Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET
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A new Android feature can force dark mode on more apps.
The feature also applies to app icons.
The beta is open only to Pixel owners for now.
If you're a dark mode user, you know how frustrating it can be when an app blinds you with brightness despite having dark mode on (I'm looking at you, Amazon).
That frustration might soon be over, as the latest beta version of Android 16 is bringing expanded support for dark mode -- including apps that don't have it built in.
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In a recent developer blog post, Google announced that Android 16 QPR2 Beta 1 can "intelligently invert the UI of apps that appear light despite users having selected the dark theme."
Google explains that this feature works by analyzing an app's "Light Theme" attribute to determine whether to apply inversion. If an app has standard Day Night themes, this happens automatically. If not, "Standard Android Views, Composables, and WebViews will be inverted, while custom rendering engines like Flutter will not."
In short, if an app doesn't have dark mode, Android will flip colors to create one.
Also: Two critical Android 16 security features you're not using (but absolutely should)
The feature also applies to icons, as Android 16 QPR2 can generate a themed icon for an app if the developer doesn't provide a dedicated one. Android applies a color filtering algorithm to the existing launcher icon to render it in a monochrome style, letting it match the user's chosen theme.
One Android 15 beta had a similar feature, but it never saw the light of day. Given that Google is discussing this one, it seems like the feature is much further along this time.
Google acknowledges that this is "largely intended" as an accessibility feature for people with low vision and photosensitivity and recommends that developers implement a native dark theme when possible. However, it adds that people who simply prefer a darker system experience will also benefit.
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You can enroll any supported Pixel device here to get this feature over the air. Non-Pixel owners will have to wait for the public release later this year.