Enable dark mode on every supported app across your phone

Australians spend more time than ever staring at phones during long commutes through Melbourne's City Loop or lazy Sunday arvos on the couch in Brisbane. Flipping every interface to a darker palette reduces glare, hides fingerprints on the oleophobic coating, and saves a measurable slice of battery on OLED screens. Most of the apps you rely on daily already include a built-in dark theme, but the switches are scattered through nested menus that few people ever explore.

The trick is to work through the layers in the right order, starting with the operating system itself. System-level toggles in iOS and Android tell many third-party apps to follow suit, so getting the foundation right means fewer taps later. From there, you can audit individual apps for overrides, schedule automatic switching at sunset, and clean up the few stubborn programs that ignore the global signal.

This guide walks through the process on both major platforms, then drills into banking, streaming, social, and reading apps commonly used across Australia. It also covers what to do when an app refuses to cooperate.

Start with the operating system first

Before opening any individual app, dig into the system settings. On iPhone, open Settings, tap Display and Brightness, and select Dark under Appearance. Beneath that option is an Automatic toggle that lets you schedule the switch from light to dark based on the local sunset. iOS pulls your location, so the timing works correctly whether you are in Sydney's eastern suburbs or out near Kalgoorlie.

Android users running version 10 or later should head into Settings, then Display, and look for Dark theme or Dark mode. Toggle it on, then return to the same screen to set a schedule if your phone manufacturer exposes one. Phones from Samsung, Google Pixel, Oppo, and Nokia all behave slightly differently here, with some hiding the schedule under Bedtime mode or Digital Wellbeing instead.

The system toggle will quietly flip several pre-installed apps, including the dialer, contacts, calculator, and settings panels. It also nudges apps that respect the system signal, which on modern phones includes most of what you have installed. This single switch often does half the work before you have opened a single third-party app.

Audit the apps you open every day

Next, work through the apps you launch at least once a week. Open each one, hunt for the gear icon, and look for entries labelled Appearance, Theme, Display, or simply Dark mode. Instagram hides its theme toggle under your profile, the three-line menu, then Settings and privacy. WhatsApp puts its option under Chats, then Chat theme, where you can pick System default, Light, or Dark.

Google apps are worth checking individually even after the system toggle. Gmail, Google Maps, Google Drive, and Google Photos each carry their own override tucked into their settings. Same goes for Microsoft Outlook, OneDrive, and Teams. For office workers toggling between Slack and Teams throughout the workday, setting both to the system default usually avoids any jarring flashes when switching contexts.

Do not forget the apps from Australian brands. The CommBank app, the NAB app, and the ANZ app all now offer dark themes, usually under Settings, Display, or Appearance. Woolworths and Coles have added dark modes too, helpful when planning the weekly shop late at night. Coles' dark theme matches the new branding rolled out across stores in 2023, while Woolworths sticks to its classic green on black.

Streaming, gaming, and entertainment apps

Australians who watch a lot of AFL or NRL through Kayo Sports, or who binge British dramas on Binge and Stan, will want each streaming app set to its own dark variant. Netflix and Disney+ follow the system theme automatically, but Stan and Binge both have manual overrides in their playback or general settings. Prime Video behaves similarly to Netflix, falling in line once your phone is in dark mode.

Gaming apps rarely follow system themes. Roblox, Minecraft, and most mobile shooters force their own bright palettes to keep gameplay elements visible. If you mainly use these for chat or menu navigation, look for a Night mode or Comfort view in the in-game settings. Discord, widely used here for gaming communities and even for some university study groups, exposes its theme under User Settings, then Appearance.

Music apps are simpler. Spotify defaults to following the system. YouTube Music and Apple Music do the same. If you listen to Triple J or local podcasts through Pocket Casts, its appearance option sits under Settings, then Interface, and offers a true black theme that is easier on the eyes during evening walks along the Yarra.

Social, messaging, and reading apps

Facebook and Messenger still lag behind the curve. Facebook now respects the system toggle, but Messenger requires you to tap your profile photo, scroll to Appearance, and choose Dark. TikTok defaults to dark mode in most regions, though Australian users have occasionally reported it flipping back to light after updates. Reddit's official app, used heavily by local communities like r/sydney and r/melbourne, follows the system theme but adds a separate Night mode toggle for browsing in low light.

For reading, the Kindle app, Apple Books, and Google Play Books all include dedicated themes including Sepia, Black, and the system default. Pocket, Instapaper, and Readly let you pick a background and text colour. The ABC News app, still a staple for many households checking headlines between coffee and the morning train, offers a manual theme switch buried in Settings, then Display.

If you use an RSS reader like Feedly or Inoreader, both honour the system signal. The same applies to most modern podcast apps, though some still ship with a light-only interface. For text-heavy apps, the system theme handles most of it, but a quick five-minute audit clears up the rest.

Browsers and what to do with the rest

Web browsers deserve their own moment. Safari and Chrome both follow the system toggle, but you can force individual websites to render dark. In Chrome on Android, tap the three-dot menu, then Settings, then Theme, where Dark is one of three options. Safari on iPhone reads a website's colour scheme meta tag, which most major Australian news sites now publish, including the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

Some apps simply refuse to flip. Older government apps, certain transit tools used in Brisbane and Perth, and some small local business apps still ship only with a light interface. When this happens, your best fallback is to use Android's Force Dark mode or iOS's Smart Invert, both of which attempt to invert colours across all apps regardless of support. Smart Invert is found under Accessibility, then Display and Text Size on iPhone, and Force Dark is in Developer options on Android.

If you live somewhere with strong street lighting at night, such as parts of Sydney's CBD or Brisbane's Fortitude Valley, Smart Invert can occasionally make photos look strange. Toggle it off briefly when you need to edit a screenshot or share a photo to Instagram. Otherwise, leave it running for the apps that have nothing else to offer.

Pick up your phone now, open Settings, and switch on the system-wide dark theme before anything else. That single tap sets off a chain reaction across most of the apps you use today, and the rest of the work becomes a quick checklist you can knock over before bed.