Facebook dark mode has been one of the most frequent requests from app users, with the company promising it earlier this year, and it seems it is now in testing.
As with many unannounced tests in social media apps, it was discovered by computer science student Jane Manchun Wong digging into the code. It was Wong who recently spotted a “snooze” feature in Twitter that allows users to temporarily silence notifications…
She shared her latest discovery on her blog. As is usual, she discovered the code in the Android version of the app, but it is in line to come to the iOS app, too.
Wong notes that there is no predictable timescale between developing an experimental feature like this and rolling it out to users.
This Dark Mode appears to be in an early stage of development, understandably. For now, only certain parts of the app has been reworked to support the Dark Mode. For example, dark text displaying on a dark background, vice versa.
Facebook dark mode came first to the Messenger app in April after it was first noted as a hidden feature the previous month. In that app, it’s a toggle in your profile.
The company promised then that it would be extended to the web and iOS app, though without any timescale — and noting that it would be rolled out first to videos.
Dark Mode is of course one of the headline features of iOS 13. We’ve seen a gallery of what it will look like with a range of Apple’s own apps, after we provided an exclusive sneak peak ahead of the keynote. If you’re running the beta, check out our how-to guide on enabling the feature. It would seem logical for Facebook to switch on its own dark mode at the same time.
Wong’s previous discoveries include Instagram hiding the number of likes and offering Screen Time style functionality; a “hide tweet” function in the Twitter app; and much more.
Photo: Shutterstock
