Google may introduce system-wide dark mode in Android Q: Report

After demonstrating Dark Mode for Chrome on Android few weeks ago, tech giant Google is reportedly bringing system-wide dark mode in the upcoming version of Android OS.

A new code change was reported by 9to5Google which indicates that Chrome for Android would recolour web pages to a darker colour scheme.  Google was already testing dark mode for Android, but it was only limited to the browser UI.

The new code flag found in testing — #enable-android-web-contents-dark-mode — enables other preferences that allow the browser to allow its high contrast settings.

These high contrast settings are known to be useful in accessibility and do not affect the performance of the web pages or the browser. XDA developers tested the new updated Chromium build code and posted the before-and-after screenshots.

Source: XDA Developer

According to the report, the new code flag when enabled, a preference is toggled in Blink, Chrome’s underlying engine, which is called as “force_dark_mode_enabled”. This preference informs Blink whether it should or should not change the high contrast settings of some aspect of the web pages.

9to5Google also reports that Blink’s dark mode setting was added last month to create sync between Android’s built-in WebView browser and Android Pie’s night mode developer setting. This sync means that Chrome for Android and WebView would soon be having dark mode that can enable dark web pages.

The report states that the new dark mode for the web would arrive on Chrome Canary in a few days and for the WebView, it is estimated that the feature would be available in beta after a few weeks in the version 74.