[Update: More widely available] Google Play Store dark theme starts rolling out

Abner Li | Oct 2 2019 - 9:38 pm PT

With the launch of Android 10 at the beginning of September, there are still some major Google apps that have yet to gain a dark theme. The Play Store is now the latest to roll out a dark theme after the last 24 hours saw both the Google app and Gmail.

This dark mode follows the Material Theme Play Store becoming widely available in late August. Following that major overhaul, today’s night-friendly look is easier to implement for Google. The white background primarily switches to dark gray, like other first-party apps.

Update 10/2: There are more reports of the Google Play Store dark theme hitting devices this evening following the initial September 24th sightings. Many Android 10 users are encountering it, but those on 9 Pie and below are not. As of version 16.8.17, there is no toggle in settings to manually control the theme.

This includes the main feed, navigation drawer, and bottom bar, while the search bar uses a lighter shade. Various accent colors throughout have been tweaked and are more muted in hue. This is especially true of the light green when dealing with apps and their Play Store listings, as well as Play Pass. Red for Play Movies & TV and blue for books get the same staid treatment.

Compared to the previous stark background, apps that make edge-to-edge use of rounded square icons really pop. The same can be said of screenshots and other promotional content. Section headers are white, while smaller text and Material Theme icons opt for gray. This dark theme makes browsing editorial content, app listings, and other text-heavy pages in the app easier on the eyes.

The Google Play Store dark theme respects Android 10’s system-level setting and might automatically be applied on your next visit. There are reports of the dark theme enabled with Play Store 16.7.21, which is rolling out right now. However, sideloading the version does not guarantee that the “Theme” preferences will appear in settings. A server-side component in involved, like other Google Play updates.

More Google dark themes:

Dylan Roussel contributed to this article

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