Enable the dark theme in the Android YouTube app

Martin Brinkmann
Sep 7, 2018
Google Android, Youtube
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4

Google began to roll out dark theme support for the company's YouTube application for the Android operating system yesterday.

The company started tests months ago but only a select few Android users got options back then to enable a dark theme in the official YouTube app for Android.

While the majority of users probably don't care about dark theme support in general, a vocal group of users does. Considering that YouTube's app on Android is used by hundreds of millions of users, it is fair to say that the group is particularly large on Android.

Google rollouts tend to be spread over the course of weeks if not months. Android users who run version 13.35.51 of the YouTube app on Android already can toggle between dark theme and the default light theme already.

Users who are still on earlier versions of Android have only two choices: wait until the update lands on the Android device or head over to a mirror site for APK files to install the update right away.

Tip: You can check the version of the installed YouTube application by selecting Profile > Settings > About. Check App Version on the page that opens.

It is still difficult and not super-obvious how to sign out of the YouTube app on Android.

Enable the YouTube dark theme on Android

youtube android dark theme

It is easy enough to toggle between a light and dark theme on YouTube provided that YouTube 13.35.51 or newer is installed on the device.

  1. Tap on the profile icon in the YouTube interface.
  2. Select Settings from the list that is displayed.
  3. Select General on the main Settings page.
  4. There you should see the Dark Theme listing. Just toggle it with a tap to switch between dark and light theme on YouTube.

Changes take effect immediately so that you know right away whether a dark or light theme is activate in the official YouTube app.

You can undo the change at any time by repeating the steps listed above.

YouTube's interface changes lighter colors to dark gray when you activate the dark theme. The font color is a lighter gray and most icons display in gray as well in the app.

The dark theme is activate everywhere in the app after you enable it: in the settings, when you browse video listings, or when you watch individual videos.

Tip: you can enable a dark theme on YouTube on the desktop as well.

Closing Words

Users who prefer darker themes get what they want with the latest update. While it may take weeks before the change lands on all Android devices that YouTube is installed on, the feature will land eventually on all supported devices.

Now You: Do you prefer light or dark themes?

Summary
Enable the dark theme in the Android YouTube app
Article Name
Enable the dark theme in the Android YouTube app
Description
Prefer a dark theme for YouTube instead of the default light theme? Find out how to enable dark theme in the YouTube app for Android.
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Ghacks Technology News
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Comments

  1. LOL said on April 25, 2023 at 2:35 pm
    Reply

    Recently, I had an error with Google Play, I have a Xiaomi Redmi 10C with Android 12 and I’m not sure if it was the phone that caused this or not. The error was basically sometimes when I try to download an app or update one, it would sit in a “pending…” state almost indefinitely and sometimes it would fix itself on its own, sometimes I had to restart the phone, sometimes restarting wouldn’t do anything. I ignored it because eventually the apps would install/update themselves, but recently I received a firmware update for MIUI and I think after that the “pending…” error disappeared.

    I wonder if anyone else had this in the past month…

  2. zon14 said on June 23, 2023 at 6:16 pm
    Reply

    Well, tried everything here and the error still persists. Have a feeling Google bolloxed something and now we all need yet another update for the bug fix.

    1. Peter said on June 26, 2023 at 12:10 am
      Reply

      I have the same problem

      1. Truby said on June 28, 2023 at 7:15 am
        Reply

        Same here

    2. Al Ades said on July 4, 2023 at 6:02 pm
      Reply

      Exactly. Went through all the steps above and checked my GOOG account directly and through Samsung DeX. Unfixable at this point. My son suggested jailbreaking…not a smart idea with possible catastrophic data loss.

    3. Raj kuamr said on July 10, 2023 at 1:33 am
      Reply

      Play store problam

  3. Borked said on June 25, 2023 at 11:44 pm
    Reply

    Same here. Strange thing is, I can tap my photo icon at upper right and update apps as usual from “Manage apps & device”. Also, I’m able to search for apps using the top bar with no issues.

    The monthly firmware update was late this month, so I can’t help but think something got borked by applying that.

  4. Gary Garibaldi said on June 27, 2023 at 1:49 am
    Reply

    Same problem here. Tried all above and other methods found on the internet. Ended up resetting the phone and it worked for 3 days and just started up again. I believes google broke something an an update. I’ll wait for a further update, just hope it comes soon. I’ve already dumped Windows 11 for a MacBook 13 Pro. Guess I’ll look into iPhones. Phone Samsung Galaxy S22 on T-Mobile.

  5. Angelbabe1uk said on June 27, 2023 at 1:59 am
    Reply

    My s23 ultra did android update yesturday and now im getting this error
    Ive tried all the fixes listed non work
    I to can tap my pic in store and update that way but when i load up the store it still shows the error listed here

  6. Anonymous said on July 6, 2023 at 5:56 pm
    Reply

    I have tried all above and nothing worked…then I was playing around in the Settings-> Authentication and I turned on the ‘Biometric Authentication for Google Play purchases on this device’. AND NOW IT WORKS!!!!!

  7. Kelly said on August 3, 2023 at 6:28 pm
    Reply

    Pixel phone has this issue, tried all of the above and still not fixed

  8. Otto said on August 18, 2023 at 4:31 am
    Reply

    Nothing worked on N100

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