Google includes a Dark Theme setting in ChromeOS Version 104, which, when enabled, changes many interface elements from light to dark. The shelf, launcher, browser tabs, and address bar all switch to Dark Theme. It’s a useful change from late 2020, when you needed to choose a custom browser theme as part of an effort to achieve a similar look.
To access Dark Theme settings in ChromeOS, click on the shelf that shows the battery status, time, and Wi-Fi indicator. Select the Dark theme option to toggle the setting between Off and On. When you make changes, the theme of the shelf and settings will adjust immediately.
However, even after you choose a Dark Theme, not every website – and even not every site owned by Google – will reflect your choice. Google teams still have a lot of work to do to ensure that any Google-owned sites respect your ChromeOS Dark Theme choice. In the meantime, here are some of the options available to achieve Dark Theme on ChromeOS.
The best sites automatically detect system themes
As of August 2022, YouTube settings work exactly as you might hope. Site color scheme that matches the device theme: When you set ChromeOS to Dark Theme, YouTube displays a Dark Theme, as shown in Picture A left side. Select Light Themes for ChromeOS and YouTube will also show up in Light Themes.
Access these by selecting your Google account | Appearance, then choose from the Use Device Theme, Dark Theme, or Light Theme settings.
However, you can change the theme manually if you prefer a theme other than ChromeOS. That is very helpful, as many people may prefer Light Theme for ChromeOS to Dark Theme for YouTube videos.
Some websites allow you to choose a theme
Google Search offers what can best be called a simple switch: Enable Dark Theme; Dark theme is off. That’s it. As of August 2022, your ChromeOS Dark Theme installation is completely disconnected from the Google.com search theme. Want Google search to show up with Dark Theme? You will need to go to Google.com, select Settings in the lower right corner, as shown in Picture A on the right, then adjust the option to Dark theme: On.
Picture A
Other sites, such as Gmail, allow you to apply a site-specific theme. Example: select sprocket | View all | Darkness | Save to apply Dark Theme for Gmail on the web. For more details see my previous post titled How to achieve (mostly) dark mode on Chromebooks: 4 tips.
How to use Chrome extensions to darken web pages
However, many websites lack an automatically applied dark mode or a selectable Dark Theme. For example, Google Docs and TechRepublic are both visible with Lightweight Themes.
One potential way to darken this type of site is with a flag found in ChromeOS 104: Type chrome://flags into the browser, then search for Auto-Dark and find the Auto-Dark Mode setting for the content. web content. If you change the setting to enable it, you’ll need to select the Restart button to apply the change.
When you do, any web pages you open will show up using the Dark Theme. However, as of August 2022, this setting does not adjust dark text on pages for readability. For example, the traditional black text in Google Docs remains dark, as are some menus in Gmail. Since this setting obscures content, most people will find this option unusable.
Third-party Chrome extensions such as Dark Reader or Night Eye, which offers a dark mode on every website you visit. Both extensions attempt to convert Light Theme pages into Dark Theme pages. The default settings for each create slightly different color schemes.
For example, on the TechRepublic page of an earlier article, Dark Reader turned the navigation menu items white (Figure BUGtop right), while Night Eye turns the same items purple (Figure BUG, in the lower right corner). The different extensions also give the title and subtitle text slightly different shades.
Both extensions allow some customization, so if you don’t like the default tweaks, you can make the changes. Dark Reader is a free and open source extension, while Night Eye offers both a feature-limited free version, Night Eye Lite, and a fully featured paid version, Night Eye Pro.
Figure BUG
None of the options above – install ChromeOS Dark Theme or third-party extensions – will darken certain pages protected by the browser, such as the Chrome Web Store. Google teams will need to coordinate internally to allow ChromeOS Dark Theme settings to accommodate these currently restricted pages.
What are your interests and experiences?
If you use ChromeOS, how often do you enable or disable Dark Theme? Do you want to apply dark settings or themes on all websites that offer them? Or do you rely on third-party extensions to achieve a consistent Dark Theme experience in the browser? Message or mention me on Twitter (@awolber) to let me know what you think about Dark Theme in ChromeOS.
