coded Themed and Themable Apps

These are always perfect...either perfectly coded or ready for a good theme.

Team BlackOut and Davey Wilson have given us with their latest themable Gapps versions of...

Gmail

Google Plus

Hangouts

YouTube

https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=24052804347798131

Thyrus has provided his flashable add-on for his themes, and these include:

Clock

Calendar

Google Messenger

Hangouts

Play Store

Google App/Google Now

https://www.androidfilehost.com/?w=profile&uid=95784891001616222

And Team BlackOut has given us hard coded versions of a plethora of other apps, including Play Music, Play Store, Google App...the list is endless (check the TBO updater app for details).

To get any of these onto your device and running properly, they must remain in the system partition...

So, to attain that, here is what I suggest you do...keeping in mind that this assumes you're running one of the latest preview M builds...

1. Download one or more of the above referenced zips

2. Unzip the file and its contents

3. Now, we're going to be pushing these apps to the existing location on M, and leaving what remains intact...here's where this gets a little less intuitive...

3.1. Straight Apk Swaps...

In this first example, I'm replacing the stock clock with the one from Thyrus...

Using Root Explorer, go to system, app on the left pane, and the location where you unzipped the package from Thyrus on the right...

As you can see, the file names are different, but the packages are interchangeable...so, I moved the stock M version in system to a safe location on my internal memory, renamed the one from Thyrus, pushed it to system, app, set permissions to 0644, and left the Odex subfolder and its contents intact...

And the final outcome...

3.2. Movement of Files with Library Files

In the M version of Google Plus, Hangouts, Google App/Now, YouTube, and a few others have only the apk, whereas the themable version has both...so, to get these to work without crashing on you, you'll need to push both the library files and the apk from the zip (either the themable version or the hard coded one)...

Using Root Explorer, go to system, app in the left pane, and the source zip in the right...

You'll note that the stock Google Plus included in the M Preview has no library files...you'll need to push those to system in order to get the themable version working...again, leaving the oates subdirectory and Odex file alone...

Copy the entire folder labeled "lib" from the themable zip to system, app, PlusOne, then set permissions for the new folders to 0755, and for the library files to 0644...

First, copy the folder, then set folder permissions...hard press on the folder name, and choose "permissions" from the popup list...

Then change folder permissions for both the "lib" and "arm" folders, as below...

That should do it.

Now, Google Plus will look amazing...i personally love the Material Glass theme for this app

As will Hangouts, and so many others...

4. Odds and Ends...

4.1. Tethering, seems to be a hit or miss proposition...no worries, using SQLite, make sure tether provisioning is set to zero...in the latest JDX rom (3.01), it was not...

Open the app, then go to settings storage, settings.db, global, then look for the line that reads "tether_dun_required." It wasn't there for me...so I added it...by hitting the plus sign in the top right...

4.2. 4x1 Reboot Menu, a few quick replacement apps, such as Quick Boot, Power Toggles, Material Power Menu (for light ui material design enthusiasts...thanks to [MENTION=5420128]Kris Nelson[/MENTION] for the tip), and you'll have this immediately...

Link to Quick Boot...

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.siriusapplications.quickboot

And Power Toggles...

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.painless.pc

Link to Material Power Menu...

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.naman14.powermenu

4.3. Apps That Oddly Work...

4.3.1. Clear Calculator, hard coded...this one's crazy...

[MENTION=5476501]Train88[/MENTION] made this 6 months ago, for Android 5.01, and it still works on M...even with the intact Odex file....just rename to CalculatorGoogle.apk, push to system, app, set permissions and reboot...

Train's Clear Calculator

4.3.2. AOSP Themable Mms, from [MENTION=4603975]daveyannihilation[/MENTION]...

This one is so simple and yet surprises.

xda Recognized Themer and Forum Specific Moderator [MENTION=4603975]daveyannihilation[/MENTION] made a themable Mms for Android 5.1...and it works on M...for this to fully function, do the following...

Flash the zip,

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6fu7swsbgo1lyma/ThemeableMms.zip?dl=0

Now grab Davey's TRDS Layer from the play store...

Free version: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=bitsykolayers.trds

Donation Version: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=bitsykolayers.trdsdonate

(hint, the donate version is 4.35x more cool.)

This is by many measures superior to Google Messenger...it's 1/5 the size with 5x the features, including the ability to add a signature, attachments from multiple sources at the touch of the attachment button, full timestamps, and many other options.

Thanks to xda Recognized Contributor [MENTION=4345388]jrbxx7[/MENTION] for the tip.

4.3.3. AOSP Keyboard

Notice that the Google keyboard lacks symbols when hard pressing on the regular letters, and miss the AOSP variant?

No problem. Xda Recognized Contributor [MENTION=5420128]Kris Nelson[/MENTION] pointed out that you can easily gain it back...

Hie yourself to this link, and download the file from [MENTION=4939520]Shaftamle[/MENTION]...

https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=96042739161892653

Navigate to where you downloaded the file, add the letters "apk" and a period to the filename, and tap to install, like a regular apk.

4.3.4. Some have found that the navbar remains unthemed, though a few do work, including this one...

https://www.dropbox.com/s/69tg5xgal9bhfpm/vmaterial-nexus-navbar.apk?dl=0

And this one,

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4pv3v31g8r3yusf/Nexus-softkeyz.apk?dl=0

I hope to grow this list, especially as mods get on the grid...I would love to have a volume wake mod, and some others.

One final note...Please BUY premium apps, etc...like Root Explorer, SQLite, and of course, your favorite themes...it is a terrific way to show support to the dev, and it's usually less than you'll spend at Starbucks.

I hope this helps.

Happy flashing!