How to Recover Missing Gmail Dark Mode on Android
As an iPhone user with a Gmail address, I envy all Android owners who can use dark mode in their Gmail apps. While Google claims that this kind of magic is available on iOS, I’ve never seen such an opportunity – and I’m not alone. So I’m enjoying a little gloating over recent reports that dark mode has turned on and gone in some instances of the Android Gmail app.
Don’t worry Android users: this doesn’t seem like a permanent change, it’s just a bug. Although this is undoubtedly annoying and annoying; light theme is saved in Gmail no matter which system theme you choose for Android.
There is no clear solution yet to restore the dark mode switch in Gmail (via the hamburger icon> Settings> General settings> Theme ). If this is not enough for you, first try restarting your Android phone and opening the Gmail app again.
You can also experiment with force-closing the Gmail app through Settings> Gmail Apps & Notifications> Force Stop (on my Pixel at least; exact steps may differ for your specific Android). For a faster option, press and hold the app icon and then tap the info icon. If forcibly closing the app doesn’t restore dark mode, you can also try clearing the app cache (via the Storage & Cache menu).
If your phone is rooted, one of the Android Police commenters has another possible fix:
“… you can open the file /data/data/com.google.android.gm/share … and set name =” DarkThemeSupport__dark_theme_support to true “.
You can also try turning on dark mode in developer options. Go to Settings> About Phone, then scroll down and tap on the build number a few times to unlock developer options. Go back to the main settings screen, click on System, click on Advanced, and click on Developer Options (again, on a pixel; your actions may be different). Once there, find the “Hardware Accelerated Rendering” section and enable “Override force-dark”. It might make some of your other apps look ugly, but if it brings dark mode back to your Gmail for a while, it’s an honest compromise.
If none of these options work, you can always try using a different email app until Google suggests a fix. Outlook and Spark are two great alternatives that have a dark mode. While that sounds a bit like a failure, it’s better than an annoying bright screen.