By: Nick Gambino

Everything is going dark. Barely a week passes without news of yet another app offering a popular dark mode option that will save your eyes from most definite destruction. This week’s news centers around Facebook’s hidden dark mode test on their Android app.

Since this is an unannounced test, there is no official word from Facebook on what they’re doing, though they did announce several months ago that they would be offering a dark mode on the web and the Watch. Thanks to the sleuth abilities of Jane Manchun Wong, a computer science student, we are no longer “in the dark” on Facebook’s plans.

I came across this unreleased Dark Mode in Facebook’s mobile app for Android by looking into the code underneath, which indicates Facebook has recently started implementing the long-awaited Dark Mode into their mobile app,” Beth said in a blog post. “This Dark Mode appears to be in an early stage of development, understandably.

For now, only certain parts of the app [have] been reworked to support the Dark Mode. For example, dark text displaying on a dark background, vice versa.”Facebook rolled out a dark mode for the Messenger app a few months back, but we’ve been patiently waiting for the feature to come to the main app.

Dark mode is a lot easier on the eyes, and though I’m more partial to bright imagery (I don’t wear sunglasses often because it dulls the colors around me), I usually switch to dark mode on any apps where it exists. I spend 80% of my life in front of a computer and my phone, I need to think with the future health of my eyes. They have to last me another 50 years give or take.

Unfortunately, with news that Facebook is only in the early stages of implementing a dark mode, it could be a while before we see anything come of it. At least there’s some hope for Android users. iOS users such as myself have to rely on a prayer and a hope that Facebook is testing it behind the scenes on the iPhone.

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