Puffin for Android: How to Enable Dark Mode

If you’ve used your mobile phone in the dark, you’ll likely have noticed that the screen can be glaringly bright and can ruin your night vision for a little while. One of the big issues with using most apps at night is that the white or other bright background colors make the screen very bright. One solution to this, that most operating systems and many apps now support is known as “dark mode”.

Dark mode is an alternative color scheme that uses dark background colors such as black, dark greys and dark blues. The use of darker background colors can make a significant impact in the brightness of your phone’s screen. Many people also find the effect easier on the eyes, even when using the phone in well-lit environments.

If you have a phone with an OLED or AMOLED display, dark mode can even increase your battery life. Traditional LCD displays use a filter to dim certain colors of light coming from a bright backlight. This means that you can save power by turning the brightness down, but the power usage stays the same, no matter which colors are being displayed. With OLED and AMOLED displays, the pixels emit light directly, rather than filtering a backlight. This means you can also reduce the power usage of the display by displaying darker colors. With black, specifically, the pixels can turn off entirely, meaning almost no power is used by the display.

If you’re using the Puffin browser on Android, then you can enable dark mode via the in-app settings. To be able to access the in-app settings, you first need to tap the triple-dot icon in the top-right corner of the app.

Next, in the top-right corner of the drop-down menu, tap the cogwheel icon to open the settings themselves.

In the settings tap “Themes”, found in the middle of the options list, to open the appearance selection menu.

On the “Themes” page you can choose between the “Light” and “Dark” theme by tapping on the option you prefer; the change will instantly apply.