In today’s high-tech society, most of us spend hours staring at screens. This puts a strain on your eyes, especially if you watch a bright screen in a dimly lit room. Some people find it a more comfortable viewing experience to use a dark background with light text on their screen (known as “dark mode”).
In this article, we will guide you on how to enable dark mode or use dark theme in Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari and Opera for desktop.
We’ll also show you how to turn on dark mode for all web pages so that your entire browser goes dark using a third-party add-on.
how to enable dark mode in chrome
Chrome doesn’t include a selectable dark mode as standard. Instead, it uses your system’s default theme.
On Windows go to Settings > Personalization > Colors. At the bottom choose your default app mode, choose Dark.
On Mac, go to System Preferences > General > Appearance > Dark.
Alternatively, you can install the dark theme from the Chrome Web Store. One example is the Just Black theme; Click Add to Chrome to use it. However, it is not a true dark mode as it only changes certain elements, such as the title bar and tabs, rather than all elements such as menus (as it does when inheriting your system’s theme).
To take control of your theme at a later date, click the three vertical dots in the top right and go to Settings > Appearance > Theme.
Edge instantly switches to the dark theme, replacing tabs, toolbars, menus, and more.
How to Enable Dark Mode in Safari
Like Chrome, Safari doesn’t have a selectable dark mode out of the box. Instead, it uses your Mac’s default theme.
It darkens Opera elements such as tabs and toolbars.
How to Enable Dark Mode on All Web Pages
The methods we’ve outlined above show you how to enable dark mode on the browser’s interface, such as its menus and toolbars. However, you may want to enable dark mode on every website you visit.
While some websites offer dark themes, not all do. For example, you can use third-party add-ons to put every webpage in dark mode. Keep in mind that some websites can look funky if they aren’t built with dark mode in mind.
Dark Reader is especially nice because you can customize brightness and contrast, and quickly toggle dark mode for specific websites. But try them both and see which you prefer.
Alternatively, if you use Chrome, you don’t need to use these add-ons. Instead, you can enable the browser’s experimental dark mode.
Apply dark mode to all your devices
We’ve covered how to enable dark mode on all popular desktop browsers, but your dark mode experience doesn’t have to end there. Lots of Android and iPhone apps also support dark mode, so dive into their settings and you can even turn off your phone’s light.