How to Enable Chrome’s New Dark Mode
Google announced that the latest update for the Chrome browser, Chrome 73, has begun rolling out to Windows , Mac and Linux platforms. While these updates typically include security fixes, system-level changes, and new developer tools, Chrome 73 also includes several new features for casual users, including the much-requested dark mode, although their availability will vary depending on the platform you’re using.
Let’s take a look at the new features in Chrome 73, when and where they’ll be available, and how to enable them.
Dark mode
After what seems like an ages of users yearning for the dark theme in Chrome, Google is finally adding this feature – although initially only available on macOS, it will soon roll out to Windows as well. You can of course download “dark mode”. Themes from the Chrome store before, Chrome ‘s own dark mode has the design sensibility you’d expect from Google. Chrome dark mode is very similar to incognito mode: dark gray replaces the usual bright whites and grays for the browser window, toolbar, settings tabs, and Google Home, and automatically applies a dark theme to supported web pages. Other parts of the browser, such as the settings page, still support the classic white color scheme.
Since Google designed Dark Mode to work with macOS Dark Mode display options, it needs to be enabled by enabling Dark Mode in your Mac’s UI in Apple’s System Preferences, not Chrome itself.
- Open Apple Preferences and click System Preferences.
- Click General.
- Find the “Appearance” option and select “Dark”.
- Chrome will automatically enter dark mode.
Quick note: since enabling dark mode makes normal browsing and incognito mode identical, Google added a prominent incognito icon to the right of the incognito url field.
As for the upcoming version of Windows Dark Mode in Chrome, you’ll also need to enable Windows 10 dark theme at the OS level first .
Automatic PIP and video functions
Google began testing Chrome’s built-in picture-in-picture (PIP) video mode last year , but Chrome 73 sees the feature expand on the desktop browser, extending PIP support to progressive web apps. This means that supported videos now automatically go into PIP mode when users switch to other tabs or web apps. The update also brings together earlier versions of the skip ads feature for PIP videos and the ability to quickly return to a video tab or application. While these features do not require any user-specific customization to be enabled, developers will need to build support for them into their web applications and pages for them to be available, so functionality may vary between web pages and applications. In addition to broader support for PIP mode, Chrome 73 will also allow developers to add support for media dongles to web applications. Developers can now let users play, pause, and skip tracks or other media from playlists using buttons on their keyboard or other connected equipment, even while the media is playing in the background.
Other features
Besides the rollout of dark mode and new media playback options, Chrome 73 adds other notable features for both users and developers. Users get an improved spell checker, a new option for “enhanced reports for safe viewing.” Chrome 73 also consolidates all the options related to the Google sync feature in a new “Sync & Google Services” section that was added to the settings menu with Chrome 72 (these changes are still rolling out after the update, so may not be immediately present for all users) …
While the initial launch of Chrome 73 only extends to the desktop browser, Android users can look forward to new, clearer download progress notifications when they save files to their mobile browser. The update will also include a redesigned download history page that allows users to filter their download history by file type.
Finally, since Chrome 73 adds progressive web app support to the macOS version of Chrome, developers can now add icon APIs to web apps for desktop browsers so that notification notifications (such as unread notifications) can appear over the app icon from the home page. Chrome. page.
The Chrome 73 update will be rolling out to all desktop users in the coming days. We’re hoping to see support for features like Windows dark mode and other changes shortly thereafter, but Google hasn’t provided any specific timeline. Android and Chrome OS versions of Chrome 73 are also expected to be released soon, although you can check out the new features ahead of time by downloading the beta version of Chrome .