One of the benefits of using a custom ROM is that they come with a built-in Theme engine, which allows users to customize the look of the OS with different themes. Earlier this year, the CyanogenMod team gave the Theme Engine in their ROM a major overhaul making it more customizable and powerful in the process.
The new Theme Engine allows theme packs to customize every nook and cranny of the OS and is not limited to just some cosmetic changes only. So, if you are running CyanogenMod 11 or any other custom ROM or own a OnePlus One and are looking for some quality new themes to customize the OS, just scroll below.
L
This theme from developer tung91 brings the look and feel of Android L to your device. The theme replaces the system wide icons with the ones used by Google in Android L and even replaces the navigation bar icons for that perfect Android L look. It also themes some of the system apps including the Dialer, the System UI, Radio, Checkboxes and more.
The developer also offers a dark version of the theme, in case you are not particularly fond of the white background.
Fi
Fi or Facade Interface follows the Flat UI design language and has a very elegant feel to it. The highlight of the theme, however, is its inbuilt color chooser that allows users to select either red, blue or green as the system color, which match perfectly with the dominantly black background used by the theme everywhere.
Fi is a complete package and also includes wallpapers, boot animation and fonts that match perfectly with its elegant look and feel.
Download: Fi
Herathon
Herathon is another Material Design inspired theme for the CM11 theme engine. Keeping in mind the Material Design guidelines, the developer of the theme has used strong and bold colors on the action bar, which will give your phone a very refreshing and colorful look.
Herathon is a complete package and themes the system framework, SystemUI, app icons, animations and more to give you the full feel of Material Design. Best of all, the theme is completely free to download and use, which makes it a must-have theme.
Download: Herathon
Paper Ui
Paper Ui uses the combination of a black background with some bold action bar colors to create a very catchy effect. Unlike other themes, the developer of Paper Ui has blacked out all the system apps as well in his theme. A positive effect of the all black background will be a slightly reduced battery consumption on Android devices with an AMOLED screen.
The developer has also themed some of the most popular apps including Whatsapp, Tapatalk, Play Store, Gmail, Hangouts, Dialer, Calendar and more.
Download: Paper Ui
Gem Flat
Unlike all the other themes in this list, Gem Flat does not have any kind of Material Design inspiration to it. Instead, the developer of the theme has further enhanced and complemented Android’s current Holo design rather than completely replace it.
Gem Flat also contains high resolution icons, boot animation and even a sound pack for a complete UI makeover of your device rather than just changing a few system colors.
Download: Gem Flat
Honorable mentions
There are a lot of other quality themes, which I have not mentioned in the list above. You can check them out below:
Which is your favorite CM11 theme from the list above? Or did I miss your favorite theme? Drop in a comment and let us know.
Update: You can find a list of the top 5 themes for CyanogenMod 12 here.