This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about this feature. It was first spotted in Android 15, but it never made it to the stable release. However, it made a reappearance in the code of the current Android 16 Beta 1 that dropped last week. The fact that it’s still in development, at this point suggests that Google is serious about making it happen.
The feature, called “make more apps dark”, was recently spotted in Android 16 Beta 1, hidden in Settings > Display & touch > Dark theme, and it works by automatically converting light-themed apps to dark theme. This iteration is different from the existing “override force-dark” toggle found in the Developer Options of most Android devices. That toggle simply inverts the colors of an app, which can sometimes lead to display issues. The “make more apps dark” feature, on the other hand, seems to use a more intelligent method of choosing which elements to change.
The “. | Image credit — Android Authority
This news has, of course, made many Android users happy. It seems like people have been wanting a universal dark mode option for a long time, and Google might finally be delivering. However, on the developer side, that are still concerns that forcing a dark theme on apps that weren’t designed for it could lead to some unexpected display issues or conflicts with their intended design aesthetics. It’ll be interesting to see how Google addresses these concerns, if they decide to move forward with the feature.
