Despite supporting dark mode on Android since the Android 9 beta, there’s always been a nagging problem with the theme — not all apps or icons follow it. To use dark mode previously, app developers had to actually bake dark mode into their apps themselves, and not all developers have bought into the trend. With the new Android 16 design, though, Google will force apps to use an inverted color theme by introducing expanding options for dark mode when using a new mode that ties into the theme.
According to a developer blog post that Google shared yesterday following the official unveiling of its Pixel 10 lineup, the new expanded option is already available to test in Android 16 QPR2 Beta 1. While it’s still likely a few months away from hitting the stable release of Android 16 — and even further depending on which smartphone brand you sport — knowing that Google is addressing this annoyance is definitely movement in the right direction.
One of the biggest reasons for this change, Google writes, is to provide “a more consistent user experience for users who have low vision, photosensitivity, or simply those who prefer a dark system-wide appearance.” With the expanded option on, the system will automatically take apps that run in light mode and invert them to appear darkened.
Despite supporting dark mode on Android since the Android 9 beta, there’s always been a nagging problem with the theme — not all apps or icons follow it.
To use dark mode previously, app developers had to actually bake dark mode into their apps themselves, and not all developers have bought into the trend.
With the new Android 16 design, though, Google will force apps to use an inverted color theme by introducing expanding options for dark mode when using a new mode that ties into the theme.
According to a developer blog post that Google shared yesterday following the official unveiling of its Pixel 10 lineup, the new expanded option is already available to test in Android 16 QPR2 Beta 1.
With the expanded option on, the system will automatically take apps that run in light mode and invert them to appear darkened.
Despite supporting dark mode on Android since the Android 9 beta, there’s always been a nagging problem with the theme — not all apps or icons follow it. To use dark mode previously, app developers had to actually bake dark mode into their apps themselves, and not all developers have bought into the trend. With the new Android 16 design, though, Google will force apps to use an inverted color theme by introducing expanding options for dark mode when using a new mode that ties into the theme.
According to a developer blog post that Google shared yesterday following the official unveiling of its Pixel 10 lineup, the new expanded option is already available to test in Android 16 QPR2 Beta 1. While it’s still likely a few months away from hitting the stable release of Android 16 — and even further depending on which smartphone brand you sport — knowing that Google is addressing this annoyance is definitely movement in the right direction.
One of the biggest reasons for this change, Google writes, is to provide “a more consistent user experience for users who have low vision, photosensitivity, or simply those who prefer a dark system-wide appearance.” With the expanded option on, the system will automatically take apps that run in light mode and invert them to appear darkened.
