Facebook has been testing a dark mode for some time, whether on its website (PC, Mac, Linux) or iPhone and Android application. To take advantage of this, functionality normally needs to be pushed to your account – if you are in the beta program. However, a tip in Google Chrome can force its appearance.
Dark mode or Dark Mode is gradually spreading everywhere: smartphone applications, operating system, websites … this mode has several advantages. First, it puts an end to the dominance of designs related to black text on white, practically consubstantial of the internet since its origin. But it’s not just a style revolution: these designs seek to introduce softer contrasts for the eyes, while causing less emission of blue light bad for the sleep cycle in the evening or in the dark.
Dark mode also saves a significant amount of energy on some smartphones. This is essentially true for smartphones with an OLED screen, because on these, a dark pixel consumes much less energy than an illuminated pixel. Dark mode has been desired for years on Facebook, and is still considered a feature under test. It is nevertheless possible to cause its forced appearance recently, thanks to Google Chrome .
How to activate Facebook’s dark mode on PC and Mac
For that :
- Make sure you have the latest version of Google Chrome (79)
- Open Google Chrome
- In the address bar, type chrome: // flags
- In the search field type Dark Mode
- Activate the Force Dark Mode for Web Contents property by choosing Enabled
You can return to standard mode at any time by returning to chrome: // flags and changing this property to Disabled . This dark mode is automatically generated by Chrome. So it’s not perfect – expect some mistakes like negative images.
How to activate dark mode on Android and iPhone
You can again make it appear via the Google Chrome app. Unfortunately this does not yet work directly in the official Facebook application:
- Type chrome: // flags / # enable-force-dark in the address bar
- Activate the functionality by choosing Enabled
How to activate dark mode in Facebook Messenger (Android, iOS)
Dark mode is however officially available in the Facebook Messenger application. To activate it:
- Open Facebook Messenger
- Touch your profile photo
- Activate Dark Mode