While the latest version of Android, Nougat (7.0 and higher) has been generally warmly met, there has been some aspects that some users are not so happy about. While it would be expected that most users would be concerned about certain included features, one particular feature gained considerable attention because it was not included in the latest version of Android.
This is of course, Night mode. The reason for the attention is that this was a feature which was included in the pre-release (developer preview) versions of Nougat and was then removed before the final version of Android 7.0 was released. That said, all was not lost for Night mode as when the Pixel phones were released they did come with a new feature dubbed Night Light. Which although named differently, looks to fix the same problem. As the Pixels came with this feature, it was thought that the Nexus smartphones might also gain the feature in due time. Not to mention, that even though Night mode was removed from Android Nougat, it did become clear that it was only the shortcut that was removed. Certain apps like ‘Night Mode Enabler‘ were able to do just that – enable Night mode once again by activating those traces.
Of course, now things are looking very bleak for non-Pixel phone owners who would like to use Night mode or Night Light. Yesterday saw the news coming through that Night Light will not be coming to Nexus phones and now it seems as though Night mode is also no longer accessible in the very latest version of Android, Android 7.1. While Night mode was already not technically available, those enabling apps were able to activate the feature under the hood. However, those trace commands have reportedly now been removed in Android 7.1, which inevitable means the enabling apps will no longer be able to enable the feature. While it might seem as though Google has purposely cut access under the hood, the truth is a little more mundane. As Night Light is the new feature and is one which uses different underlying commands, there was no need for those additional traces of Night mode to remain. Which although unfortunate for those who want the feature, it does make sense.