In the Kiwi browser on Android, “Night mode” is a great feature which enables dark mode across all web pages, even for sites that don’t normally support it. Night mode is an expansion of the typical dark mode, by being aware of the flaws of dark modes specific to web browsers.
Dark mode is an alternative color palette that uses dark colors to make a screen appear less bright. The primary advantage of this is that the screen is less glaringly bright when used in the dark. Additionally, some people prefer white text on black or dark backgrounds, finding it easier to read and less straining on the eyes. For users with OLED or AMOLED screens, dark mode even comes with power savings because the light-emitting pixels need to produce less light.
When used in browsers, however, dark mode has a serious limitation. While a browser can set its own interface to a dark theme, they typically load websites with bright white backgrounds, essentially defeating the point. This is where Kiwi’s “Night mode” comes in. Night mode enables dark mode, and overrides the color schemes of websites, changing the background to black and the text to white. For websites with a non-white background, night mode uses a dark color of the default background rather than replacing it with black.
Tip: Changing the color scheme of websites may occasionally cause usability issues. For example, images won’t be affected, this can cause issues for images that use a transparent background and black content.
To configure the appearance of night mode, you need to open the in-app settings. To be able to do so you first need to tap the triple-dot icon in the top-right corner of the app.
In the drop-down menu, you can activate night mode by tapping “Turn on night mode” which will be the fifth option from the top.
To open the settings tap “Settings” which will be the third to last option in the drop-down list.
Once in the settings, tap “Accessibility” to open the correct settings menu.
There are technically two settings you can configure for night mode: “Night mode contrast” and “Grayscale night mode”.
Unfortunately, in testing “Grayscale night mode” appeared to make no difference when enabled or disabled. This may be a bug with the tested version so your mileage may vary. The feature should replace all backgrounds, even colored ones with a black, or grey background, rather than using a darker version of the existing color.
“Night mode contrast” allows you to configure the appearance of night mode. You get a sliding bar allowing you to set a contrast from 85% to 115%. At 85% the website background is a relatively light grey, with the default color of the text, this can be somewhat difficult to read. At 100%, the default setting, the background of the website is black, but the text is not particularly bright; this is perfectly usable, but some people may prefer a higher contrast setting. At 115% the background remains black, but the text is a brighter white making it stand out more.
Simply drag the slider to your preferred position to configure the appearance of night mode.
Tip: To take effect you need to toggle night mode off, and on again.
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