Nowadays, it’s common to have dark version functionalities available on any app or website. Users love it and use them very often. But do people really know what dark mode is and its advantages?

Don’t get it confused - “Dark Mode” is not the same thing as “Night Mode”. The night mode doesn’t change the white background colour, it just adjusts the colours to reduce the incidence of blue light so that it is possible to rest your eyes. On the other hand, dark mode consists of an interface that contains text and brightly coloured elements on a dark background, to make contrast.

Dark mode is used when you want to highlight something or some type of content. Examples such as Spotify, Netflix or Steam are known for using dark mode on their platforms, to focus the user’s attention on the vibrant colours of album covers, thumbnails and games. This dark mode has become a form of accessibility for people who, for example, suffer from some type of visual discomfort (glaucoma, keratoconus or astigmatism) or who suffer from color blindness.

That said, here are some advantages of dark mode:

1. Allows customisation: it is possible to combine colour modes, change the intensity of brightness and contrasts and with this customise the look & feel of the website or application;
2. Saves battery: reduces the brightness of your screen, helping to save your device’s battery;
3. Reduces blue light emission: exposure to blue light for a long period of time may cause eye strain and may also cause sleeping difficulty;
4. Reduces eye exposure to glare: with dark mode the screen’s brightness decreases substantially, making viewing by users more comfortable.

Dark mode has been gaining popularity among users and it is already possible to see it implemented in various apps and websites. The purpose of these is always the same: to improve the user experience, maximize the time spent on the website or on the app and increase conversion.

To users who like to use this feature, we warn you that most people use the dark mode wrongly, that is, they leave this mode on all day when in fact it is supposed to be on only at night or in low light environments. Nowadays there are devices that allow you to program the dark mode, to be able to determine when we want it to be activated.

This “dark mode” is here to stay and is in the webdesign trends that started in 2021.