The Facebook-owned messaging service, WhatsApp, is rolling out a new version of its app that finally makes dark mode available to users. The messaging client has been beta testing the feature for a long time on both iOS and Android, and it’s one a lot of users have been asking for. Dark mode can help reduce eye-fatigue when using the app at night or in low-light, without affecting the user experience.
There are several benefits of using dark mode on the smartphone. Other than reducing eye-fatigue, dark mode can stop the bright light of the screen from illuminating the entire room in the dark. Apple implemented a system-wide dark mode in iOS 13, whereas Google added the feature in Android 10. Other phone manufacturers have also included versions of dark mode on their devices, but a true system-wide mode is still not possible as several apps haven’t been updated to support the feature. Dark mode can also help to reduce battery usage on smartphones with AMOLED displays.
On the official WhatsApp Blog, the company wrote that it focused its implementation mostly on readability and information When developing the dark mode feature, the company made sure that the colors chosen for the UI elements would help in reducing eye fatigue. Hence, the colors are similar to the default system elements on both iOS and Android. For example, the dark mode on WhatsApp for Android has text that’s off-white in color with a dark grey background. WhatsApp found that pure black and white causes high contrast, which isn’t good - although dark mode on iOS does consist of pure black. The new colors can also help to make important information more visible to users.
How To Enable WhatsApp Dark Mode
The latest version of WhatsApp with Dark Mode will be rolling to all users in the next few weeks. To get started, make sure the latest version of the app is installed on your iPhone or Android smartphone. Those with a smartphone running either Android 10 or iOS 13 can simply enable dark mode through the device’s system-wide option in the device’s settings. Once applied, the app should automatically adjust according to the phone’s light or dark command.
Android device owners running Android 9 Pie (or earlier) will need to manually activate the feature. To do this, simply launch the WhatsApp app and then then head to the settings. From here, navigate through Chats, Theme, and then the option to select “Dark” will be there. Once selected, the user might need to restart the phone (or the app) to see the new dark mode in action.
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Source: WhatsApp
