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YouTube for Android’s dark theme is beginning to roll out

Last March, YouTube officially announced a dark theme was coming to the Android and iOS app after first debuting on the revamped web version. It first rolled out to the iOS client and is now finally beginning to appear for Android users.

The feature began rolling out last night with users seeing the “Dark theme” automatically applied along with a pop-up at the bottom of the screen noting the new feature. There’s an option to turn it off, as well as dismiss the prompt.

It can manually be invoked by heading into Settings and then General. Just underneath Digital Wellbeing’s “Remind me to take a break” feature, there is a new “Dark theme” toggle.

Like on the web and iOS, the theme is more of a dark gray rather than a straight black color. The app’s background, settings, search pages, and anything else that was previously white adopts the dark theme. The compact, minimized video player and all tabs also get this same treatment.

Channels still retain their colorful app bars, while the biggest impact of the dark theme is on the video page — where the video player is black before it fully loads. The initial loading experience is now less visually jarring.

The feature is still rolling out, but given the reports it seems ready for prime time rather than being just an A/B test.

Update: While there briefly appeared to be a wider roll out, not all users have the dark theme enabled.


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Avatar for Abner Li Abner Li

Editor-in-chief. Interested in the minutiae of Google and Alphabet. Tips/talk: abner@9to5g.com