What you need to know

  • Instagram users can now enable dark mode on iOS 13 or Android 10 devices.
  • The dark mode option will be enabled automatically if you have the system-wide dark mode toggled on.
  • There is no word yet on when the dark mode feature will be available on devices running older versions of Android.

After a long wait, Instagram has finally joined the dark side. If you have a smartphone running Android 10, you can now enable the dark mode in the Instagram app. Along with Android 10, the new dark mode option is being rolled out to iOS 13 devices as well.

To enable Instagram's new dark mode, you will need to head over to Settings > Display > Advanced and then choose "Dark" from the Device theme menu to enable the system-wide dark mode. As of now, Instagram isn't offering a way to enable the dark theme from within its app.

Along with the dark mode option on Android 10 and iOS 13 devices, Instagram has also introduced two other changes. The "Following" tab, which was launched in 2011, is now gone. This means you will not be able to view your friends' activity on the photo-sharing platform. A new security feature that was introduced this week, aimed at helping users identify phishing emails, lets anyone check if an email claimed to be from Instagram is genuine. The account security feature can be found under "Login Security" through Settings.

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Dark theme support for Android 10 and iOS 13 devices comes just a week after Instagram launched its first standalone messaging app called Threads, designed to help users "stay connected" to their close friends. In addition to sharing pictures/video and text messages, the app also allows users to share a "status" with their friends.

Instagram's new messaging app, Threads, looks a lot like Snapchat