For the past several weeks, Google has been preparing a dark mode for Chrome on Mac and Windows given that both desktop operating systems feature a system-level functionality. A night theme for Android is now in testing with the latest Chrome 73 beta.
Chrome 73 entered the beta channel earlier today and we already detailed a number of upcoming desktop features for the browser. For Android, this release reveals the early stages of a dark mode. It appears when Android 9 Pie’s “Night mode” in Developer options is set to “Always on.”
So far, the dark mode only manifests in pop-up menus that appear when users press and hold down on web links or images. The panel adopts the same shade of dark gray as Incognito mode, while text is white.
This theme is clearly still in development as some text, like URLs, are still black and therefore not legible. The dark mode also appears in menus while private browsing, but nowhere else in Chrome 73. As of the latest stable 72 release, menus in Incognito remain bright, just like in regular browsing.
Earlier this year, we spotted a Chromium commit that revealed that a dark mode was in-development for Android. The theme comes as many Android apps are getting updated ahead of Android Q’s system-level equivalent.
Presumably, the full Chrome for Android dark theme will also color the Omnibar, main Overflow menu, settings, history, downloads, and other menus in a similar shade.
This update also introduces a new download experience and manager. Version 73 of Chrome Beta is available via the Play Store.
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