Mobile Phones > Android What Is Android Dark Mode? And How to Enable It This mode replaces dark themes for Android By Jonathan Terrasi Jonathan Terrasi Twitter Writer Northwestern University Jonathan Terrasi is a former Lifewire writer who specializes in security and digital privacy, Linux, and consumer technologies. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on April 26, 2021 Reviewed by Jessica Kormos Reviewed by Jessica Kormos Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College Jessica Kormos is a writer and editor with 15 years' experience writing articles, copy, and UX content for Tecca.com, Rosenfeld Media, and many others. lifewire's editorial guidelines Tweet Share Email Tweet Share Email Android Switching from iOS What to Know Android 10: Enable Dark Mode by going to Settings > Display and tapping the Dark Mode toggle switch.Android 9: Go to Settings > Display > Advanced > Device Theme and tap Dark.YouTube: Enable Dark Mode on YouTube by going to Profile > Settings > General and tapping the Dark Mode toggle. This article explains how to enable Dark Mode on devices with Android 9 and up. The feature isn't available in older versions of the operating system. How to Enable Android Dark Mode on Android 10 By default, the theming tint is set to the same wallpaper detection-based automatic mode as older versions of Android, but there are now dedicated options for a permanent color theme. To enable the dark theme on Android 10 devices: Open the Settings app. Tap Display. Tap the toggle switch beside Dark Theme to enable it. From there, swipe down from the top of your screen to get to your quick settings. You'll see the new and dark gray background with white text. Some apps, such as Google Chrome, Google Pay, and YouTube, will also automatically adapt to the dark theme. Android developers now have the option to add dark mode support to Android apps. How to Enable Android Dark Mode on Android 9.0 Pie Android 9.0 (Pie) added an option to toggle between dark and light themes, but the process is a little different than Android 10. To enable dark mode on Android 9: Launch the Settings app and tap Display. Tap Advanced to expand the list of options. Scroll down and tap Device theme, then tap Dark in the pop-up dialog box. Android 9 Dark Mode Limitations On Android 9, the settings menu and other interface elements, like the notifications that pop up below the quick settings, remain tinted to a light theme consisting of a white background and black text. However, if you know how to change your Android wallpaper, you can pair dark mode with a lighter wallpaper for a more consistent experience. Users can also supplement the dark interface by configuring individual apps to their respective dark modes. A few Google apps provide options for a dark theme that is fairly consistent with the quick settings dark UI. How to Enable Dark Mode for Google Messages The Google Messages app automatically uses whichever theme the Android system uses by default, but you can manually choose a theme as well. Here's how: Launch the Google Messages app. Tap the three-dot icon in the upper-right area of the app. Tap Choose theme. Tap on the theme you want to use (Light, Dark, or System default) and tap OK. How to Enable Dark Mode for YouTube YouTube has a corresponding dark look as well. To enable it: Tap your profile icon in the top-right corner of the app. Tap Settings. Tap General. Tap the toggle switch beside Dark theme. You should now see video thumbnails, comments, and other text areas on a dark gray background. How to Turn on Google Maps Dark Mode on Android Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit