How to Enable Dark Mode on Everything

Bright white screens at 11 PM feel like staring into a flashlight. Dark mode reduces eye strain in low-light environments, saves battery on OLED and AMOLED screens (because black pixels are literally powered off), and looks more polished in most contexts. Here is how to switch everything at once so you never see a blinding white screen again.

Operating Systems

Windows 11/10: Go to Settings > Personalization > Colors. Under “Choose your mode,” select Dark. This flips the taskbar, Start menu, File Explorer, Settings app, and all modern Windows apps to dark backgrounds. Classic Win32 apps like Notepad may still appear light; use the Windows 11 version of Notepad which respects dark mode.

macOS: System Settings > Appearance > Dark. Or set it to Auto so macOS switches to dark at sunset and back to light at sunrise. Nearly all macOS system apps follow this setting immediately.

Android: Settings > Display > Dark theme. On Samsung devices: Settings > Display > Dark mode. Toggle the schedule to activate automatically at sunset and deactivate at sunrise.

iPhone and iPad: Settings > Display & Brightness > Dark. Enable Automatic and choose Sunset to Sunrise. Apps that support dark mode switch instantly. Most first-party Apple apps and major third-party apps respect this setting.

Web Browsers

Chrome: Settings > Appearance > Theme > Dark. This darkens the browser’s own interface (tabs, toolbar, new tab page) but does not change website content. To force dark mode on every website, even those without native dark mode, type chrome://flags in the URL bar, search for “Auto Dark Mode for Web Contents,” set it to Enabled, and restart Chrome.

Firefox: Settings > General > Language and Appearance > Website appearance > Dark. Firefox also supports the Dark Reader add-on for site-by-site control.

Safari: Follows the macOS system setting automatically. No separate toggle. Websites that use CSS media queries for dark mode will switch as well.

Edge: Settings > Appearance > Default theme > Dark. Edge also has its own force-dark flag accessible at edge://flags.

Instagram: Profile > Settings (gear icon) > Theme > Dark. On newer versions it may follow your system setting automatically.

Twitter/X: Settings > Display > Dark mode. Choose “Dim” for a dark blue background or “Lights Out” for pure black (best for OLED screens).

WhatsApp: Settings > Chats > Theme > Dark.

Facebook: Menu (hamburger icon) > Settings & Privacy > Dark Mode > On.

Discord: Already dark by default. To enable AMOLED pure-black mode, go to Settings > Appearance, then tap the “Dark” text 10 times rapidly. A secret AMOLED mode unlocks with true-black backgrounds.

Slack: Preferences > Themes > Dark.

Reddit: Settings > Dark Mode toggle (mobile). On desktop, click your avatar and toggle Dark Mode.

Productivity Apps

Microsoft Office: File > Account > Office Theme > Black (deepest dark) or Dark Gray (softer). This applies across Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.

Gmail: Settings > General > Theme > Dark on desktop. Mobile Gmail follows your phone’s system theme.

Notion: Settings > Appearance > Dark.

Google Maps: Settings > Theme > Always in dark theme. Reduces glare while driving at night.

Google Docs (mobile): Follows the system dark theme. On desktop, Google Docs does not yet have native dark mode. Use the Dark Reader extension.

The One Extension That Handles Everything Else

Install Dark Reader (free, open-source) in Chrome, Firefox, or Edge. It dynamically generates dark mode for every website by analyzing the page colors and inverting them intelligently. You can adjust brightness, contrast, sepia tone, and grayscale per site. Whitelist sites that already have their own dark mode to avoid double-inversion.

This single extension eliminates the need to hunt for dark mode settings on individual websites. It handles news sites, banking portals, forums, documentation pages, and everything else.

When Light Mode Is Actually Better

Dark mode is not universally superior. Reading long-form text in a brightly lit room is easier in light mode because the contrast between dark text and white background is higher. Editing photos or doing color-sensitive work requires accurate color representation, which dark UI elements can subtly distort. Use the automatic scheduling feature so your devices switch to light mode during daytime and dark mode in the evening.

Bottom Line

Set dark mode at the OS level first (Windows, macOS, Android, iOS) and most apps follow automatically. Install Dark Reader in your browser to catch every website. Turn on automatic scheduling to switch based on sunset and sunrise so you never have to toggle manually.