Many trends have popped up this year, as they tend to do every year, but if we had to pick a defining one for 2019 it may be the "dark mode".
Dark modes reportedly lessen the strain on your eyes and your device battery. Both Google and Apple are rolling out system-wide dark modes across their operating systems and devices, and even apps and services like Twitter have begun to adopt dark modes themselves. The latest one to hop on the bandwagon is Slack, which has rolled out a dark mode for all versions of its app.
How Slack's dark mode works
Slack has always offered a traditional light theme, comprised of white and brown backgrounds with colourful accents.
Now, with dark mode, you get 10 new Slack themes, which are predominately grey and black, though some have darker hues of yellow, green, etc. “Dark Mode is an important feature for lots of people,” explained Slack. “It’s helpful for working at night or in low-light, and we know many need it for accessibility reasons like visual impairments, migraines or other visual disorders.”
Here are the new dark mode themes on Slack:
- Aubergine
- Aubergine Classic
- Dagobah
- Monument
- Choco Mint
- Ochin
- Work Hard
- Nocturne
- Accessible theme: Tritanopia
- Accessible theme: Protanopia and Deuteranopia
If you're not seeing the new dark mode, make sure you're running the latest version of the Slack app.
How to turn on dark mode on Slack
Dark mode is device-specific. In other words, changing to dark mode on the desktop app won’t sync with Slack on the browser or mobile app.
Desktop
- From your desktop, click your workspace name in the top left.
- Select Preferences from the menu.
- Select Themes, and click Dark.
iOS
- Swipe left to open the right sidebar.
- Tap Settings.
- Toggle on Dark Mode.
Android
- Tap the Overflow Menu.
- Tap Settings.
- Under General, tap Dark Mode.
When will Slack's dark mode be available?
Dark mode for the desktop Slack app is available now for Windows, macOS, and Linux systems. It arrives months after the same feature appeared on the iOS and Android versions of Slack earlier this year.
You may need to update or relaunch your Slack desktop app to find the new dark mode options in the themes part of settings.