Ah, WhatsApp. It's a Facebook-owned chat client with more than 5 billion installs on Android and has been quite stubbornly behind the curve on bringing on a dark mode of some sort. The first hint of it came in 2018, then came a couple more signals last year, but it's now 2020 and we've still had no reason to pull out our Simon & Garfunkel jokes. Well, good news at last: the latest beta will finally let you give dark mode a spin.

Image: Moshe

If you're enrolled in the beta, check to see if you're on version 2.20.13. If you're not, don't worry, just download it from APK Mirror. Once you head into the app's settings and tap the Chats item, you'll be able to pull up the Theme selector and choose the new Dark one. You can also choose the System Default option to allow the app to conform with your device's master scheme.

We regret to inform some particular display geeks that it's not an AMOLED blackout theme, just a paint job that's more friendly to use at night.

You'd think with more usage than Facebook Messenger that WhatsApp would get priority with the development and deployment of key features like this one. But nope, Messenger went public with its dark mode last April.

With any hope, we'll see this improvement move onto the stable releases in the next few months.

WhatsApp Messenger Developer: WhatsApp LLC
Price: Free
4.3
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Alternate title: WhatsApp goes dark, but dirty ('cause it's in beta, get it?)

Thanks: Moshe, Roberto, Rodrigo

Download: WhatsApp 2.20.13 beta