The last couple of years have seen the arrival of dark modes on PCs, tablet and smartphones. Aside from the advantage of saving your eyes from staring at bright, glaring displays in dim light, there’s also the bonus that the darker themes can also save battery life as they don’t need to light up your phone’s screen in the same way.
Since Android 10, the feature is now a built-in part of the operating system, and here we’ll show you how to enable dark mode on your phone.
How to enable Dark Mode on Android 10
First of all, ensure that your device is running Android 10. To do this, take a look at how to update Android, as this will show you the process for getting your device up to speed.
With the requisite updates in place, go to Settings > Display > Advanced then toggle on the Dark theme option. (If you don’t see this option, it’s likely because Android phone makers often move settings around: scroll down to see specific instructions for Samsung and OnePlus devices.)
You should now see that white backgrounds in the interface switch to black. You may find that some apps take note of this change while others keep their bright settings, so you’ll have to look for a dark mode within the apps themselves.
We explain where the dark mode settings are in a few popular apps:
How to enable Dark Mode on Samsung devices
Samsung makes it very easy to find Dark Mode. Go to Settings > Display and you’ll see a graphic at the top of the screen illustrating the two different modes. Simply tap the Dark option and you’ll see the background change immediately.
If you want to quickly swap between the Light and Dark modes, you can also use the Quick Setting that appears on the pull-down menu where you’d usually look for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and other useful options.
How to enable Dark Mode on OnePlus devices
OnePlus is a hugely popular Android brand, due in no short measure to devices like the OnePlus Nord, OnePlus 8 Pro and the upcoming OnePlus 9.
To find the dark mode on a OnePlus phone running the latest version of OxygenOS, go to Settings > Display > Dark Mode and select which type of setting you prefer. You can either have the settings enabled constantly, just tap the Manual option, or you can have the phone automatically enable it each evening instead. If you want to fine tune when Dark Mode is on, tap the Custom time range option and enter the on and off times.
Another setting available is Manage apps in Dark Mode. Tap this and you’ll see a list of all the installed app compatible with the feature. Tap the toggle switches to enable the mode in any of the apps.
Just like Samsung, OnePlus has also added a Quick Setting option so you can turn Dark Mode on and off from the Quick Settings pane by tapping the icon.
If you want to bring Dark Mode to your other devices, read how to use Dark Mode in Windows 10 and how to use Dark Mode on iPhone.
Author: Martyn Casserly, Contributor, Tech Advisor
Martyn has been involved with tech ever since the arrival of his ZX Spectrum back in the early 80s. He covers iOS, Android, Windows and macOS, writing tutorials, buying guides and reviews.