Last year, we heard that Microsoft could be working on a dark mode for its Outlook app. Just last month, renders of the upcoming dark mode were leaked, and now for those who are fan of dark mode, you’ll be pleased to learn that Microsoft has confirmed that dark mode will be coming to its Office and Outlook apps on both iOS and Android.
According to a post on Medium, Microsoft Office’s head of design, Jon Friedman, wrote, “A cross-company design collaboration propels us to seamlessly bring Dark Mode to the broader M365 product suite, and today marks the initial rollout of Dark Mode on Outlook for iOS and Android, as well as Office.com! The upcoming launch of iOS 13 will then extend this rollout to Word, Excel, OneNote, PowerPoint, SharePoint, OneDrive, Planner, and To-Do on mobile.”
However, it won’t be just about switching between a light and dark theme. According to Friedman, he touts the potential to save battery life as one of the features of dark mode. This is true especially when used with AMOLED screens (Google has also confirmed as much). He adds that in future updates, users can set preferences so that the app can automatically switch between modes.
Note that dark mode isn’t available to all apps just yet. As Friedman states, the majority of the Office apps will only get dark mode with the rollout of iOS 13, which is expected in the coming month or so, so we probably won’t have to wait too long for it.