7 ways to turn on Dark Mode on iPhone or iPad

Learn how to toggle Dark Mode on your iPhone or iPad to reduce eye strain in low-light environments and during the night.

Two iPhone mockups, with one showing an app in Light Mode and the other mockup showing the same app in Dark Mode. There is also the small official Apple Dark Mode icon in the center of the image.

Dark Mode is a systemwide user interface theme bringing a darker color palette for onscreen menus, switches, buttons and more. This creates a contrast between your content in the foreground and the surrounding interface, which visually recedes into the background. In addition to being easy on your eyes at night, a darker interface helps conserve battery on iPhones with OLED displays. In this tutorial, we’ll show you all the ways you can toggle Dark Mode on your iPhone or iPad.

7 ways to activate Dark Mode on an iPhone or iPad

Some of the methods detailed right ahead work out of the box; others must be configured properly to trigger Dark Mode.

Settings app

Go to Settings > Display & Brightness and select the Dark option in the Appearance section to turn on Dark Mode on this device. To keep Dark Mode active until manually disabled, turn off the Automatic switch and be sure the Dark option is selected.

Turning on Dark Mode on iPhone from settings

Control Center

Swipe down from the top-right corner to pull down the Control Center, then hold the brightness slider and select the hidden Dark Mode option. You can also customize the Control Center to add a dedicated Dark Mode toggle.

Enabling iPhone Dark Mode from iOS Control Center

Siri assistant

Invoke Siri and ask it to turn on Dark Mode.

Action button

Go to Settings > Action button on any iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 16, or iPhone 16 Pro or later model. Swipe to the Controls section, select Choose a Control, and pick Dark Mode. You can now press and hold the Action button to activate or deactivate Dark Mode.

Set iPhone Action Button to toggle Dark Mode

Lock Screen shortcut

You can replace the camera and flashlight icons on the Lock Screen with another widget like Dark Mode. When customizing your iPhone’s Lock Screen, replace an existing widget with a Dark Mode one from the controls gallery.

Dark Mode icon on iPhone Lock Screen

Siri shortcut

Use the Set Appearance action in the built-in Shortcuts app to toggle Dark Mode with a touch of a Home Screen icon or by tapping the backside of your iPhone. Launch the Shortcuts app and hit the plus button to create a new shortcut. Search for Set Appearance and add it to your build, then tap Turn and select Toggle. Now hit the shortcut title at the top and select Add to Home Screen. You can also assign your newly-created shortcut to the Back Tap feature and trigger it by double or triple-tapping the back of your iPhone.

Dark Mode button on iOS Home Screen

Focus filter for Dark Mode

When customizing DNDFocus modes on your iPhone, you can add a Dark Mode Focus filter to have it automatically turned on when that particular Focus is active.

Dark Mode Focus Filter on iPhone

Schedule Dark Mode on an iPhone

iOS can enable and disable Dark Mode automatically based on sunset and sunrise times or a custom schedule. Venture into Settings > Display & Brightness and turn on the Automatic switch in the Appearance section. Next, tap Options and choose Sunset to Sunrise or Custom Schedule.

Automatic Dark Mode schedule on iPhone

Does Dark Mode work with third-party apps?

Apple provides an API for third-party developers to implement Dark Mode in their apps in a way that honors the systemwide Dark Mode setting. As a result, activating Dark Mode also enables a darker appearance in third-party apps that support this functionality, like WhatsApp and Instagram.

Do websites in Safari support Dark Mode?

Yes, but that depends on whether the developer has implemented Dark Mode support for their site. Some websites may use plugins that automatically change the color palette to match a visitor’s global dark mode settings.

Dark Mode on a website in Safari on iPhone

Does Dark Mode save your iPhone’s battery

Dark Mode saves battery on OLED iPhones because individual OLED pixels emit their own light. For true black, pixels emit no light at all, saving battery. The same isn’t true for LCD technology because it requires backlighting which consumes battery power, even for pure black pixels. All iPhones from the iPhone X (2017) onward have OLED screens, except the second (2020) and third-generation (2022) iPhone SE, iPhone 11 (2019) and iPhone XR (2018) and older models, which are equipped with LCD screens.

The difference between Dark Mode and Night Mode

Dark Mode uses a darker color scheme, so some people call it Night Mode. But that’s wrong, Night Mode is a feature of the built-in Camera app that leverages computational photography to improve your low-light captures.

Two low-light environment images places side by side, with one taken using Night mode on iPhone 11 Pro and the other taken in standard mode on iPhone X
Left image: Taken using Night mode. Right image: Taken without Night mode in low-light conditions. For more, see: First real-world photo shot with iPhone 11’s ‘Night mode’ showcases clarity.

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