Does YouTube Have a Dark Mode?

It seems as if these days all apps have a “dark theme” or the titular dark mode. Apps such as Messenger, AccuWeather, Chrome, Google Calendar, Periscope, and many more now have this feature.

It would be unusual for YouTube to not follow the trend, so recently it also added a dark background theme to all versions of its app. So, yes YouTube has a dark mode. You can set it up easily on your desktop, Android, or iPhone, and this article will show you how.

Enable Dark Theme on Your Desktop

You can enable YouTube’s dark theme on both your PC or Mac desktop computer. To do so, you just have to follow a few simple steps.

Open any web browser.
Go to YouTube.
Click on your profile picture on the top-right of the screen. You’ll need to sign in to your YouTube account if you aren’t already.
Find ‘Appearance: Light’ from the dropdown menu.
Click on ‘Dark theme’.

Note that when you enable YouTube’s dark theme on a web browser, it will only appear dark on that particular browser. If you want to switch to dark mode on all of your browsers, you will have to do it manually for each.

To restore light mode, just follow the same steps to turn dark mode off.

Enable Dark Theme on Your Android Device

For your Android device, you’ll have to go into settings on the YouTube app. Here’s what you need to do:

Open the YouTube app on your Android device.
Tap on the profile icon on the top-right corner.
Tap ‘Settings’. It’s near the bottom of the list.
Choose ‘General’.
Tap on ‘Dark theme’.

This should turn your YouTube app dark. If you want to return to light mode again, you can reverse it easily by following the same method.

Enable Dark Theme on Your iOS Device

Enabling YouTube’s dark mode on your iPhone is about the same as Android. So, to activate this theme, you should:

Open the ‘YouTube’ app on your iOS device.
Tap your profile picture on the top right of the screen.
Choose ‘Settings’ when the dropdown menu appears.
Tap the white button next to the “Dark theme” option and it will enable the dark mode.

If everything is alright, the white circle should be blue now and the background should be dark.

Pros and Cons of Dark Mode

Despite being a relatively new addition, YouTube’s dark mode is extremely popular. More and more users switch to dark mode for health, practical, or aesthetic reason. Even if there are a lot of reasons why you may want to switch to a dark theme, it also has some downsides.

Let’s first go over the positives of YouTube’s Dark Theme:

It emits less blue light which can interfere with your sleep
Better for night time use.
A dark background is easier on the eye and reduces eye fatigue.
Dark colors use less power, so YouTube in dark mode will be easier on your computer’s battery.
It has a neat looking design, which many prefer, if nothing for the contrast.

However, it still has its cons, which include:

It makes text and images harder to see in a well-lit room or sunlight.
Reading smaller fonts on a dark background can be more tiring to the eyes.
If you use a non-backlit screen, a dark theme may not look as good.
It hides faulty pixels better than a light background, so you might miss early signs of your screen breaking down.

Suit Your Preferences

Overall, both the light and dark YouTube themes have their suitors. Currently, the dark theme is the shiny new thing, so a lot of users are following the trend. It doesn’t mean the classic mode will go out of fashion.

The best thing that you can do is to switch between these two themes depending on the environment and time of day. Dark theme is better for ill-lit rooms and especially during nighttime. If you’re using YouTube outside in the sun, or if you’re on it for a long time, it is better to opt for a light theme.

Perhaps one day, hopefully soon, YouTube would be smart enough to automatically switch the theme for the user according to the environment and preset preferences? Does anyone know someone who works at YouTube?