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Futhark

macrumors 65816
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Jun 12, 2011
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So we’ve now seen dark mode and how awesome it looks on MacOS. Does anyone else think this is coming to iOS this year too but it’s not going to be shown off until September when they unveil the new iPhone?
 

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So we’ve now seen dark mode and how awesome it looks on MacOS. Does anyone else think this is coming to iOS this year too but it’s not going to be shown off until September when they unveil the new iPhone?

No. Maybe in 2019 WWDC 2019. My opinion, as long as smart invert exist, I don’t see Apple venturing with dark mode.
 

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But they’ve done the ground work for it already in macOS so it wouldn’t be too hard to bring to iOS

There is so much speculation, there is no easy way to know what Apple will or will not do. I always see it that they treat every version of OS differently. Its Apple, they are unpredictable and they know that, and that’s the way they will continue to be.
 
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Futhark

macrumors 65816
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Jun 12, 2011
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There is so much speculation, there is no easy way to know what Apple will or will not do. I always see it that they treat every version of OS differently. Its Apple, they are unpredictable and they know that, and that’s the way they will continue to be.

TBH it’s a feature to me if it happens it happens and I’d not lose any sleep over if it didn’t come but it seems to be a huge request from a lot of users. Having said that I’ve installed macOS Mojave and Dark Mode does look sweet!
 

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TBH it’s a feature to me if it happens it happens and I’d not lose any sleep over if it didn’t come but it seems to be a huge request from a lot of users. Having said that I’ve installed macOS Mojave and Dark Mode does look sweet!

This is just my theory, but I always suggest to send Apple feedback on what the users want to see, that doesn’t mean they will grant the request, but Apple does listen to their customer base with certain things. I think that’s the best way to express yourself, because they likely will never know that you created a thread on this subject.
 
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Futhark

macrumors 65816
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Jun 12, 2011
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This is just my theory, but I always suggest to send Apple feedback on what the users want to see, that doesn’t mean they will grant the request, but Apple does listen to their customer base with certain things. I think that’s the best way to express yourself, because they likely will never know that you created a thread on this subject.

It’s not a feature request for me otherwise like you said I would be following the proper channels to do so. It’s purely for discussion purposes as I feel it’s something that could show up come September :)
 

Yun0

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Jun 12, 2013
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Eventually.. clearly we need to make more noise at Apple.

Remember when people were like "it won't come till OLED iPhone X", uh huh...
 

macduke

macrumors G5
Jun 27, 2007
13,171
19,736
I think they're redesigning the UI and home screen next year and punted it to then so they don't have to make a dark mode that matches iOS 7-12 aesthetic and one that matches iOS 13 and beyond. They can just focus on the future. That being said, it would have been nice if they had first done this a couple years ago instead. I think the original plan was for it to be done this year and as the rumors suggest, we probably didn't get everything this year that was originally planned.
 

DNichter

macrumors G3
Apr 27, 2015
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Philadelphia, PA
I think they're redesigning the UI and home screen next year and punted it to then so they don't have to make a dark mode that matches iOS 7-12 aesthetic and one that matches iOS 13 and beyond. They can just focus on the future. That being said, it would have been nice if they had first done this a couple years ago instead. I think the original plan was for it to be done this year and as the rumors suggest, we probably didn't get everything this year that was originally planned.

That's a very good point that I didn't even think about. I am sure it was planned for this year, but might as well just fix the iOS 11 issues and do everything next year.
 
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palmerc2

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Feb 29, 2008
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No. Maybe in 2019 WWDC 2019. My opinion, as long as smart invert exist, I don’t see Apple venturing with dark mode.

I wasn't aware of smart invert until yesterday, and I activated it for kicks....I don't really see myself using it. It still inverts the colors on images on many apps. I believe a proper dark theme is required.
 
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44267547

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I wasn't aware of smart invert until yesterday, and I activated it for kicks....I don't really see myself using it. It still inverts the colors on images on many apps. I believe a proper dark theme is required.

Perhaps smart invert is a way of showing that Apple might be slowly merging onto iOS with dark mode. But I don’t use smart invert either.
 

iTom17

macrumors 6502a
Aug 2, 2013
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Eindhoven, the Netherlands
It is possible that they'll introduce it with the next iPhone line-up, and maybe it'll come to the current iPhone X as well. I mean, it wouldn't be the first time a new software feature is introduced with a new iPhone, that comes to an older version as well. Take panorama photos for instance: introduced with iPhone 5, but made its way to iPhone 4s as well.

So I'm still hopeful for dark mode on iPhone X.
 

macduke

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Jun 27, 2007
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That's a very good point that I didn't even think about. I am sure it was planned for this year, but might as well just fix the iOS 11 issues and do everything next year.
Furthermore, macOS X was redesigned a year after iOS and already had a halfway implemented dark mode. It was probably a lot less work to do it on macOS. It will probably be several more years before we get another moderate to significant macOS design update anyway. The current look is pretty good for a desktop OS.
 
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JPack

macrumors G5
Mar 27, 2017
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It is possible that they'll introduce it with the next iPhone line-up, and maybe it'll come to the current iPhone X as well. I mean, it wouldn't be the first time a new software feature is introduced with a new iPhone, that comes to an older version as well. Take panorama photos for instance: introduced with iPhone 5, but made its way to iPhone 4s as well.

So I'm still hopeful for dark mode on iPhone X.

Dark mode implementation requires heavy lifting from app developers to ensure the color palette works on each app. Unlike panorama, dark mode isn't something Apple can work on behind the scenes and flip on suddenly.

If Apple wanted dark mode, they would have announced it during WWDC where millions of developers were tuned in.
 

kevmclane

macrumors regular
Sep 16, 2017
130
406
Not sure if anyone noticed, but the lock screen UI switches to dark mode when you’re in Do Not Disturb While Driving.
C95D23E6-0220-48C4-9544-0E30B10A525A.jpeg
 
It is possible that they'll introduce it with the next iPhone line-up, and maybe it'll come to the current iPhone X as well. I mean, it wouldn't be the first time a new software feature is introduced with a new iPhone, that comes to an older version as well. Take panorama photos for instance: introduced with iPhone 5, but made its way to iPhone 4s as well.

So I'm still hopeful for dark mode on iPhone X.

Dark mode implementation requires heavy lifting from app developers to ensure the color palette works on each app. Unlike panorama, dark mode isn't something Apple can work on behind the scenes and flip on suddenly.

JPack, I'm no developer, but I don't see it that way at all. 3rd party apps have always had their own "personality" and I'm guessing that many (if not most) wouldn't bother with any sort of dark mode, even assuming it is an API thing (but I don't think that's a certainty). I see dark mode as being more about the system-level UI and Apple's built in apps. 3rd parties just do their own thing and many have already implemented a dark mode anyway.

Here's my theory... I think it is highly likely that Dark Mode would be restricted to OLED displays (advertised as a battery efficiency, but in reality it will be a another upsell for iPhone X). From that perspective it TOTALLY makes sense they wouldn't have announced it at WWDC. iOS 12 now with Dark Mode....... Except for iPhone 5s, SE, 6, 6+, 7, 7+, 8, 8+, iPad Air, iPad Air 2, iPad Pro 9.7, iPad Pro 10.5, iPad Pro 12.9 1st and 2nd gen, iPad 5, iPad 6, iPad mini 2, 3, 4, and iPad Touch. To announce a visual change that only 1 device out of the 21 different iOS 12 models just doesn't make sense, and would likely get a ton of negative press for "crippling" all their other products.

What I think will happen is when iPhone X2 get announced apple will make a huge deal about a new dark mode which "yields a xx% battery savings not to mention looks awesome!". And THEN it'll be an exciting "And for all of you current iPhone X users, this dark mode will be made available to you to gain these newly developed efficiencies as well!" And the whole world shouts "hurrah for actually including some older models instead of crippling older models!" as everyone falls for Apple's neat little trick!

I know you might say "but apple spent a lot of time on animoji and memoji which is an iPhone X exclusive!" And while that might be true, it makes sense because a) there are more obvious/reasonable reasons for excluding other models, and b) this is already a current feature (exclusively) on iPhone X so it makes sense to just talk about how it's expanding.

Again I really don't believe that dark mode is a capability that devs would need to know about ahead of time, because it's basically just going to be all of Apple's apps/system features. Many apps already have a dark mode, so devs are already deciding whether or not they wanna do dark mode regardless of what apple does (although undoubtadly if apple does it, a few more devs will follow suit than would have otherwise).
 

JPack

macrumors G5
Mar 27, 2017
12,626
23,494
JPack, I'm no developer, but I don't see it that way at all. 3rd party apps have always had their own "personality" and I'm guessing that many (if not most) wouldn't bother with any sort of dark mode, even assuming it is an API thing (but I don't think that's a certainty). I see dark mode as being more about the system-level UI and Apple's built in apps. 3rd parties just do their own thing and many have already implemented a dark mode anyway.

Here's my theory... I think it is highly likely that Dark Mode would be restricted to OLED displays (advertised as a battery efficiency, but in reality it will be a another upsell for iPhone X). From that perspective it TOTALLY makes sense they wouldn't have announced it at WWDC. iOS 12 now with Dark Mode....... Except for iPhone 5s, SE, 6, 6+, 7, 7+, 8, 8+, iPad Air, iPad Air 2, iPad Pro 9.7, iPad Pro 10.5, iPad Pro 12.9 1st and 2nd gen, iPad 5, iPad 6, iPad mini 2, 3, 4, and iPad Touch. To announce a visual change that only 1 device out of the 21 different iOS 12 models just doesn't make sense, and would likely get a ton of negative press for "crippling" all their other products.

What I think will happen is when iPhone X2 get announced apple will make a huge deal about a new dark mode which "yields a xx% battery savings not to mention looks awesome!". And THEN it'll be an exciting "And for all of you current iPhone X users, this dark mode will be made available to you to gain these newly developed efficiencies as well!" And the whole world shouts "hurrah for actually including some older models instead of crippling older models!" as everyone falls for Apple's neat little trick!

I know you might say "but apple spent a lot of time on animoji and memoji which is an iPhone X exclusive!" And while that might be true, it makes sense because a) there are more obvious/reasonable reasons for excluding other models, and b) this is already a current feature (exclusively) on iPhone X so it makes sense to just talk about how it's expanding.

Again I really don't believe that dark mode is a capability that devs would need to know about ahead of time, because it's basically just going to be all of Apple's apps/system features. Many apps already have a dark mode, so devs are already deciding whether or not they wanna do dark mode regardless of what apple does (although undoubtadly if apple does it, a few more devs will follow suit than would have otherwise).

I agree September 2018 is a possibility for dark mode.

Although I find it somewhat hard to believe the 2018 OLED iPhone requires this level of feature rationing to sell units. Compared to the 6.1" LCD iPhone, the 2018 OLED iPhone already stands on its own by having two cameras, more RAM, 3D Touch, and a better display. Does Apple really need to ration dark mode to OLED devices? The upcoming iPad Pro with Face ID will also be LCD-based.
 

Hater

macrumors 6502a
Sep 20, 2017
898
884
Edinburgh, Scotland
Jailbreak dark mode has been available forever and works well, unlike Smart Invert which inverts pictures and things, making it unusable.

If the jailbreakers can get it done, it won't be much of an issue for Apple to do it.
 
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