It seems like dark mode is on its way to Chrome for Android, finally. The company already released dark mode for a number of its applications, which we’ll talk about a bit later, and now it seems to be on its way to Chrome as well. This info is based on a new commit that was posted to Chromium’s Gerrit source code management. That commit clearly says that Google has been working on a dark mode for Chrome, and that it is ready to do some early testing. The commit is titled “[Dark] Add build flag and experiment flag”, and in the description, it says that the “patch adds a build flag and an experiment flag for the dark mode experiment”, it doesn’t get much clearer than that. The thing is, though, dark moe is hidden behind a build flag, so chances are we won’t be able to test it in the near future, not even on Chrome Canary. Google will probably release it first via Canary builds, as it does with other features, and it will likely become available via the “flag” menu in Chrome Canary. We do not know when that might happen, however, chances are we’ll have to wait a bit longer in order to test it out, so stay tuned.
“Dark Theme Everything” Seems To Be Google’s Moto Lately
Google has been pushing the dark mode option to its applications for a while now. A number of high-profile Google-made apps already received dark mode, including YouTube, (Android) Messages, Contacts, Google News, and Pixel Launcher apps, while a part of the Google Maps app also received such treatment. As most of you know, Google has either developed or bought quite a few apps over the years, so a ton of its applications are yet to receive dark mode. The company will not push this feature to all of its apps, that’s for sure, but a number of additional high-profile apps will probably get the treatment, apps like Chrome. Pushing dark mode to Gmail is probably also in Google’s plans, even though we did not see any proof to that, but Gmail is one of the company’s most popular applications, and it’s hard to imagine Google will skip it… the same goes for Google Photos, actually. In any case, Chrome is first in line, and we’ll see what happens after that. It is also worth noting that Android Q may ship with a system-wide dark mode as well, at least according to a piece of info that surfaced yesterday. One of Google’s employees accidentally revealed that the dark mode is coming to Android Q, while he even said where the setting will be located, and that’s a dead giveaway that we’re in for a treat. If that ends up happening, Android Q will become the very first version of Android to sport such a feature, and many users will welcome it, I know I will. Some of you have probably noticed that Google’s Pixel Launcher offers half-baked dark mode on Pixel devices, well, expect a major change once Android Q arrives.
It’s About Time
Many Android OEMs have been including the dark mode in their Android overlays, for quite some time now, Huawei and OnePlus are prime examples, actually. Huawei’s Emotion UI (EMUI), and OnePlus’ OxygenOS have been offering proper dark modes for quite some time now, and it seems to be Google’s turn to do it. Huawei and OnePlus are great examples, but are not the only ones to have done this. Google had finally realized that by including dark mode, users can save up quite a bit of battery on OLED displays, and considering that more and more smartphones are utilizing OLED panels, it makes sense to include dark modes on phones, which is probably why Google opted to go down that way. Google actually shared its findings regarding battery-saving properties of having a dark mode, so if you’re like to know more about that, you can click here. That is more or less it, for now, more info regarding Chrome’s dark mode will probably surface in the near future, so stay tuned for that, and we’re eagerly awaiting to see what will it look like, and are hoping Google will push it to Canary builds as soon as possible, so that everyone can get a taste.