Gmail’s default theme is best suited for daytime. At night, however, its flush white light can feel like a flash of lightning to tired eyes. But you don’t have to subject yourself to such rude awakenings every time you get an email at night. Here’s how to enable the dark theme on your Gmail app on Android.
Enable Dark Theme in Gmail Android App
To enable dark mode on Gmail, you need to choose the Dark theme inside the app's settings. Here’s how to do it:
- Open the Gmail app on your Android phone, tap on the 3-lines icon in the top left and select Settings.
- Select General settings and tap on Theme at the top.
- Here, set it to Dark. Alternatively, if you want Gmail’s theme to follow the system theme, select 'System Default'.
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Configure Gmail to Adapt to Android's Dark Mode
If you set Gmail’s theme to follow System default, the app will stay in the Light theme as long as your Android phone also has the Light mode enabled. And when Dark Mode is enabled (or scheduled) on your Android device, the Gmail app will follow suit too.
For those unaware, Dark mode (or Dark theme) on Android phones is usually found within the Settings app, under the Display section.
Once you enable it, your Gmail app will also turn dark, that is, if you chose the System Default theme setting within the Gmail app.
If Dark Mode doesn’t work for you during the day, and you don’t want to manually enable/disable Android’s Dark Theme, you can also set a schedule. This is achievable from the same Display > Dark mode settings. You can set the Dark mode to turn on from sunset to sunrise, at your scheduled bedtime, or at a custom time.
This way, your Android phone will go into dark mode at specific times, and so will Gmail.
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Why Do Emails Still Have White Background in Dark Mode?
With the Dark theme enabled on Gmail, the whole app turns dark, including the emails. The white background turns black, and the black font turns white. However, you may sometimes find that some emails continue to appear white.
This doesn’t mean Gmail’s dark theme feature is broken on your Android phone. It’s simply the result of the light background used in the emails themselves. More often than not, these emails with white backgrounds tend to be promotional and marketing emails or receipts from purchases.
The issue lies within the HTML code of the email. If the sender has hard-coded 'white' into the email, Gmail cannot override it. Gmail also doesn’t bypass the colour scheme and brand logos of companies. So only the area outside of these hard-coded backgrounds appears dark.
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Gmail Dark Theme Not Working? Here’s How to Fix
The Gmail app’s dark theme on Android generally works as intended. But if it’s not working on your device, try the following fixes:
- Ensure Gmail theme isn't set to Light: Dark mode kicks in only if you select Dark inside Gmail settings. If it is set to ‘System Default’, switch your Android’s settings to Dark mode.
- Clear Gmail cache: Sometimes, the Gmail app’s dark mode may glitch or break. To fix this, clear the app’s cache on Android.
- Quit Gmail and restart: You can try force stopping the app and restarting Gmail.
- Use Expanded Dark mode: Android 17 enables expanded dark mode on apps. You can activate this from the Settings app > Display > Dark Mode > Expanded. This way, even if the Gmail app’s dark theme isn’t working properly, Android 17 will force it to follow the dark theme.
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Why Should You Keep Gmail Always Set to Dark Mode?
Besides giving your eyes respite from the white glare of the screen while reading emails, dark mode on Gmail is also beneficial for your Android phone’s battery. This is especially so on Android phones with AMOLED displays as well as those with OLED screens.
The display technology on these phones turns off individual pixels when they're not in use (for instance, when dark mode is enabled, only the non-black pixels need to light up), and this preserves battery. While it may not be an issue on smartphones with large batteries, Gmail’s dark theme is the ideal setting to conserve battery on most Android phones.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Why isn’t dark mode working in Gmail?
If Dark Mode isn’t working, try clearing the cache and force restarting the Gmail app. Your Gmail app could also be set to follow System default while your Android’s display setting is set to Light. So make sure to switch to Dark theme on Gmail or enable Dark mode from Android's settings.
Why are my emails still white in Gmail dark mode?
Some promotional and marketing emails can appear white if the sender hard-coded the white background to the email HTML. Gmail cannot override this, and such emails will continue to appear white even when Dark theme is enabled.
How do I turn off dark mode in Gmail?
To turn off dark mode, open the Gmail app, go to the 3-lines icon > Settings > Theme and set it to Light.
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