Facebook has just launched a Dark Mode on its Messenger app for iOS and Android. Like most of the apps that have this feature, you can now also black out the otherwise white background of this chat app.
Most developers have recently been introducing dark/night mode on their apps. Its main purpose is for the app to be easy on the eyes at night. White backgrounds can seem brighter, even when the screen brightness has been turned all the way down. By just having the background or even the general theme dark, apps can make a world of a difference in their usability. It also aims to cater to the personal preferences of people who generally like dark looks of their apps.
And now Messenger has joined the bandwagon. To begin with, it already had a couple of features and easter eggs that make it quirky. The dark mode feature in Messenger has been introduced as a sort of hidden feature that has to be manually activated. There have been reports of it being rolled out on the basis of your Facebook account. Meaning even if you have the latest app, it might not work for you just yet.
However, it doesn’t hurt to try it out. Follow the following simple steps to activate it.
Step 1:
Make sure you have the latest version of messenger installed on your device. The current latest version on iOS and Android is 204.0. Update your app if you’re running an older version.
Step 2:
Send/Receive the Moon emoji to/from someone. It’s the left-facing crescent one that has no face on it. Once done, moon emojis will rain down on the screen and you’ll get a pop-up at the top of your chat which reads “You Found Dark Mode!”. Click on it.
Step 3:
You’ll be redirected to your main profile page. There you’ll see a new option that has appeared which is a toggle switch for Dark Mode. Turn it on and your dark mode is enabled.
In case you’re wondering, here’s how the chats screen looks like:
Unlike the Twitter app, which just uses a dark color scheme, Messenger completely blacks out the background, resulting in a look which not only looks cool but is also easier to use at night.
It’s really weird how there’s no announcement by Facebook or Messenger on their social media pages regarding this update. It isn’t even mentioned in the changelog on the app stores that usually tells us what’s new in an app update. Perhaps Facebook wanted it to be an Easter Egg all along. However, now we do know about it and are glad that we have this option.