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Dark mode is coming to iOS 13

Dark mode is coming to iOS 13

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Cupertino turns to the dark side

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Apple is bringing dark mode to iOS 13, the new version of its mobile operating system for this year. The company made the announcement at WWDC 2019, a year after bringing the feature to macOS Mojave. Onstage, the company showed many of its popular apps working in dark mode, including Maps, Notes, Calendar, Music, and Messages. The company has also confirmed that dark mode is coming to the iPad with iPadOS.

The company says the mode will be available across all its native apps, and can also be used by third-party app developers. Users can set iOS 13’s dark mode to turn on automatically at either a set time or at sunset.

Today’s announcement means that both major mobile operating systems will be receiving a dark mode in 2019 after Google said that it would be bringing one to Android Q later this year. Android’s dark mode is already available in the beta version of Q, and Google is hard at work updating its first-party apps to take advantage of the new color scheme.

For the uninitiated, dark modes have become an incredibly popular feature in recent years. It’s partly for functional reasons, and partly just because they look cool. Although claims that they can reduce eye strain have a shaky scientific basis, they can bring much more tangible benefits to devices with OLED screens, which tend to use less battery life with darker color schemes. On Android Q, for example, devices will automatically use dark mode when they’re put into battery-saving mode.

Update June 3rd, 2:35PM ET: Added confirmation of dark mode support on iPad.