Have you ever been casually watching YouTube videos late at night and gotten blinded when an overly bright video loads on your screen? Or have you ever strained to watch videos in a dark room? Enabling dark mode on YouTube solves these problems by making the entire interface darker.
In this comprehensive guide, you‘ll learn how to enable YouTube‘s dark mode on desktop and mobile, customize the dark theme to your liking, and take advantage of all the benefits dark mode offers. Let‘s get started!
What is Dark Mode and Why Use It?
Dark mode displays light text and images against a dark background instead of the usual white background. It originated as an accessibility feature for those sensitive to bright light but has since gained mainstream popularity.
Here are some excellent reasons to use YouTube‘s dark mode:
- Reduces eye strain, especially at night
- Prevents blaring white web pages in dark environments
- Saves battery life on mobile
- Looks sleek and modern
- Potentially improves sleep by limiting blue light exposure
Now let‘s dive into exactly how to activate YouTube‘s dark mode on every device.
How to Enable YouTube Dark Mode on Desktop
Enabling dark mode on the YouTube desktop site is simple and can be done in a few different ways depending on your operating system.
Enable Dark Mode Sitewide on Windows 10
The quickest way to make YouTube dark on a Windows 10 computer is switching your entire system to dark mode:
- Open the Start Menu and click Settings > Personalization
- Select Colors on the left sidebar
- Toggle Dark under "Choose your default Windows mode"
- Toggle Dark under "Choose your default app mode"
- Enjoy dark mode YouTube and dark mode everything else!
Use Browser Extensions on Chrome or Firefox
Another option is to keep Windows light mode enabled but force dark mode on YouTube using a browser extension.
Popular choices include:
- Dark Reader – Open source, lets you customize theme
- Midnight Lizard – Designed specifically for YouTube
- Dark Mode – Simple on/off dark mode toggle
To install any of these:
- Click the Chrome/Firefox extensions menu puzzle icon
- Search for the extension in the browser‘s Web Store
- Click "Add to Chrome/Firefox"
- Customize options or just enable and enjoy!
MacOS Dark Mode
Like Windows 10, switching system-wide dark mode under MacOS Mojave or later will also make YouTube dark.
To enable:
- Click the Apple logo > System Preferences > General
- Select Dark next to "Appearance"
- Again, this will apply dark mode sitewide not just for YouTube
So in summary, the fastest way to make desktop YouTube dark is either changing your system theme to dark or installing a browser extension to force it. Easy enough!
Next, let‘s conquer mobile…
How to Make YouTube Dark on iPhone & iPad
The YouTube mobile app thankfully makes activating dark mode just as easy. Here‘s how on iOS:
- Launch the YouTube app
- Tap your profile picture
- Select the Settings gear icon
- Choose General > Appearance
- Toggle Dark theme to enable
And that‘s all it takes to enable dark mode on iPhone and iPad!
But while you‘re in YouTube‘s settings, consider customizing your dark theme further…
Customizing the Dark Theme
Under YouTube‘s Appearance settings, you can tailor the dark mode to your liking with these additional options:
- Dark theme background opacity – Makes the dark background more/less transparent
- Dark theme accent color – Choose from multiple dark mode accent colors
I recommend playing around with background opacity and the accent colors until you find a dark mode that‘s easy on your eyes.
YouTube for iOS also has a handy Auto dark theme option that will switch between light and dark automatically based on your device‘s sunset/sunrise setting.
Give that a try if you want dark mode YouTube at night but prefer light mode during the day.
How to Enable YouTube Dark Mode on Android
Android devices also make enabling YouTube dark mode simple with either system-wide or app-specific settings.
To turn on Android dark mode sitewide:
- Open Settings > Display
- Toggle Dark theme
Or to apply dark mode just for YouTube:
- Open the YouTube app
- Tap your profile picture > Settings
- Choose General > Appearance
- Toggle Dark theme
Like on iOS, you can also customize the dark theme‘s opacity and accent color to your liking.
Additionally, Android has a Time-based dark theme option that functions similarly to iOS‘s Auto dark theme, automatically making YouTube dark from sunset to sunrise.
So in summary, toggle the system-wide Dark theme for sitewide dark mode or visit YouTube‘s Appearance settings for app-specific dark mode activation.
Dark Mode YouTube Troubleshooting
While enabling YouTube dark mode is typically straightforward, here are some troubleshooting tips if you encounter issues:
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YouTube reverts to light mode – This usually happens because dark mode isn‘t enabled at the system level. Double check your device or browser theme settings.
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Only some parts of YouTube go dark – Try deleting cookies/site data related to YouTube and then refreshing. Stored cache/data can impair full dark mode.
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Videos look wrong in dark mode – Under YouTube‘s Appearance settings, disable "Darken videos" if clips appear too dark.
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If the above steps don‘t resolve problems with YouTube not showing properly in dark mode, temporarily disabling browser extensions related to dark mode or YouTube can help isolate the culprit.
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You may also need to reboot your device if OS-level dark mode settings aren‘t propagating properly to YouTube.
In most cases, a quick settings check and cookie/cache clear resolves any YouTube dark mode difficulties. But the above troubleshooting tips should help debug trickier issues.
Additional YouTube Settings to Customize
Now that you have successfully set dark mode on YouTube, consider customizing a few other settings for the best viewing experience:
- Video Quality – Set to highest quality your device/bandwidth permits
- Annotations – Disable if you find video annotations distracting
- Subtitles – Enable if you enjoy subtitles while watching
- Playback speed – Speed up/slow down videos
- Ad personalization – Reduce ads by disabling personalized ones
Take a few minutes to dive through YouTube‘s wealth of options to tailor the platform to your preferences.
Things like preferred video quality, subtitle behavior, and ad quantity can make or break the viewing experience. So now is the perfect time to check those settings alongside your fresh dark mode theme.
Conclusion
That concludes our complete guide on how to enable dark mode on YouTube across all devices! To quickly recap:
- Why Enable YouTube Dark Mode? – Reduces eye strain, saves battery life, prevents bright videos in the dark, looks modern
- Desktop – System dark mode or browser extensions provide quick access
- iPhone/iPad – Toggle Dark Theme under YouTube‘s Appearance setting
- Android – Enable Dark Theme device-wide or in YouTube settings
- Customizations – Personalize dark mode‘s opacity, accent color, automatic behavior
- Additional Settings – Tweak video quality, subtitles, ads, etc for best experience
Switching on YouTube‘s dark mode truly is as easy as flipping a toggle on most devices nowadays. So give your eyes a break and go dark today!
Let us know if you have any other questions down below on embracing the dark side of YouTube. Happy video watching!
