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Android 17 Beta 3 lets you control which apps are forced into dark theme

Google is adding a new option in Android 17 Beta 3 that gives users granular control over which apps can be forced into “Expanded” dark theme modes.

Android’s “Expanded Dark Theme” can force an app to show in a darkened theme that, otherwise, it wouldn’t support. While a huge number of apps support a dark theme natively and will swap alongside Android’s system theme, this tool allows the user to force the change.

However, using this tool can result in some issues with readability, so Google is introducing a granular option.

Starting with Android 17 Beta 3, “Expanded” dark theme now has a per-app setting that lets you disable the forced dark mode if a specific app doesn’t work well. It’s a welcome addition as, while it’s nice to be able to use dark mode across all apps, it just doesn’t work all that well in some places.

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The new option can be found in Settings > Display & touch > Dark theme > Expanded.

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Avatar for Ben Schoon Ben Schoon

Ben is a Senior Editor for 9to5Google.

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