Change color of badge icon in Big Sur?

[JenniferBeth]

I want to change the color of the badge icon from red to blue. I just upgraded to Big Sur. I used to be able to do this by booting into Recovery mode, running the command "csrutil disable" in Terminal, and rebooting. Then, go to System/Library/CoreServices/ right click on the Dock.app and hit show package contents /Contents/Resources/". Then I clicked Get Info, unlocked with my password, and added "backup" to the end of the filenames of statuslabel.png and statuslabel@2x.png files. Then I put my customized badge icon pngs with the original filenames in the folder. The reboot again in Recovery mode to enable csrutil, then reboot again. ---Now, when I get to the step of renaming the mac os filenames (statuslabel.png and statuslabel@2x.png) in Get Info, it won't let me, even though I unlocked the finder window and entered my password. This probably seems like a really minor thing, but I want notifications; I just don't want the color red in my face all day long. Thanks so much for any help you can give.

 

[usagora]

I have absolutely no idea, BUT if you're unable to find a solution, you can always disable the badge icons altogether on an app-by-app basis and just go to Notification Center to check for notifications. I mean, if you're seeing the badge icons "all day long", that means you're not checking them frequently anyway.

 

[JenniferBeth]

I have absolutely no idea, BUT if you're unable to find a solution, you can always disable the badge icons altogether on an app-by-app basis and just go to Notification Center to check for notifications. I mean, if you're seeing the badge icons "all day long", that means you're not checking them frequently anyway.

Yes, thank you! I just don't want to completely disable the mail notification. It's useful, just not a constant glaring red, especially since I receive 100-200 emails a day! I make it a nice shade of blue.

 

[Graham Caracas]

That's a lot of work for such a trivial goal. Just wear a pair of blue tinted glasses and you'll have a pleasant shade of the latest color crave, lavender.

 

[usagora]

Yes, thank you! I just don't want to completely disable the mail notification. It's useful, just not a constant glaring red, especially since I receive 100-200 emails a day! I make it a nice shade of blue.

100-200 meaningful emails? What are you, a CEO of a large corporation? LOL! I don't understand why you wouldn't want to disable the badge icon for Mail especially in that case. Even if it were blue, the ever-growing number on that badge would be stressing me out 😬 I'd just be opening Mail a few times a day and replying as able.

 

[JenniferBeth]

100-200 meaningful emails? What are you, a CEO of a large corporation? LOL! I don't understand why you wouldn't want to disable the badge icon for Mail especially in that case. Even if it were blue, the ever-growing number on that badge would be stressing me out 😬 I'd just be opening Mail a few times a day and replying as able.

I'm CEO of two corporations, though they aren't large. Most of the emails are meaningful. Opening email just a few times a day to reply isn't an option. Just trying to reduce my stress and control what I can.

 

[allan.nyholm]

This is probably a solution for your Dock badge colors? without the use of cDock. requires SIP to be off and the .car files can be edit using the ThemeEngine fork from here - if you want I can test out this theory in a minute

edit.. nah, I think the way is still editing the statuslabel files - Sorry about all this.. I am still convinced that by disabling authenticated-root you can copy in your replacements - there's a whole process to this, but you'll catch on. reach out if need help
ThemeEngine via GitHub

 

[JenniferBeth]

This is probably a solution for your Dock badge colors? without the use of cDock. requires SIP to be off and the .car files can be edit using the ThemeEngine fork from here - if you want I can test out this theory in a minute
ThemeEngine via GitHub

View attachment 1772650 View attachment 1772651

Thank you for the tip! I navigated to the file, SystemAppearance.car. I can try what you suggest, but in the past, this little red dot (badge icon) is pulled directly from the files statuslabel.png and statuslabel@2x.png. When I modified those files, the little dot changed immediately. Are you saying that the statuslabel.png and statuslabel@2x.png files would be modified or replaced by modifying the systemappearance.car file? That seems odd to me.

 

[allan.nyholm]

Thank you for the tip! I navigated to the file, SystemAppearance.car. I can try what you suggest, but in the past, this little red dot (badge icon) is pulled directly from the files statuslabel.png and statuslabel@2x.png. When I modified those files, the little dot changed immediately. Are you saying that the statuslabel.png and statuslabel@2x.png files would be modified or replaced by modifying the systemappearance.car file? That seems odd to me.

I edited my comment to reflect my failings - I think you are right on the money with regards to the statuslabel files. The SystemAppearance file doesn't make a difference.
I have just finished making a new set of Statuslabels PNGs that I will apply now,

 

[allan.nyholm]

Thank you for the tip! I navigated to the file, SystemAppearance.car. I can try what you suggest, but in the past, this little red dot (badge icon) is pulled directly from the files statuslabel.png and statuslabel@2x.png. When I modified those files, the little dot changed immediately. Are you saying that the statuslabel.png and statuslabel@2x.png files would be modified or replaced by modifying the systemappearance.car file? That seems odd to me.

Update:it's still possible ... you can change it with SIP off and authenticated-root off as described here:
csrutil disable

csrutil authenticated-root disable

All is explained here:
https://github.com/jslegendre/ThemeEngine in the readme towards the bottom of the page

I was really only thinking that since Apple is doing its best to move stuff into .car files for various items such as Finder window colors being .caar / CoreAnimationArchives now rather than just a mere PNG file.. that was my logic at first. Carry on At least you have your answer with the Dock badges

 

[JenniferBeth]

Update:it's still possible ... you can change it with SIP off and authenticated-root off as described here:
csrutil disable

csrutil authenticated-root disable

All is explained here:
https://github.com/jslegendre/ThemeEngine in the readme towards the bottom of the page

View attachment 1772726

I was really only thinking that since Apple is doing its best to move stuff into .car files for various items such as Finder window colors being .caar / CoreAnimationArchives now rather than just a mere PNG file.. that was my logic at first. Carry on At least you have your answer with the Dock badges

I really appreciate your help with this. Thank you! Unfortunately, I still wasn't able to change the name of the statuslabel.png and statuslabel@2x.png images, which is the first step of inserting my revised statuslabel.png and statuslabel@2x.png images. I logged out, booted in in Recovery mode, turned off SIP and authenticated-root, rebooted, and still wasn't able to do the work. Not a big deal. If anything else comes to mind, I'd love to hear it. I'll keep researching on my end. Best wishes.

 

[allan.nyholm]

I really appreciate your help with this. Thank you! Unfortunately, I still wasn't able to change the name of the statuslabel.png and statuslabel@2x.png images, which is the first step of inserting my revised statuslabel.png and statuslabel@2x.png images. I logged out, booted in in Recovery mode, turned off SIP and authenticated-root, rebooted, and still wasn't able to do the work. Not a big deal. If anything else comes to mind, I'd love to hear it. I'll keep researching on my end. Best wishes.

There's really only cDock left that can direct inject into the Dock process ; it's a few $$

cDock is IMO in a state of "expect a whole lot of small issues here and there" that eventually end up getting on your nerves.

That's just a comment on the software and not any author involved in the software, because Big Sur is not as accepting of these tweaks as older macOS' are.


If you followed all the instructions to mount your system disk as a folder and replace files in there - and it did not work then :inserts crying emoticon:



Perhaps use uBar and set that up as close in appearance as the Dock - uBar allows you to have a a different badge color and there's badge options for most if not all the applications I've tried.

There's ActiveDock too (that while I'm writing this is losing the ability to remember if the badge color can be changed)

uBar and ActiveDock are not replacing the Dock by any stretch of the imagination despite what the respective author's claim - replacing the Dock means actually replacing it and not being an extension of it. There's no actual replacing the Dock's features without having the Dock operating in the background.

The mentioned two applications; uBar and ActiveDock are also rather flimsy in their nature - uBar exists / quits by itself once in a while for no apparent reason and isn't updated much for full Big Sur compatibility. ActiveDock is 50 percent there in terms of being something. It lacks a better oversight of coding as it's finicky to say the least.

There aren't really many options left anymore for direct injecting anything into macOS. Big Sur is the end. IMHO; There's Mousecape and IconChamp left that can actually do something.

I've personally given up on any SIP disabling and direct injection theming on Big Sur after my recent comment where I uploaded a snippet of my Dock. I reinstalled my whole system and let that be it.

Not worth it anymore.

And I might be proven wrong by a whole bunch of people. I'm sure they'll let me know. I appreciate that.

 

[JenniferBeth]

There's really only cDock left that can direct inject into the Dock process ; it's a few $$

cDock is IMO in a state of "expect a whole lot of small issues here and there" that eventually end up getting on your nerves.

That's just a comment on the software and not any author involved in the software, because Big Sur is not as accepting of these tweaks as older macOS' are.


If you followed all the instructions to mount your system disk as a folder and replace files in there - and it did not work then :inserts crying emoticon:



Perhaps use uBar and set that up as close in appearance as the Dock - uBar allows you to have a a different badge color and there's badge options for most if not all the applications I've tried.

There's ActiveDock too (that while I'm writing this is losing the ability to remember if the badge color can be changed)

uBar and ActiveDock are not replacing the Dock by any stretch of the imagination despite what the respective author's claim - replacing the Dock means actually replacing it and not being an extension of it. There's no actual replacing the Dock's features without having the Dock operating in the background.

The mentioned two applications; uBar and ActiveDock are also rather flimsy in their nature - uBar exists / quits by itself once in a while for no apparent reason and isn't updated much for full Big Sur compatibility. ActiveDock is 50 percent there in terms of being something. It lacks a better oversight of coding as it's finicky to say the least.

There aren't really many options left anymore for direct injecting anything into macOS. Big Sur is the end. IMHO; There's Mousecape and IconChamp left that can actually do something.

I've personally given up on any SIP disabling and direct injection theming on Big Sur after my recent comment where I uploaded a snippet of my Dock. I reinstalled my whole system and let that be it.

Not worth it anymore.

And I might be proven wrong by a whole bunch of people. I'm sure they'll let me know. I appreciate that.

Thank you very much. I really appreciate your help. I went onto an Apple developers website where these questions were brought up. They were using the commands csrutil disable and csrutil authenticated-root disable, and then after they made their changes it messed up their systems in a way that they couldn't repair or get them back to normal. That's when I said I'm stopping. I will try your suggestions of uBar, ActiveDock, Mousecape, and IconChamp. Thank you! Best wishes to you....