Android 15 could give you a super-charged dark mode that forces incompatible apps to support it
Android 15 could introduce a feature that forces all apps into dark mode even if it’s not supported. The feature called ‘make all apps dark’ was discovered in the Android 15 beta code, by Mishaal Rahman at Android Authority.
Dark mode was introduced in Android 10 in 2019, and when enabled it switches your layout, backgrounds, and notifications from the default white to darker colors. This makes looking at your screen a little easier on the eyes, especially if you're browsing your phone at night. Some users (myself included) just prefer how dark mode looks and find it more readable.
However, not all apps support dark mode; for example the Amazon app, Fitbit and some baking apps just to name a few. These unsupported apps usually need to have their own dark mode that tend to follow the current overall theme of your device.
Not all dark modes are created equally
Right now if you want your apps to go dark there are workarounds you can use like enabling developer options on your device and selecting the option ‘Override force-dark’ or installing apps like DarQ. However, this can sometimes not work properly or break the UI on certain apps.
The current ‘override force-dark’ mode allows developers to quickly enable a basic dark theme or test what their apps could look like with a dark mode, although devs can opt out of this setting causing the override force-dark option to not work.
However, Android Authority reports that the new ‘make all apps dark’ feature apparently works more effectively and is compatible with more apps, saving you from downloading a specific dark theme app.
The newer ‘make all apps dark’ in the Android 15 beta code is believed to use a different algorithm altogether to switch your device to dark mode and has other improvements to ensure a broader range of compatibility with apps.
Android Authority’s test images show unsupported apps like the Fitbit app switching to dark mode without visual issues. However, as this setting isn’t rolled out yet it’s likely some apps still may not work as expected until the feature is officially launched.
Instead of being buried in the developer options that require you to enable it, the Android 15 beta code points to ‘make all apps dark’ being located in the accessibility options making it easier to find.
‘Make all apps dark” isn’t available yet and isn’t even visible in the Android 15 beta but it’s expected to be included in the Android 15 beta 2 update. The second beta will be released on May 14 to coincide with Google I/O 2024. It would then be expected to be part of the full Android 15 rolled out, which based on past releases could take place between August and October.
