Dark mode on different applications has become very popular in recent years, thanks to its ability to blacken interfaces, thus reducing the strain on your eyes and simultaneously saving your device’s battery life. Because of this, companies like Google and Apple began to release system-wide dark modes across their operating systems, whereby even app developers are updating their apps with their own dark mode takes.
Google announced that a new dark mode was coming to Gmail late last month, at the moment, the search engine giant is finally rolling out dark mode for its Gmail app on Android and iOS devices.
Here’s how to get Gmail’s new dark mode, also known as “dark theme”
For those who are already using Android 10 or iOS 13 and have dark mode turned on at the system level, the Gmail app will auto-adjust to dark mode. However, you can also turn it on separately in the Gmail mobile app. Here’s how.
Android users
- Go to the Gmail app on your phone and tap on the hamburger menu in the top corner.
- Scroll to the bottom and tap Settings.
- Tap General settings.
- At the top, tap Theme.
- Tap Dark (or, if you’ve already set the dark theme as your system default, tap System default).
iPhone users
- Go to the Gmail app, tap the hamburger menu in the top corner.
- Scroll to the bottom and tap Settings.
- Tap Theme.
- Tap Dark.
When will Gmail’s dark mode be available?
Google dark mode is releasing over an “extended rollout” period:
- Android: The rollout started on 24 September and should be available for everyone to try by end of October 2019.
- iOS: The rollout started on 24 September and should be available for everyone to try by end of October 2019.
Usually, when Google introduces a new feature, it takes a few weeks for it to reach the masses. While both Android 10 and iOS 13 introduced system-wide dark mode, developers still have to update apps to be compatible. That was the case with Gmail, which wasn’t dark mode compatible when Android 10 first launched.
Dark mode or theme, as Google wants to call it, is everywhere these days. Aside from Gmail, you can also find it on YouTube, Facebook Messenger and Instagram. Apparently, it helps extend battery life on phones with OLED screens and anecdotally, people also say that it helps reduce eye strain and migraines. Whether that’s actually true is up for debate.
