Google is still in the process of adding a dark mode to all of its applications, in preparation for Android Q's system-wide dark mode toggle. Chrome is one of the few remaining holdouts, but not for much longer. A dark mode toggle has been added to the experimental Canary branch of Chrome, though it's a bit buggy right now.
Read MoreGoogle Photos update fixes buggy dark mode on Android Q (mostly)
Using beta software is more often than not a gamble. It's nice to be able to check out all the new features, but some things may be terribly broken. That's the case with Android Q's universal dark mode implementation. As early adopters noticed, there's no toggle to easily enable or disable it, meaning users were stuck with whatever they had chosen on Pie before updating (unless they used adb to change it). Google Photos was one of the most obvious victims of Q's dark mode. The app looked like a chimera of light and dark, but the latest update has now fixed most of it.
Read MoreSamsung's One UI night mode forces Android Auto to think it's always nighttime
With One UI, Samsung introduced a system-wide night mode for its Android Pie devices. The new feature darkens the manufacturer's proprietary software such as the Calculator and Messages apps and also alters the overall menus and interface colors, but still requires you to manually enable dark mode in other applications like Messenger or Slack. Android Auto, on the other hand, happily receives this setting and defaults to it, no matter the time of the day.
Read MoreAndroid Q's dark theme must be picture-perfect at launch, lest developers ignore it
Android Q has a dark theme - but you wouldn't know it reading any of Google's posts about the newest version of its latest mobile OS. There's not even a deeply-buried way to enable it inside Android - the only access point is via command line over ADB. It's the sort of thing you might have expected in the Android of 10 years ago, but that is hardly consistent with the highly polished image of the operating system Google tries to communicate today. It is, in a word, janky.
All jokes about Android's stability the bugginess of Pixel phones aside, Google has generally become much better about introducing new features in a usable and largely finished state in recent years.
Read More[Update: ADB method for toggle] Android Q Beta doesn't have a dark mode toggle, so turn it off (or on) before upgrading
Android Q was long-rumored to (finally) give us system-level dark mode settings for Android. Based on the current beta, it kind of does, but there's a catch: The setting from Android P which controlled the system-level theme is missing, so the only way that we can find to get it on Android Q is to have it enabled before you flash it — and it's a bit janky when it's enabled.
Read MoreSlack's new dark mode means you've got no excuses for not staying up to work all night
Google is taking its sweet time giving Android a proper dark UI mode, leaving individual developers to pick up the slack. Speaking of Slack, that app is finally getting dark mode support, according to the company's website. No more frying your retinas if you have to pop into a chat room at night. In fact, you can stay up all night working now. Yay.
Read MoreNova Launcher 6.1 beta brings dark mode to the Discover feed and numeric notification dots [APK Download]
Nova Launcher, the most popular third-party launcher on Android, keeps getting better with time by adopting features similar to Google's Pixel Launcher and improving on them in meaningful ways. In version 6.1 beta of Nova, which was just released, two changes further prove this: dark mode for the Discover feed and numeric Oreo-like notification dots.
Read MoreViber gets dark mode in the latest update
Things were simpler back in the days of SMS, but now you have to choose which silo you're going to lock yourself inside. The messaging world has been consumed by the likes of Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, but there are also smaller players like Viber. Fans of that app will be happy to hear there's a dark mode in the latest update, and you don't even have to send a moon emoji to anyone.
Read MoreThe Best Of AP
The Pixel update screen now has dark mode, shows progress percentage for some
Google is gradually bringing the dark theme to many of its apps and services, and the Pixel's update UI is the latest to receive it. Additionally, some are also seeing a percentage for the installation progress bar now while updating. It looks like Google's been implementing quite a few changes in this area recently.
Read More[Update: Facebook confirms] How to manually enable Facebook Messenger dark mode
Facebook has been teasing the highly-requested dark mode in Messenger since last year's F8 conference, but so far it was only tested in a few countries. It looks like the feature is now available for all Android users — all you have to do is send someone a moon emoji!
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