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Update: How to enable the hidden dark mode in Android Q
June 27, 2025
Update, March 14, 07:25AM ET:Here’s how you can enable dark theme onAndroid Q developer preview beta.
Quick shortcut
A quick way to enable a system-wide dark theme on Android Q developer preview is by turning on Battery Saver in Quick Settings. It works well, but keeping the battery saver enabled all the time will probably delay your notifications and affect some app features.
Using Android SDK
The good folks atXDA Developershave found a way to enable the dark theme via ADB. The Android Debug Bridge (ADB) is a client-server program part of Android SDK and used in Android application development. Before you proceed, you’re able to check a tutorial about using ADB from your PChere.
Original post, March 13, 05:50PM ET:As we delve deeper intothe first beta of Android Q, we’re finding some surprises (as well as lack of surprises). One surprise we’ve found is that this first Android Q beta doesn’t have night mode anymore — even though all rumors pointed toAndroid Q having a system-wide dark theme.
With this first beta of Android Q, if you go into the settings panel as well as developer options, you won’t find any night mode or dark theme settings. However, night mode is still there — it will automatically turn on if you have a dark wallpaper and you previously had night mode toggled on when you were onAndroid 9 Pie.
However, if you do a completely fresh install of this Android Q beta, you will have no access to night mode, a dark theme, or anything of the sort.
While it is certainly concerning that this feature is missing — considering how passionate Android users are about dark themes andGoogle’s own admissionto their battery-saving benefits — we shouldn’t panic yet. The fact that night mode still works in Android Q (even if you can’t control it) and the fact that leaked builds of Android Q had a full on system-wide dark theme are both good signs.
In fact, Google plans on releasinga total of six Android Q betas, so there’s plenty of time for Google to put in a proper dark theme before Android Q goes stable.
It should also be mentioned that the app-specific dark themes in Google Contacts, Google News, YouTube, etc., are all still active in Android Q.
NEXT:Android Q supports different accent colors
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