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Chromebook⏱ 1 min

How to Enable Dark Mode on Chromebook

Switch the system to dark theme to reduce eye strain and save battery.

Last verified: February 21, 2026

Chromebook dark mode is called Night Mode and is accessible through Quick Settings or Settings > Device > Displays > Enable Night Light, which shifts the display to darker system colours. Chrome OS's dark mode also applies to the Chrome browser's UI (address bar, tabs, bookmarks bar) when Chrome Flags' dark mode experiment is enabled, though the web pages themselves follow their own dark mode detection via the prefers-color-scheme CSS media query. For true dark mode across all web apps, enabling Chrome's Force Dark Mode for Web Contents flag at chrome://flags makes every website render in dark colours regardless of whether the site's developers built dark mode support.

Quick Steps

Follow in order for the fastest result.

  1. 1Open Quick Settings and click Dark Mode, or go to Settings > Device > Display > Night Mode.
  2. 2Enable Auto schedule to switch automatically at sunset or at custom times.
  3. 3For apps that do not follow system dark mode, enable dark theme inside each app settings manually.

Still Not Working?

Try these if the steps above didn't help.

Verify the Fix

Confirm everything is fully working before closing this guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does dark mode save battery on Chromebook?
On laptops with OLED displays, dark mode provides a small battery saving. On IPS/LCD displays used in most Windows laptops and Macs, the saving is negligible.
Can I schedule dark mode to turn on automatically on Chromebook?
Open Settings > Device > Display > Night Mode and look for a Schedule option.
Why don't some apps follow dark mode on Chromebook?
Older apps and some web apps have not implemented support for the system dark mode signal. Check those apps' own Settings > Appearance menu for a built-in dark theme option. Web apps in a browser respond to dark mode if the browser passes the system preference, which most modern browsers do.
Does dark mode affect screenshots on Chromebook?
Yes. Screenshots capture the screen exactly as it appears — if dark mode is active, the screenshot reflects dark mode colours. Switch to light mode before capturing demonstration screenshots if you need a consistent light-mode appearance.

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