Android users have long been asking Google for a native dark theme for the OS. There were reports that the company may introduce this with Android Q, the next major update for its mobile OS. Google confirmed today at its I/O 2019 developers conference that there will indeed be an Android Q dark theme.
It acknowledged that users have long been asking for this and that it has listened to them and developed a dark theme for Android Q. It works as you’d expect a feature like this to work. There will be a toggle in the Quick Settings menu. The system UI will switch from white to black when you tap on that toggle.
Google pointed out that this mode should help with battery life as well. That’s because OLED phones in particular will reap the benefits as there will be fewer pixels to be lit up in the dark theme and that should, at least in theory, bring about an improvement in battery life. The dark theme in Android Q will also be enabled automatically when the handset is put into a battery saving mode.
The company also confirmed that all of its first-party Android apps will work with the dark theme. So while it may take a while for Google to update them all with support for the dark theme, users can rest assured that they will receive a consistent experience throughout the OS.
Hello Dark Theme, our new friend. Launching in #AndroidQ, lighting up less pixels means saving more battery life. #io19 pic.twitter.com/2hPQEz5twG
— Google (@Google) May 7, 2019