You’re lazing on your bed watching a movie in the dimly lit, or dark room, when you hear your phone sound and you know you have a message. You reach for your phone, open WhatsApp, and immediately squint your eyes closed because the screen is just too bright… How many times has this happened to you? I’m guessing a lot. Thank God WhatsApp have finally released Dark Mode!
Yesterday, WhatsApp launched Dark Mode, a feature that has been quite highly anticipated since 2019 when it became a trend across apps and websites.
Today, WhatsApp has started rolling out the new feature to both Android and iOS users.
However, there has been some backlash on Twitter and it looks like WhatsApps’ developers’ efforts might have been in vain!
The reason it took developers a while to unveil the dark mode is that they were working on getting it just right, as near perfect as possible. They took into consideration 2 categories: Readability and Information Hierarchy.
Readability has to do with minimizing eye fatigue. Therefore, the colours chosen were dark colours closest to system defaults on both Android and iOS devices. Dark mode for both systems is a dark background with light text as opposed to when dark mode isn’t on.
Information Hierachy has to do with allowing users to easily focus their attention on each screen. To achieve this, colours and other design elements were used in such a way that important information stands out.
Below are pictures showing how dark mode looks for an Android user versus an iOS user:
Why Don’t I have Dark Mode on My WhatsApp?
The dark mode might not be available right now as it has only just been announced. It will be rolling out in the coming days on the latest version of WhatsApp.
In order to have it, you must have the latest WhatsApp update.
If you are using devices running Android 9 or iOS 12. You can enable WhatsApp dark mode through an option on your WhatsApp app settings:
- Go to settings
- Then select chat
- Then select theme
- Finally, select your preferred dark mode.
For devices running Android 10 or iOS 13, there’s no need to manually enable dark mode from the app. Instead, dark mode is activated when night mode is turned on in phone settings, as is the case just with Instagram.
This is quite problematic for people complaining that night mode is ugly, since in this case there is no manual setting.
Users in the beta cycle of WhatsApp on both Android and iOS already have the option present in their apps. If you’re not among the beta cycle then you’ll have to wait a little while.
Personally, I like the true black background for iPhone users more than the dark grey for android users.
What do you think? Which device do you like Dark Mode on? Are you a fan of Dark Mode? Let us know in the comment section below.