This App Automatically Puts Your Mac Into Dark Mode When You’re in a Dark Room
Dark or Light Mode: Some people prefer one over the other all day, every day, and they are wrong. The enlightened among us know the truth: it’s best to use light mode when it’s light and dark mode when it’s dark.
That’s why macOS offers an Auto option in the Appearance section of System Preferences, which switches to dark mode when the sun goes down. I suppose this works well enough if you’re working in a room with windows, but it’s not a workspace for everyone. There are many reasons why you might be in a dark room during the day and a light room at night.
These are exactly the situations that DarkModeBuddy solves. This tiny, open-source app uses the light sensors built into every MacBook and iMac to automatically switch between dark and light modes based on lighting conditions. The app is free to download (but you can contribute to the developer if you’re generous).
There are only four settings to switch. The first two checkboxes allow you to decide whether the application should run at the same time as your Mac and whether you want to enable automatic theme changing. You can also use two sliders to set the light level at which dark mode activates—adjust them if the switch doesn’t happen when you want. You can also adjust the delay between the lighting conditions changing and the theme actually changing (default is one minute). It’s a good idea to have at least some latency to prevent your laptop from switching between two themes at certain times of the day.
The application takes up only 6 MB of hard drive space. It also runs entirely in the background—there’s not even a menu bar icon. You can close the app at any time by launching it, which opens Settings, and then using the keyboard shortcut CMD+Q .