How to master Dark Mode in iOS 13 & iPadOS

AppleInsider · June 4, 2019 8:40PM

Apple put a significant amount of effort into developing Dark Mode on iPhone and iPad. Here is everything you need to know to master the new inky appearance when iOS 13 is available for all, later in 2019.

iPhone & iPad with Dark Mode enabled

For years developers took Dark Mode into their own hands by implementing it on an app-by-app basis. Twitter, HomePass, and countless others had developed their own ways of swapping the appearance and making it happen automatically based on the time of day.

Apple heard those pleas and built it all together into the Dark Mode that is debuting with iOS 13 and iPadOS.

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Understanding Dark Mode

To start, Dark Mode can be enabled by going to Settings then tapping Display & Brightness. Here you can toggle between Light or Dark modes.

Appearance settings on iPhone

It can also be set to automatically change based on the time of day. There is a built-in option for sunrise and sunset to be the trigger or you can create your own schedule simply based on an explicit time of day.

Having it automatically switch is useful, but there are times you may want to toggle it outside that schedule such as heading into a dark room or a movie theater. You don't have to have to delve into settings each time for that which is why Apple added a toggle to Control Center.

Dark Mode toggle in Control Center

Swipe down from the top right to access Control Center and 3D Touch (or long hold) on the brightness slider. Now you should see three icons along the bottom with the one to the left being the new appearance toggle. Tapping this will animate the button and change the appearance from light to dark and back again.

Dark Mode appearance wallpapers

To partner with Dark Mode, Apple also included a set of wallpapers designed to take advantage of the new persona. There are four color schemes including red/orange, blue, green, and gray. Each of these has several shapes over a white background which all turns dark or straight black when in Dark Mode. They are signified by a small appearance icon in the lower corner of each wallpaper.

This all doesn't work just on iPhone, it works on iPad as well. Apple has skinned all their native apps to take advantage of the new appearance and the deep blacks of the OLED panels on the new iPhones.

Apple will ship iOS 13 and iPadOS later this fall alongside macOS 10.15 Catalina, watchOS 6, and tvOS 13.

apple ][ · June 4, 2019 8:57PM

I'm 100% dark mode on Mojave now, and I will do the same on iOS and iPad OS as soon as it comes out.

tnet-primary · June 4, 2019 9:07PM

One article strongly discouraging consumers from installing and using the 24 hour old developer beta of iOS 13, and another article with instructions on how to use one of the main features on the software.

You are a temptress siren, AppleInsider.

gbdoc · June 4, 2019 10:08PM

Sure, if everything else has been attended to, Dark Mode seems like a nice thing to play with. But IMO Apple should first have given their "significant amount of effort" into making killer computers, the way they used to. Just saying. (No, the Mac Pro isn't for most of us. And no, the MBPro isn't enough. And the MB and MBAir are ho-hum. They sell computers which could and should have been much better by now. And no, the iPad isn't a computer.)

fastasleep · June 4, 2019 10:24PM

gbdoc said:

Sure, if everything else has been attended to, Dark Mode seems like a nice thing to play with. But IMO Apple should first have given their "significant amount of effort" into making killer computers, the way they used to. Just saying. (No, the Mac Pro isn't for most of us. And no, the MBPro isn't enough. And the MB and MBAir are ho-hum. They sell computers which could and should have been much better by now. And no, the iPad isn't a computer.)

Software engineers don’t build computers.

tyler82 · June 4, 2019 10:28PM

gbdoc said:

Sure, if everything else has been attended to, Dark Mode seems like a nice thing to play with. But IMO Apple should first have given their "significant amount of effort" into making killer computers, the way they used to. Just saying. (No, the Mac Pro isn't for most of us. And no, the MBPro isn't enough. And the MB and MBAir are ho-hum. They sell computers which could and should have been much better by now. And no, the iPad isn't a computer.)

imac
imac pro

apple ][ · June 4, 2019 10:30PM

gbdoc said:

Sure, if everything else has been attended to, Dark Mode seems like a nice thing to play with. But IMO Apple should first have given their "significant amount of effort" into making killer computers, the way they used to. Just saying. (No, the Mac Pro isn't for most of us. And no, the MBPro isn't enough. And the MB and MBAir are ho-hum. They sell computers which could and should have been much better by now. And no, the iPad isn't a computer.)

If you're not satisfied with their offerings, then you should look elsewhere for something else that suits your needs better.

You'll probably never be happy with Apple's offerings.

mr. h · June 4, 2019 10:34PM

Do Mail and Maps in iOS 13 have settings to allow you to override Dark Mode, like in Mojave? i.e. I can set the OS to Dark Mode, but Mail messages and Maps still use Light Mode?

StrangeDays · June 4, 2019 10:56PM

gbdoc said:

Sure, if everything else has been attended to, Dark Mode seems like a nice thing to play with. But IMO Apple should first have given their "significant amount of effort" into making killer computers, the way they used to. Just saying. (No, the Mac Pro isn't for most of us. And no, the MBPro isn't enough. And the MB and MBAir are ho-hum. They sell computers which could and should have been much better by now. And no, the iPad isn't a computer.)

Ah, armchair engineers. Each so talented... Yeah no, Apple’s computers are killer. From the MBP, to the iMac Pro, to the iMac 5k, to the Mini, and yes, to the iPads (especially the iPad Pro). Stop living in a world of denial. They’re excellent, and I’d never trade my machines for windows PCs or for older Macs.

sunman42 · June 4, 2019 11:12PM

"[T]here are times you may want to toggle it outside that schedule such as heading into a dark room or a movie theater."

No, there aren't any times when you should be using a phone inside a movie theater. Get up, walk out into the lobby, and use your phone there. Live with the experience of not fingering your phone for one and a half to three hours when you go to a movie or a live performance.

sunman42 · June 4, 2019 11:13PM

gbdoc said:

Sure, if everything else has been attended to, Dark Mode seems like a nice thing to play with. But IMO Apple should first have given their "significant amount of effort" into making killer computers, the way they used to. Just saying. (No, the Mac Pro isn't for most of us. And no, the MBPro isn't enough. And the MB and MBAir are ho-hum. They sell computers which could and should have been much better by now. And no, the iPad isn't a computer.)

Have you looked at Apple's quarterly statements the last ten years? Do you know why they changed the name from Apple Computer, Inc. to Apple, Inc.? Puh-lease.

And I love Macs. I just can smell reality.

lkrupp · June 4, 2019 11:26PM

StrangeDays said:

gbdoc said:

Sure, if everything else has been attended to, Dark Mode seems like a nice thing to play with. But IMO Apple should first have given their "significant amount of effort" into making killer computers, the way they used to. Just saying. (No, the Mac Pro isn't for most of us. And no, the MBPro isn't enough. And the MB and MBAir are ho-hum. They sell computers which could and should have been much better by now. And no, the iPad isn't a computer.)

Ah, armchair engineers. Each so talented... Yeah no, Apple’s computers are killer. From the MBP, to the iMac Pro, to the iMac 5k, to the Mini, and yes, to the iPads (especially the iPad Pro). Stop living in a world of denial. They’re excellent, and I’d never trade my machines for windows PCs or for older Macs.

Commenters like @gbdoc can’t let go. They live in the past pining for an era that is long gone. The cognitive dissonance must be unbearable. They know the Windows PC universe is composed of piles of various levels of shit, both hardware and software. They know macOS is superior but still they demand something that Apple is no longer interested in providing. So they rant and rave and no one hears them, no one cares. They constantly predict doom but it never happens. They invoke the name the founder but he’s dead and not coming back. It’s a sad situation really. What happens when their old Mac finally craps out?

seanismorris · June 5, 2019 12:42AM

sunman42 said:

"[T]here are times you may want to toggle it outside that schedule such as heading into a dark room or a movie theater."

No, there aren't any times when you should be using a phone inside a movie theater. Get up, walk out into the lobby, and use your phone there. Live with the experience of not fingering your phone for one and a half to three hours when you go to a movie or a live performance.

He’s referring to the 30+ minutes of previews, while you’re captive.

Personally, I turn on airplane mode (mute sound) and read a book using my Kindle app (in dark mode).

Of course, I’m the type that doesn’t pay for TV service because I have better things to do than watch ads.

If they want to offer free movies, I’ll watch their ads...

CheeseFreeze · June 5, 2019 1:37AM

Master? What’s there to master? Isn’t this just a setting, flipping a switch?

tyler82 · June 5, 2019 1:46AM

StrangeDays said:

gbdoc said:

Sure, if everything else has been attended to, Dark Mode seems like a nice thing to play with. But IMO Apple should first have given their "significant amount of effort" into making killer computers, the way they used to. Just saying. (No, the Mac Pro isn't for most of us. And no, the MBPro isn't enough. And the MB and MBAir are ho-hum. They sell computers which could and should have been much better by now. And no, the iPad isn't a computer.)

Ah, armchair engineers. Each so talented... Yeah no, Apple’s computers are killer. From the MBP, to the iMac Pro, to the iMac 5k, to the Mini, and yes, to the iPads (especially the iPad Pro). Stop living in a world of denial. They’re excellent, and I’d never trade my machines for windows PCs or for older Macs.

I love my thunderbolt3 2017 MBP
and I love the butterfly keyboard, even though the space bar got stuck once. Apple services it and gave me a brand new battery as well (a year after purchase)

it it is the best fastest most powerful laptop Apple has ever made. I don’t understand the hate.

fastasleep · June 5, 2019 2:56AM

tyler82 said:

StrangeDays said:

gbdoc said:

Sure, if everything else has been attended to, Dark Mode seems like a nice thing to play with. But IMO Apple should first have given their "significant amount of effort" into making killer computers, the way they used to. Just saying. (No, the Mac Pro isn't for most of us. And no, the MBPro isn't enough. And the MB and MBAir are ho-hum. They sell computers which could and should have been much better by now. And no, the iPad isn't a computer.)

Ah, armchair engineers. Each so talented... Yeah no, Apple’s computers are killer. From the MBP, to the iMac Pro, to the iMac 5k, to the Mini, and yes, to the iPads (especially the iPad Pro). Stop living in a world of denial. They’re excellent, and I’d never trade my machines for windows PCs or for older Macs.

I love my thunderbolt3 2017 MBP
and I love the butterfly keyboard, even though the space bar got stuck once. Apple services it and gave me a brand new battery as well (a year after purchase)

it it is the best fastest most powerful laptop Apple has ever made. I don’t understand the hate.

Not as fast as my 2018 which is not as fast as the 2019! But, agreed.

Haters gonna hate.

fastasleep · June 5, 2019 3:00AM

I use the Smart Invert accessibility shortcut (via triple-pressing the lock button) and have noticed the effect that John Gruber has written about with OLED and scrolling white type on black backgrounds, sort of a "fluttery" effect for the lack of a better term. I'm wondering if this is only a problem for white on pitch black (ie "off" pixels) or if it's reduced by using dark colors/grays in lieu of black. Curious to see this all work in practice.

Speaking of dark mode, when does AI get a dark mode CSS?

godofbiscuits · June 5, 2019 4:36AM

fastasleep said:

[...]"fluttery" effect for the lack of a better term. I'm wondering if this is only a problem for white on pitch black (ie "off" pixels) or if it's reduced by using dark colors/grays in lieu of black.

Just one I’d the issues using black backgrounds. Usually when you think you’re seeing “black” on a webpage it’s 78% grey. Anything closer to black and text and objects look “swimmy”, meaning they start to look like they are moving around in a void.

Plenty of cognitive studies show the black on white fields are easier to see and with higher cognition levels. Dark mode is “cool” and gives good demo, but beyond that, if you have some vision issues, or beyond some occasional environments, you’re worse off for using it.

StrangeDays · June 5, 2019 4:37AM

sunman42 said:

"[T]here are times you may want to toggle it outside that schedule such as heading into a dark room or a movie theater."

No, there aren't any times when you should be using a phone inside a movie theater. Get up, walk out into the lobby, and use your phone there. Live with the experience of not fingering your phone for one and a half to three hours when you go to a movie or a live performance.

hear, hear! It’s becoming more common and drives me nuts to have to ask these people to stop texting and facebooking and put their phones away. Watch the damn movie!

tyler82 · June 5, 2019 6:07AM

fastasleep said:

tyler82 said:

StrangeDays said:

gbdoc said:

Sure, if everything else has been attended to, Dark Mode seems like a nice thing to play with. But IMO Apple should first have given their "significant amount of effort" into making killer computers, the way they used to. Just saying. (No, the Mac Pro isn't for most of us. And no, the MBPro isn't enough. And the MB and MBAir are ho-hum. They sell computers which could and should have been much better by now. And no, the iPad isn't a computer.)

Ah, armchair engineers. Each so talented... Yeah no, Apple’s computers are killer. From the MBP, to the iMac Pro, to the iMac 5k, to the Mini, and yes, to the iPads (especially the iPad Pro). Stop living in a world of denial. They’re excellent, and I’d never trade my machines for windows PCs or for older Macs.

I love my thunderbolt3 2017 MBP
and I love the butterfly keyboard, even though the space bar got stuck once. Apple services it and gave me a brand new battery as well (a year after purchase)

it it is the best fastest most powerful laptop Apple has ever made. I don’t understand the hate.

Not as fast as my 2018 which is not as fast as the 2019! But, agreed. Haters gonna hate.

Yes I should have been more clear I was referring to the new model of MBP overall that gets hate. I've had less problems with it than other computers I've owned, probably due to it's lack of moving parts like hard drive and optical drives. I wish that the internals could be upgraded by the user though, my biggest complaint about Apple these days.

gbdoc · June 5, 2019 12:11PM

lkrupp said:

StrangeDays said:

gbdoc said:

Sure, if everything else has been attended to, Dark Mode seems like a nice thing to play with. But IMO Apple should first have given their "significant amount of effort" into making killer computers, the way they used to. Just saying. (No, the Mac Pro isn't for most of us. And no, the MBPro isn't enough. And the MB and MBAir are ho-hum. They sell computers which could and should have been much better by now. And no, the iPad isn't a computer.)

Ah, armchair engineers. Each so talented... Yeah no, Apple’s computers are killer. From the MBP, to the iMac Pro, to the iMac 5k, to the Mini, and yes, to the iPads (especially the iPad Pro). Stop living in a world of denial. They’re excellent, and I’d never trade my machines for windows PCs or for older Macs.

Commenters like @gbdoc can’t let go. They live in the past pining for an era that is long gone. The cognitive dissonance must be unbearable. They know the Windows PC universe is composed of piles of various levels of shit, both hardware and software. They know macOS is superior but still they demand something that Apple is no longer interested in providing. So they rant and rave and no one hears them, no one cares. They constantly predict doom but it never happens. They invoke the name the founder but he’s dead and not coming back. It’s a sad situation really. What happens when their old Mac finally craps out?

What "cognitive dissonance"??? Is it cognitive dissonance to think Brexit sucks? It's cognitive appraisal of a situation, a turn of events, which greatly disappoints and angers me. Sure, I'm happy that Apple's a successful company (my stock's been a great investment since before some of you were born), and that that's thanks to things other than computers the past several years. But that doesn't have to mean that computers need be increasingly an orphan department? Surely they're not (yet?) being completely phased out, else why would new MacOSs be developed? Apple used to make - think up, develop and manufacture - whiz-bang mouth-watering Macs (and Apples before that) worth their price-tag that others were copying. The technology has evolved greatly over the years, but Apple has been playing catch-up - and not too well. This is not a case of autos replacing horses, and a few are bitching about missing the odor. It's more like Rolls-Royce phasing out cars in favor of marketing plush custom auto appliances and services (anyone for a RR-dressed guy playing the violin and serving you champaign on demand anywhere in the world?). I'm sure a lot of people still use computers, and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future. Why is Apple less and less interested in making sure they will want Macs?

How to master Dark Mode in iOS 13 & iPadOS

Understanding Dark Mode

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