Android 11 may include dark mode scheduling

Google Keep in Dark Mode on a Pixel 3 XL
Google Keep in Dark Mode on a Pixel 3 XL (Image credit: Joe Maring / Android Central)

What you need to know

  • Google added a dark theme to Android with the Android 10 update, but refrained from including any scheduling functionality.
  • That feature was present in some of the betas, but was pulled due to app compatibility.
  • A Google issue tracker update reveals that the firm will add it back in a future release.

If you had to think of one feature that characterized 2019, it'd be the dark theme. It seemed like every app and operating system picked one up this year, with Android not to be left out. Google added a dark theme to the platform with the Android 10 update, but missed out on a useful feature — dark mode scheduling.

In the early betas of Android 10, users could automatically switch between dark and light themes based on the time of the day. You could be white in the light, and black (or dark grey) in the dark. Before Android 10 released, Google pulled the feature, citing app compatibility issues in a later reddit AMA.

Now, as per the Google Issue Tracker via XDA Developers, Google's done fixing the issue and "it will become available in a future Android release."

This may refer to one of the future Pixel Feature Drops, an Android .x update or Android 11 itself. The main thing is that whatever was blocking the feature is now fixed and it is coming down the pipeline. Android 10's dark theme is pretty good as it stands, and the addition of scheduling brings it in line with other Android OEMs, like Samsung.

How to enable Dark theme on Android 10

Michael Allison