Megan Ellis / Android Authority
TL;DR For accessibility, Android will soon let you enable a dark theme in apps that don’t have one.
A new “Expanded” dark mode option forces apps to go dark, but it may cause visual issues.
This feature is live in the second Android Canary build, but its stable release date is unknown.
If you tell people that you use light mode on your phone, some people will look at you like you’re crazy. That’s because many people prefer dark mode UIs because they’re generally seen as easier on the eyes. Most apps have a built-in dark theme by this point, but there are still plenty that don’t. For accessibility reasons, Android will soon let you enable dark mode in apps that don’t natively support it.
Earlier today, Google released the second Android Canary build, and while exploring it, we discovered a new option under Settings > Display & touch > Dark theme. Previously, this page only had options to schedule the dark theme, but it now offers two different dark theme “modes.” There’s the “Standard” mode, which applies the dark theme across your device and supported apps, and a new “Expanded” mode which automatically applies dark theme to more apps.
Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority
Android’s new “Expanded” dark mode is different from the existing color inversion option as it doesn’t invert all colors on screen, which can mess with images. It’s more like the “override force-dark” toggle in Developer Options, but it seems to work in more apps.
BLE Scanner app in light mode BLE Scanner app in expanded dark mode
Google says the “Expanded” dark mode is intended to improve accessibility, but you may experience appearance issues when using it as some apps won’t play nicely with it. If that happens, then it’s recommended you enable the “Standard” dark mode instead, as it won’t force a dark theme on apps that don’t support it.
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