Users are reporting a weird dark mode appearing in Google Assistant. Where cards are appearing in dark gray, but the rest of the screen is appearing in white. Giving it almost a monochrome look in the process.
It appears that this “dark mode” is trigger by the Android Messages app. If you turn on Dark Mode in the Android Messages app, it will then turn the cards in the Google Assistant into dark mode. It’s a bit weird that Android Messages will trigger dark mode in the Google Assistant, but it looks like the two do share some API’s in the back-end.
This dark mode is likely a bug, but it does at least point to the fact that Google is working on a dark mode for the Assistant. That’s something that many users would be ecstatic to have on their devices, especially if they are using the Google Assistant in dark environments, as the white interface can be pretty blinding in dark environments.
Google could be prepping the Google Assistant for the system-wide dark mode that is rumored to be coming with Android Q later this year. There have been a few rumors and leaks of the upcoming Android Q developer preview – which should be launching next month – showing that Google is prepping for a system-wide dark mode on Android. Though neither of this is confirmed right now, so this is all speculation. Google also made Wear OS completely dark, so to see Android go completely dark in Android Q, isn’t a huge jump, and likely something that Google could do very easily.
However, Google has been working to add dark mode to a number of its apps over the last few months, as it has realized that dark mode is better on battery, than the bright interfaces it has been using for the past few years. Giving apps like YouTube, Google News, Android Messages and others a dark mode option. It looks like Google Assistant is next on the list.
Google has been making loads of changes to the Google Assistant in recent weeks. In fact, just this past weekend, the Google app got an update which gave the Google Assistant UI an update that makes everything round. So it’s clear that Google is working on some design changes for the Google Assistant. And bringing out a dark mode wouldn’t be all that surprising for Google. Especially since Google wants you to use the Assistant on everything, and adding a dark mode would likely make a lot more people use it on their smartphone, much more often.
A fully dark mode for the Google Assistant would do wonders for a number of people. Dark mode, for one, looks better than the bright white interface that Google uses on a number of its products. It also conserves battery life, especially on OLED devices, which is becoming much more common. Not to mention, it makes it easier to use at night, as the dark mode is already, well, dark. Whereas a white interface, like what the Google Assistant currently has, is quite the opposite.