With Ice Cream Sandwich Android 4.0, Google chose to remove all hardware buttons and go with virtual on-screen buttons, with the 3 default buttons being the Back, Home and Recent Apps (aka multitasking) buttons. The Menu button that is used in apps to bring up options in apps was removed and now instead appears whenever it is needed in an app, taking up unnecessary screen space away from apps and is quite irritating in some cases.

But fret not, as this 3-dot menu button can be removed on your HTC One X, thanks to a hack developed by XDA Forum Member blubbers for custom ROMs which, along with removing the menu button, maps it to the multitasking/window switcher button on the right; the multitasking menu can then be accessed by long-pressing the home button.

Also, XDA Forum Member endursa has released a version of the hack for stock ROMs as well. So, depending on whether you have a stock ROM installed on your phone or a custom ROM, follow the appropriate procedure below to remove the menu button from your HTC One X.

Compatibility

This guide is applicable only for HTC One X. DO NOT try this on any other device.

Warning!

The methods and procedures discussed here are considered risky and you should not attempt anything if you don’t know completely what it is. If any damage occurs to your device, we won’t be held liable.

[Important!] Pre-installation Requirements

  • Make sure you have ClockworkMod recovery installed on the phone. You can install ClockworkMod recovery by following the guide → here.

How to Remove 3-Dot Menu Bar on HTC One X

For Custom ROMs:

This will map the Menu button to the multitasking button on the right. The recent apps/multitasking menu can then be bought by long pressing the Home button.

  1. [Important] Make sure your firmware/build number is 1.26.x/1.28.x/1.29.x only. Check it on the phone under Settings » About phone » Build number.
  2. Download the remover package from the official development page.
  3. Copy the downloaded .zip file to the SD card on your phone.
  4. Turn off the phone and boot into ClockworkMod recovery. For that, boot into the bootloader mode first by holding the Volume Down button and then pressing power key. Then, select Recovery from there using the volume buttons to navigate and power button to select.
  5. Select install zip from sdcard, then select choose zip from sdcard. Scroll to the remover’s .zip file on the SD card and select it. Confirm installation by selecting Yes – Install _____.zip on the next screen.
  6. After a few seconds, the installer will show up. Follow onscreen instructions to install the hack, then after installation finishes, go back to main recovery menu and select reboot system now to reboot the phone.

For Stock ROMs:

  1. [Important] Make sure your firmware/build number is 1.29.401.11. Check it on the phone under Settings » About phone » Build number.
  2. Now, there are two types of remover packages available. One will let you long-press the Home button to use it as the Menu button. The other will let you use the Recent Apps button as the menu button and long-pressing the home button will act as the Recent Apps version. So, download the version you want, from the official development page.
  3. Now, perform steps 3 to 5 as given in the procedure for custom ROMs above.
  4. After installation of the .zip is complete, go back to the main recovery menu and select reboot system now to reboot the phone.

That’s it folks. That 3-dot menu button will not trouble you anymore on your HTC One X, letting you use the full screen for apps. Let us know how the hack works for you, in the comments below.