Twitter’s dark mode is about to get darker. In response to a customer’s complaint that Twitter’s dark theme isn’t really black, but more of a blue-ish shade, company CEO Jack Dorsey replied that’s going to be fixed. Though a seemingly minor tweak, dark mode settings for apps have become increasingly popular as a means of conserving battery life on high-end devices and making easier on our eyes the apps we use often for long stretches.
The interest in dark themes has grown steadily since Twitter first debuted its own “Night mode” back in mid-2016.
A number of apps now support darker themes, including YouTube, Google, Medium, Reddit, Wikipedia, Instapaper, Pocket, IMDb, iBooks, Kindle, Google Maps, Waze, Opera Mini and many more. It’s even rumored that the upcoming version of the Android OS will have a system-wide dark mode setting — something dark mode users have wanted for years.
This weekend, the topic made its way to The Wall Street Journal, which made the case for dark modes becoming a standard setting across all apps and devices — not only for ease of use and battery benefits, specifically on OLED screens — but also because it may help lessen device addiction, and improve sleep.
In other words, having a decent dark mode is no longer just an aesthetic choice like skinning your Gmail with a cute photo — it’s an option that has real-world benefits. And for many, a dark mode is now their default.
Twitter’s dark mode, however, has been on the lighter end of the spectrum. (You can view a screenshot of its dark theme on Darkmodelist.com, where you can compare it to others.)
The app doesn’t go for a true black, but rather a blue-black shade.
That’s being addressed, according to @jack’s tweet.
Was just talking about this with @kayvz. Will fix.
— jack (@jack) January 20, 2019
Of course, there’s an argument to made here that Twitter is overly concerned with tweaking minor product details, as if things like a better dark mode or differently threaded conversations matter that much at a time when the company is facing significant issues with regard to how it handles extremism, harassment, doxing, spam, fake news, flat user growth and more on its platform. (And that its CEO doesn’t seem to have good answers for how it’s handling these issues.)
But for those who are on Twitter anyway and addicted to browsing the timeline, a “blacker” dark mode will improve their use of the product.
Neither Dorsey, nor Twitter itself, has yet shared more information on when we’ll see this update, or which platforms will receive the “black” dark mode first. (Reached for comment, Twitter couldn’t offer more details.) However, Twitter first launched its original dark mode on Android, so that may be a place to watch.
Update, 2/23/19
Is this Dark enough for “night mode” Twitter?
Still need to make sure it passes accessibility tests. And we should probably not call it “night mode” because folks have this switched on ALL DAY. What should we call it? https://t.co/6w4h8RKX9p
— jack (@jack) January 23, 2019
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