Google has begun rolling out a dark theme for Google Assistant and the Google app. The manual dark theme switch is rolling out through a server-side update and may not be instantly available to all users.
Google started rolling out a dark theme for the Google app back in June. However, it was a limited testing that covered only a few screens of the app and was available only to a few users. A wider rollout is now underway.
Dark theme not only reduces eye strains but also saves some battery juice. A dark them for the Google app, which also incorporates Google Assistant, was much needed as the white panel of the Assistant that slides up is very stark against apps that already have dark modes.
Dark theme for Google apps
Android 10 has a system-wide dark mode. The feature darkens the entire user interface including that of the system apps. It also flips the switch on any third-party apps that opt-in. Google itself began rolling out individual dark theme toggles for its apps much before Android 10 released. However, it’s been over a week since the stable Android 10 release and many Google apps have yet to roll out dark themes. Two of them, Google Assistant and the Google app, are now getting a dark theme.
A couple of Reddit users report that the Google Assistant and the Google app on their devices automatically went dark recently. While both of them are running Android 10 on their devices, a few users commented that they got the dark theme on devices running Android 9 Pie as well. They can also choose between light and dark themes or set it to change automatically with the Battery Saver.
Since it’s a server-side update, it doesn’t require any app update from the Play Store. You do need to have the right version of the app, though. As of now, users in the U.S., UK, and Australia only seem to be getting the dark theme update for Google Assistant and the Google app. A worldwide rollout should begin soon.
Activating dark mode
Activating the dark theme is quite simple.
Open the Google app and hit the More button in the bottom-right corner.
Now tap on Settings, followed by General. There you’ll find a list of settings.
Look for Theme and tap on it.
From the menu that appears, you can select Dark, Light, or Set by Battery Saver options. Note that the dark theme may not be instantly available to all users, even if they run the latest version of the app. Devices running Android 10, meanwhile, should automatically switch between light and dark themes based on the active system-wide theme.