Chromebooks will soon gain the ability to automate dark mode based on a schedule

To reduce eye strain and save battery, Google has long employed a dark mode for Android phones. With the introduction of the same feature for Chrome OS, many early adopters have wondered why the company has yet to allow it to be automatically toggled on or off based on the time of day or night for your convenience. Luckily, Android Police has spotted a new Chromium Repository commit that does just that.

dark_mode: Add dark mode enabling/disabling to settings page

– Display dark mode row in personalization settings page when `IsDarkLightModeEnabled()`.
– Route to dark mode subpage to enabling/disabling dark theme via a toggle button.
– Add tests for dark mode row in personalization page and dark mode subpage.
– NIT: Update kDarkModeEnabled pref name from `cros.system.dark_mode_enabled` to `ash.dark_mode.enabled`.
– TODO(1217436): support search for dark light mode scheduler in settings. Currently BLOCKED by UX spec.

Chromium Repository

As Google is still rolling out dark mode to its users and as it has yet to hit the stable channel, the ability to schedule it just as you would with the night light is a perfect addition to the feature upon launch. As you can see in the commit above, the intent is to add a dedicated dark mode row in the personalization section of the Chromebook Settings app for enabling and disabling it. Once enabled, you’ll automatically be rerouted to a subpage where a scheduler will appear so you can adjust the time when it turns on or off by itself, most likely based on sunrise and sunset.

There has been lots of discussion on the CL over the past few days as the developers look to solve a handful of bugs while they develop dark mode scheduling, so it’s likely that this is at the forefront of their agenda and may be on the horizon sooner than anticipated. Of course, Canary users will be able to test it first as a flag, but this is definitely coming to the masses in time, so stay tuned!

I’m interested to know if you would schedule dark mode on your Chromebook. Would you mind if it swapped between dark and light mode automatically based on the sunset or sunrise in your region? Are you interested in using light mode at all, or will you dislike the white color of the shelf, system UI, and launcher when it’s available since you’ve become so accustomed to the darker design of these elements over the years? Let’s discuss this in the comments section below!