[Update: Assistant too] Google app testing full dark theme for Search, Discover

Abner Li | Jun 11 2019 - 8:30 am PT

Back in April, our APK Insight spotted a dark mode in development for the Google app. This new look for Discover and Google Search is now beginning to roll out for some users running the latest beta release from Friday.

When rolled out to your device, visiting Settings > General will reveal a “Dark theme” menu as the penultimate item on the list. “Enable dark theme” lets users select Never, Follow system setting (battery saver), or Always.

The Google app dark mode starts on the main Discover tab where the white background is replaced by shades of gray, rather than true black for AMOLED screens. The four-color Google logo is swapped out for a white variant, while the faint outline of the Search bar is now also gray.

Cards are similarly themed, and match the Discover feed to the left of the homescreen, like on the Pixel Launcher. The bottom bar features a dark background while the icons and text labels are faint gray. Other tabs, as well as settings, are also darkened as a result of this mode.

The most striking impact of the dark theme is in Google Search. Everything is gray with Search result cards being slightly lighter than the background. Headlines/page names adopt a darker shade of blue, while the text is dark gray. The site favicons that Google recently introduce unfortunately stick out given that most are square on white backgrounds.

Update: Google Assistant, the Updates tab, and other related settings also get the dark treatment. (Thanks Marissa!) The last screenshot in the gallery below shows a dark theme for the Assistant panel on Android Q.

A reader (thanks Judd!) on a Moto Z2 Play running Android Oreo and the beta Google app sent in these screenshots today. The Google app dark mode is rolling out as part of a server-side update as it is not yet live on several Pixel devices we checked running Pie and Q.