Going dark might be the new vogue as it is one of the most requested features in any app landscape.
Most apps have already started incorporating a dark interface subject to their users’ discretion which would help save battery life on smartphones with OLED displays. A lot of first-party apps have gotten dark modes over the past several weeks, including apps like Google calendar, Keep, YouTube, Google Maps, Chrome, Drive and now, Google photos has joined the fray.
Google photos version 4.17.0.249919200 will showcase the new dark interface which would be applicable by a server-side switch and users on non- Android Q devices will be first to experience Google photos Dark mode. This look adopts a dark gray background in place of a full black color.
The search field and bottom navigation are slightly lighter than the main gallery’s dark grey background. The status bar (merged with the Search field) adopted a lighter grey color.
Photos are shown to stand out more and pop while scrolling, with the contrast. The feature is applied throughout the app, including settings, share sheet and the navigation drawer. The only major exception appears to be Google Lens.
There seems to be an expansion of the dark mode beyond all Android Q devices to all users. Many Android Pie users are reporting that it respects the developer option in settings and it has no toggle in Photos to manually disable or enable. It might be karma as only Android Q users are still only ones that can access the dark theme for Google Drive.