How to put the dark theme on Google?

Recently many services have proposed the dark mode, or the dark theme, of the screen. The dark mode allows the eyes to rest, especially in low light, and saves energy and battery. We are talking in particular about the dark mode that was released between 2019 and 2020 on apps like WhatsApp and Instagram.

If you have tried to set the dark theme on Google but it keeps appearing with its white background, don’t worry because they are here to help you. In today’s guide I will explain how to put the dark theme on Google. I will show you the steps to set it on Android devices, iPhone/iPad and computers.

Putting the dark theme on Google means setting the search engine so that it appears with the dark theme. However, this option has not arrived at the official level on the browser, that is, there is still no default feature that makes you navigate with the dark theme active, apart from in specific contexts. In any case, it is possible to find alternative solutions.

I remind you that, to perform the operations that I will list you need to use the Chrome browser of Google. This is because the company has implemented the dark mode only on the latter.

Android

Android, which is Google’s operating system for devices, is the platform on which it is easiest to set the dark theme on Google. The Google Chrome app is usually pre-installed on these devices. If not, take your device and open the Play Store. Then, search for google chrome, select the app icon and click Install.

Once you’ve opened the Chrome app: click the three-dot icon in the top right and select Settings. After that, tap on the Themes item and enable the Dark option. This will make all pages in the browser dark.

To have the start page in dark mode: click on the tab icon on the top right and press on the + icon on the left. You will see on the screen the Google search bar and the advice about the sites you can visit, in dark theme.

However, once you try to find something, the search engine page returns to a white background. If you want all the pages with the dark theme, you have to switch to the app called Google. It may already be pre-installed on your Android device and also, it supports the dark theme on devices that have it available and that can activate it at the system level, for example from Android 10 onwards.

To take advantage of this option, just open the Settings app; then search for “dark” via the search bar and put the option on ON. This way, the Google app and widget in Home will shift to the dark theme. By starting Google and moving to the Search tab, you will be able to navigate completely in dark mode.

iPhone and iPad

As for the iOS and iPadOS systems we can say that they are slightly behind on the ability to activate the dark theme on Google. The Google app on Apple systems does not support the dark theme yet. However, there is a dark mode for Google Chrome but it is not total. In this regard, there is an alternative.

On iOS and iPadOS there is a system option called Smart Invert. It’s available from iOS 11 and creates an optical effect that reverses the colors on the screen. So the screenshots you take will remain blank. In this way, the search engine presents a kind of dark theme in all browsers, including Safari.

To set this option: Go to the Settings menu, click Accessibility and click on Screen and text size. Finally move the Smart Invert option to ON. Now just open Safari, access Google and you’re done.

Computer

If you want to browse on Google with the dark theme on the computer, I will list some solutions.

The dark theme available for Chrome is present by default in versions installed on Windows 10 and later and on macOS 10.14 and later. This means that, if you browse Google in this context, the dark theme is applied automatically, if the theme in use in the operating system is the dark one.

To navigate then in dark mode, you have to activate the dark theme of system available from Windows 10 onwards: go to Settings, click on Customization and then on Colors. Now click Choose your favorite app mode and select Dark. On macOS 10.14 and later, instead: go to System Preferences, click on General and select Dark from the Appearance section. The rest will happen automatically.

Otherwise, a manual dark mode activation can be an alternative, as long as your operating system version allows it. Click Settings at the bottom right of the Google homepage. Then tap on the Dark theme: Off to activate it and the Dark theme: On to disable it.

If your computer is not compatible with the alternative that we have proposed, you can resort to a theme like Just Black, which is available on Chrome Web Store. After you have reached the page via Chrome, click on the Add button and thus the browser interface will change to dark theme.

If you want to navigate in dark mode, click on the + icon at the top left, opening a new tab. Type chrome://flags and press Enter. Then look for dark mode and set Enabled to Force dark mode for Web Contents. Finally, press Relaunch.

This is an experimental solution, but the browser will be restarted and the dark theme will be set on the search engine.