[Update: Limited rollout] Twitter’s all-black ‘Lights Out’ mode coming to Android

Ben Schoon | Oct 18 2019 - 10:50 am PT

In recent months, Twitter has been working on a handful of redesigns for its various platforms, and that includes an all-black dark mode for mobile devices. Android users haven’t been able to get access to Twitter’s “Lights Out” mode, but that will apparently change in September.

Update 10/18: As noted by Android Police, Twitter is finally starting to roll “Lights Out” in a very limited capacity.

Only those in the Twitter alpha and beta channels are seeing the update, and even then it seems to be a server-side switch. This is by no means widely available and it’ll probably still be some time until it rolls out to the stable channel. Still, it’s great to finally see some progress on this feature months after it was promised.

Twitter’s VP of design and research, Dantley Davis, mentioned in a tweet this afternoon that the all-black Lights Out mode was on track for Android. As it’s currently looking, the new mode should arrive on the platform sometime in mid-September.

While it’s nice to finally have a date, launching in mid-September puts this several months behind iOS. Twitter’s iPhone and iPad apps picked up the Lights Out mode in March, and a September launch puts Android’s update a full six months behind schedule. In a later reply, Davis says that “prioritization” is the main reason it’s taking so long.

Regardless, one can hope that the Lights Out mode for Android comes sooner rather than later. After all, Android Q is right around the corner, and it brings a system-wide dark theme along with it. Having a true-black theme in Twitter would be an excellent complement to that.

Hey Android users: 'Lights out mode' on Android is on track to ship by mid-September. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming… pic.twitter.com/7ZIuz6ypWk

— Dantley Davis (@dantley) July 24, 2019

Update 9/11: Bad news folks, the “Lights Out” update for Twitter’s Android app has been delayed. Six months after it hit iOS, the update still hasn’t been released for Android. In a follow-up tweet, Dantley Davis confirms that the update is still coming, but it’s been delayed “a bit” as the company works “on polishing the experience.”

On the bright side (or I guess dark in this context), Dantley did offer a preview at the mode.

Update on "Lights Out" for Android: The feature is coming soon, but has been delayed a bit as we work on polishing the experience. Here's a screenshot of the current build. Looking forward to getting this much anticipated feature to Android users. We appreciate your patience. pic.twitter.com/D8kaDqKEU6

— Dantley Davis (@dantley) September 11, 2019