- Android 15 may introduce a new “make all apps dark” feature that forces apps without a native dark theme to go dark.
- Android 10 introduced support for a system-wide dark mode, but apps still need to have their own dark theme.
- Some apps still don’t have a dark theme, like Fitbit or Amazon Shopping.
An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.
Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority
The existing “override force-dark” option, as Google explains in its developer docs, is intended as a “feature for developers to quickly implement a dark theme without explicitly setting a DayNight theme.” It works by analyzing “each view of your light-themed app and applies a dark theme automatically before it is drawn to the screen.” However, apps “must opt-in to Force Dark,” which naturally means they can opt out of it as well.
While many apps don’t opt out of “override force-dark,” there are some that do, which leaves “color inversion” under Settings > Accessibility > Color and motion as the only user-facing option to force apps dark. Enabling color inversion inverts all colors on the screen, though, which can mess up things like photos and app icons.
The new “make all apps dark” toggle, though, doesn’t mess up images as it seems to work similarly to the existing “override force-dark” toggle but with some additional under-the-hood changes to make it affect more apps. Plus, the “make all apps dark” toggle is tucked under accessibility settings rather than developer options, meaning it’s intended to be a user-facing feature.
Here’s a gallery that compares the UI of several apps without a built-in dark theme in their original state, with dark mode plus “override force-dark” enabled, and with dark mode plus “make all apps dark” enabled. As you can see, “make all apps dark” isn’t perfect, as it still reduces the contrast of certain buttons, but it does handle certain apps like Fitbit and Orangetheory much better than “override force-dark.”
Discover more from TechPros: Innovate, Learn & Connect
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.