X

YouTube has a dark mode. Here's how to turn it on

Paint it black.

Matt Elliott Senior Editor
Matt Elliott is a senior editor at CNET with a focus on laptops and streaming services. Matt has more than 20 years of experience testing and reviewing laptops. He has worked for CNET in New York and San Francisco and now lives in New Hampshire. When he's not writing about laptops, Matt likes to play and watch sports. He loves to play tennis and hates the number of streaming services he has to subscribe to in order to watch the various sports he wants to watch.
Expertise Laptops, desktops, all-in-one PCs, streaming devices, streaming platforms
Matt Elliott
Matt Elliott/CNET

Google is rolling out a dark mode to its YouTube mobile apps. Last year, it added the previously hidden ability to change YouTube's background from white to black to YouTube on desktops and laptops. Dark mode is available now for iOS and is now rolling out to Android devices, XDA Developers reports

Here's how to enable it on iOS:

  • Launch the YouTube app and tap your account icon in the top-right corner.
  • Tap Settings.
  • Tap to toggle on Dark theme.
youtube-dark-theme-setting
Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET

The process is similar for desktops and laptops: Click your account icon in the top-right, click the Dark theme line directly above Settings and then click the toggle switch to turn on Dark theme.

For Android, you will find the Dark theme toggle switch by going to Settings > General. If you don't see it there, check you have the latest update from the Play Store, then try closing and opening the app a few times, as Redditors suggest here. That worked for (at least some of) us.

For both mobile apps and desktop site, YouTube remembers your light or dark preference for future visits.

11 great movies you can watch for free on YouTube

See all photos
Watch this: How to turn on dark mode for Gmail and Chrome

Originally published on April 14, 2017.
Update, Sept. 5: Added information about the rollout to Android devices.