WhatsApp finally gets a non-beta dark mode on Android and iOS

Today WhatsApp is finally announcing that its eponymous app for both Android and iOS is getting a dark mode. The updates which have the feature will roll out across both platforms within a few days.

WhatsApp has been testing a dark mode for many few months now, and today marks the moment when the feature isn't just available for beta testers anymore. Everyone should get it soon.

Understandably, this has been by far the most requested new feature for the Facebook-owned service. It's a bit baffling that it took this long to arrive, especially as both Google and Apple released new mobile OS versions last year that came with a full dark theme.

Alas, it's finally here. The WhatsApp dark mode is "designed to reduce eye strain in low light environments", and "prevent those awkward moments where your phone lights up the room".

It's focused on readability, so the color palette was chosen to minimize eye fatigue and go with hues that are "closer to the system defaults on iPhone and Android". Additionally, color and other design elements are used to make sure the most important information stands out.

On Apple devices, you only get dark mode if you're running iOS 13. On Android, if you're running Android 10 and you set the system theme to dark, WhatsApp will now follow suit. On Android 9 Pie and previous versions of the OS you can manually enable dark mode just for WhatsApp from its settings.

Source