- Apple announced at WWDC 2019 that dark mode is coming to its latest version of the iPhone operating system, iOS 13.
- Dark mode on iOS 13 will make most of Apple’s own apps take on a darker color scheme, making it more comfortable to use an iPhone in darker settings.
- The dark mode could even add extra time to an iPhone’s battery life, as dark modes typically use less power than bright screens.
- App developers will need to add dark mode to their own apps, too.
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Apple made a lot of announcements during its Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday, but one of my favorite announcements was the reveal of a dark mode coming to iOS 13 for iPhones.
It’s a personal-preference thing. Some like eye-piercing brightness, and others like a darker screen, which not only looks sleek but is also way more comfortable on the eyes in any setting, especially in darkness.
Plus, dark mode could even lend some extra battery life to iPhones with OLED screens, such as the iPhone X, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max. That’s because the pixels in OLED screens displaying the color black are actually turned off, which is why the color black looks so good and true on OLED displays.
LCD displays like you’d find on the iPhone 8 and earlier iPhones don’t turn off the relevant pixels when they display the color back, which is why the color black might have a grayish appearance on LCD screens.
iOS 13 is due out in the fall. Check out how cool your iPhone will look if you enable dark mode when the new iOS comes out:
Dark mode in iOS 13 will make the things you see on your iPhone go from looking like this ...
To something more like this:
Here's what the iOS 13 lock screen looks like without dark mode.
And here's what the iOS 13 home screen looks like with dark mode enabled.
Apple has added dark mode to a bunch of its own apps, including Messages ...
... the Favorites menu ...
... Calendar ...
... the Apple News app ...
... Photos ...
... Notes ...
... and Apple Music.
And here's Apple Music in another view.
As you may have noticed, those are all Apple apps. App developers will need to add dark mode to their own apps for the complete dark-mode experience.
Apple said iOS 13 would roll out in the fall, which typically means around September, when the company announces a new iPhone model.
The iOS 13 developer betas are out now, which hopefully leaves them some time to get their own apps kitted up with dark mode when iOS 13 fully rolls out this fall.