WhatsApp Dark mode is finally official for both Android and iPhone devices, nearly a year after testing its presence in beta. Unlike offering a pure black and white colour scheme, the Facebook-owned company has designed a dark grey background along with elements in an off-white colour to cut down the glare and improve contrast and readability. Users on Android 10 and iOS 13 will be able to experience WhatsApp Dark mode by enabling the dark mode from the system settings of their devices. However, users on older Android and iOS versions will be required to manually enable dark mode by going through the theme preferences of the WhatsApp app.
The Dark mode on WhatsApp[1] is aimed to minimise eye fatigue and "use colours that are closer to the system defaults on iPhone[2] and Android[3] respectively" -- instead of showing simply pure black and white colour tones.
WhatsApp's Dark mode uses colours that are closer to the system defaults
WhatsApp has been working on the Dark mode for quite some time. If we look at past reports, the feature has been in the works at least since March last year[4] -- months before the official debut of iOS 13[5] that brought a system-wide dark mode to iPhone and iPod touch models. Some recent beta updates[6] also suggested[7] the latest experience. Moreover, WhatsApp recently updated its profile photos across all its social media channels to tease the arrival[8] of the highly anticipated change.
The WhatsApp team focussed on readability of content and information hierarchy while working on the new update, as elaborated[9] in a blog post....