I have made a terrible mistake. I, the owner of an Apple-made miniature computer I carry with me everywhere, am experiencing a profound feeling of regret over the decision to procure this particular gadget over one that runs on Android. Because beginning this week, Android users will officially have access to a beautiful dark mode in Docs, Sheets, and Slides — apps many of us use regularly, if not constantly.
Google announced the rollout in a blog post on Monday, noting that dark mode can be enabled both manually in the Docs, Sheets, or Slides apps as well as automatically when Android system-wide dark mode is switched on. To turn the function on for the individual apps, head to the Menu within the app, select Settings, click on Theme, and choose Dark. (Google notes changing the theme on an app manually will switch the default theme for the app moving forward regardless of system settings.)
For this theme, settings and navigation menus are a lovely slate grey, while white documents converted to a dark theme will be a little closer to a true black. The theme can be switched while working on a document as well, with the app adjusting any content and themes for the user automatically. Documents can be previewed in the light theme by navigating to More in the upper-righthand corner and selecting View in light theme.
Google says the dark theme will begin rolling out today. Meanwhile, I, a lowly iOS loser, will be anxiously awaiting support for iPhone users sometime in the future. And for the love of my eyes — and in spite of my misinformed colleagues whose opinions on dark mode are wrong — I hope it arrives soon.