Here’s how to enable the so-called dark mode in the Facebook Messenger app on both Android and iOS. (Image credit: Bloomberg)
The Facebook Messenger app for Android and iOS is getting a new dark theme. This has been the most-requested feature, and it’s good a dark mode has finally come to the Messenger app for Android and iOS.
The company first announced a dark mode for its Facebook Messenger app at last year’s F8 developer conference.
During the annual developer conference, Facebook said the feature would be coming “very, very soon”. The feature is now available to all users. Here is how to activate Facebook Messenger’s secret dark-mode theme for night viewing.
Facebook Messenger dark mode: Here’s how to turn it on
First, open the Facebook Messenger app on your iPhone or Android smartphone and select any chat thread you want to interact with.
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In the chat thread, type the smiley face icon inside the message compose window. Go to the Emoji tab and try to find the Crescent moon emoji and send it over.
Now it is easier to read your messages at night, as Facebook has started rolling out a new dark mode in its Facebook Messenger app for Android and iOS.
Once done, you will notice an animation with the Crescent moon emoji dropping like rain over your chat. When the animation is over, a message pops up notifying that “You found dark mode” at the top.
Tap it, and you will be taken to the Settings page where you can either turn on or off the so-called dark mode. In case you don’t see the animation when you send the Crescent moon emoji, it is recommended to repeat the process. Hopefully, it should work this time.
There are several advantages with using dark mode, especially at night as it reduced blue light which is believed to be more harmful.
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Night mode or Dark mode is also better for battery life on smartphones, which is another reason why many companies are implementing this natively in the user interface. Samsung has done this with the OneUI as well, where there is a Night mode theme in the user interface. Google is also working on a Night mode with Android Q as well,
Anuj Bhatia is a personal technology writer at indianexpress.com who has been covering smartphones, personal computers, gaming, apps, and lifestyle tech actively since 2011. He specialises in writing longer-form feature articles and explainers on trending tech topics. His unique interests encompass delving into vintage tech, retro gaming and composing in-depth narratives on the intersection of history, technology, and popular culture. He covers major international tech conferences and product launches from the world's biggest and most valuable tech brands including Apple, Google and others. At the same time, he also extensively covers indie, home-grown tech startups. Prior to joining The Indian Express in late 2016, he served as a senior tech writer at My Mobile magazine and previously held roles as a reviewer and tech writer at Gizbot. Anuj holds a postgraduate degree from Banaras Hindu University. You can find Anuj on Linkedin.
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