How to Rename an android app without changing the identifier

How to rename an android app without changing the identifier

Blog Post 1 I'll start by  explaining the blog  posts I will do. I  almost never will  have posts about my  life, they will  instead focus  around tech and  programming.  Programming in  particular, is what I  will write about  here. Let's get  started. How to rename an android app without changing the identifier OR using an IDE. This was a question I had myself. I downloaded the source code to K-9 Mail, to work on my Epistol  application, when I realized I really needed to change the name... But how? That was the question. It took  me quite some time to figure it out, but I eventually discovered how to do it while on Stackoverflow.com.  Great site by the way.   Now, I wanted to do this without an IDE, as Eclipse is really annoying when you try to import projects. I  looked around the source, but I couldn't find it. But while on Stackoverflow I discovered the answer. It is  AndroidManifest.xml file. The file should look something like this, <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <manifest     xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"     android:versionCode="17012"     android:versionName="0.1" package="com.fsck.k9"     >     <uses-sdk        android:minSdkVersion="7"        android:targetSdkVersion="15"        />     <supports-screens         android:largeScreens="true"         android:normalScreens="true"         android:smallScreens="true"         android:anyDensity="true"     />     <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED"/>     <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_CONTACTS"/>     <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_SYNC_SETTINGS"/>     <!-- Needed to mark a contact as contacted -->     <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_CONTACTS"/> .... It goes on... Now at first, I thought it was the package that I wanted to change, but no. That just causes errors, instead  you need to locate this key. <application         android:icon="@drawable/icon"         android:label="@string/app_name"   <---Right there! That's what you want!         android:name="K9"         android:allowTaskReparenting="false"         android:theme="@style/Theme.Sherlock.Light.DarkActionBar"         > android:label= is what you want. Now, you can just change it to something like  <application         android:icon="@drawable/icon"         android:label="New Name"          android:name="K9"         android:allowTaskReparenting="false"         android:theme="@style/Theme.Sherlock.Light.DarkActionBar"         > That should work. But, instead, I used a xml file to store all my strings. That is the best way to do things,  so I would suggest you do the same. Here's how.  You will need to keep using the "@string/app_name" and then navigate to your string file. Usually, it is  located somewhere around /res/values/strings.xml So, that file should look something like: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <resources xmlns:xliff="urn:oasis:names:tc:xliff:document:1.2">     <!-- === App-specific strings ============================================================= -->     <!-- This should make it easier for forks to change the branding -->     <!-- Used in AndroidManifest.xml -->     <string name="app_name">Epistol Mail</string>     <string name="beta_app_name">Epistol Mail BETA</string>     <string name="shortcuts_title">Epistol Accounts</string>     <string name="unread_widget_label">Epistol Unread</string>     <string name="remote_control_label">Epistol Mail remote control</string>     <string name="remote_control_desc">Allows this application to control Epistol Mail activities and settings.</string> Again, the is only part of it. But as you can see. The is a key labeled, <string name="app_name"> That is what you want to change, I changed mine to Epistol Mail, but the idea is the same. Now, some  apps will use the string file for everything, like K-9 Mail, which was very nice. All I had to do was  Find&Replace everything that says K-9 with Epistol. You could do something similar.  That's pretty much it, happy coding!