Twitter for iOS picks up a pure black theme and automatic Dark Mode

The mobile Twitter app has included a darkened interface as an optional feature for quite some time now despite people complaining that it was a bit on the gray side. Thursday, the company introduced pure black mode in Twitter for iOS along with automatic dark modes.

After months of internal testing, Twitter today introduced two new features: automatic Dark Mode along with a Lights Out option that makes the app completely dark with lots of pitch black elements which may conserve power on OLED devices like iPhone X and iPhone XS.

Swipe right or visit account settings and tap Display and Sound to use the new themes.

Twitter’s Night Mode, unveiled in 2016, is now known as Dark Mode, but it still uses a blue-gray color palette.


“This is a great option for those who want an even darker theme for low lit environments that reduces eye strain, and can potentially help with saving battery,” said the company. As mentioned, you can access this mode much faster by swiping right, then hold down the light bulb icon at the bottom to access the new Dark Mode, adjust your themes and more.

Twitter’s design team explained they went with pure black because it emits no light, turns off unused pixels and still makes the readability of content on Twitter easier on the eyes, especially in dim environments. In a nutshell, More blacks give your eyes a break from sleep-disrupting bright light.

Aside from the existing Dim theme (a blue/gray look) and the new Dark Mode theme (using a pure black color palette), the app now provides automatic Dark Mode to switch from light to the dark mode theme of your choice based on your timezone.

This feature takes the burden off of people to make the adjustments. If you’re using Twitter all day long, it’s better on the eyes to have a tool that adjusts for the varying environments, contexts, and atmospheres you’ll experience throughout the day

By the way, the new Lights Out option should expand to twitter.com and Android devices in the near future. For the time being, it’s exclusive too iOS.

How do you like Twitter’s new Dark Mode for low lit environments? In your experience, does it really reduce eye strain over the old Dim theme?

Let us know in the comments!

Twitter for iOS is a free download from App Store.