How to Enable Automatic Dark / Light Mode on iPhone & iPad
If you’re an iPhone or iPad user, you might appreciate a feature that automatically switches your devices appearance from Light Mode to Dark Mode, and vice versa, automatically. Furthermore, you can set the automatic enabling of Dark and Light mode to follow sunset and sunrise, or a custom schedule, whichever you prefer.
As you probably know, using Dark Mode on iPhone switches all the appearance elements from bright white screens and bright icons to dark blacks and greys, making the interface potentially easier on the eyes especially at night and in low-light situations. Similarly, using Light Mode will use the bright whites and bright icons as the default interface appearance. With automatic dark and light mode switching, the transition between these interface appearances happens on a schedule you choose.
How to Enable Automatic Dark Mode & Light Mode on iPhone & iPad
Enabling the auto-switching of dark/light mode in iOS and iPadOS is easy:
- Open the “Settings” app on your iPhone or iPad
- Go to “Display & Brightness”
- Under the ‘Appearance’ section toggle the switch for “Automatic” to the ON position
- Optionally, tap on “Options” and choose “Light until sunset” to automatically switch the appearance modes with sunrise and sunset, or choose “Custom” to select a manual schedule for automatic appearance switching between dark mode and light mode
The appearance change will be immediate to dark mode if you’re after sundown and using light mode, or if you’re using light mode and it’s after sunrise.
Using the automatic switching of light mode and dark mode combined with automatic Night Shift can make using the device at night much easier on the eyes, as it reduces the screen brightness. You can also manually toggle Night Shift through Control Center if you want to enable that as needed.
The screenshots demonstrate enabling automatic dark mode and light mode switching on an iPhone, but this setting is the exact same on iPad too. If you have a Mac, you’ll find there’s also an easy way to enable automatic dark mode and light mode switching on MacOS as well.
Do you like to use automatic dark mode and light mode switching? Do you prefer to always use light mode or always use dark mode? What do you think of these features? Share your thoughts in the comments.
