With the introduction of several social networking platforms throughout the world during the 2010s, people took an active interest in connecting to a global population slowly. It has been a long time since then, and many such platforms have come and gone, some have merged, and so on. Instagram is an American application that first hit the market in 2010, more than ten years ago. It is primarily known for its photo and video sharing social media service.
Instagram just like other social networking applications has come a long way when it comes to developmental advancements. A few examples would be the introduction of other aspect ratios other than the signature Instagram 1:1, the addition of the story feature like that in Snapchat, bringing in the messaging features. But one thing that was constantly requested by the users was the dark mode on Instagram. It is nothing but a very basic change of the color scheme of the application that has been there since the beginning. From the extensive white-themed-everything, one could now shift to a darker shade of black and grey and still use Instagram just like before. Dark Instagram is an alternative color theme that the app had introduced in the latter half of 2019. One of the major contents of this article is how to have a dark mode on Instagram, whether your device is compatible with the dark mode, and many of its uses and risks, if any. Let us start with,
How to Enable Dark Mode on Instagram?
Here is how you switch to dark mode on Instagram, for Android users
- First things first, you have to locate your settings icon and go to your phone settings page.
- Next, you have to scroll down and go to the ‘Display’ option.
- It depends on the particular cell phone that you use, but you have to look out for the available options, and then finally click on ‘Dark theme’.
- Once you follow all these options serially, just tap on the app to launch it. You are all set to enjoy the Instagram Dark mode Android version.
How to turn on dark mode in Instagram, for iOS users?
- Similar to the first step in the case of Android devices, you have to click on the settings icon on your Apple device.
- Now, you have to locate the ‘display and brightness’ option and click on it, to make the necessary changes to your Instagram display, after one more intermediary step.
- In ‘display and brightness’, tap on ‘Dark’ to change your phone’s theme. You have to keep in mind that the apps that support the dark version will automatically switch to it, then.
- Finally, launch the app and you will notice the change that you had just made. You are thus good to go with dark Instagram in your I-device
Check If Your Device Is Compatible With Dark Mode on Instagram
Instagram dark mode iOS compatibility
After opening your phone settings, tap on ‘General’. Next up, click on ‘About’. This is where you can check your iOS version under ‘Version’. If you are currently on an iOS version of 13 or above, you can enjoy the features of dark Instagram.
Instagram dark mode Android compatibility
Tap on the ‘settings’ icon, on your Android device. Once you click on ‘About Phone’, you will have a set of information regarding your phone’s hardware and specifications. This is where you will find the Android version of your device. Instagram has introduced its dark feature only for Android 10 and above users. However, Android users have an added advantage. If you have the latest version of Instagram downloaded on your phone, then you would be able to switch to the dark mode, from within the application, even if your Android Operating System is backdated.
Dark Modes on Other Applications
In the recent past, there has been news regarding a lot of software developers who are rolling out dark modes for their cell phone applications. Facebook bought Instagram in 2012 and starting from Instagram to Messenger, which is Facebook’s texting application, and WhatsApp, everything is owned by Facebook now. However, quite interestingly, both Messenger and Instagram have dark modes available but Facebook yet has not given this feature a thumbs up. Nonetheless, according to various reports, Facebook is testing this feature on its interface. In other news, WhatsApp is also experimenting with the dark mode and this was noticed for a short time in one of its beta versions. Gmail and Google Chrome are also amongst the other apps that offer its users the dark mode.
Now that you all are aware of how to turn on dark mode on Instagram, the discussion surely goes beyond that. Let us get a bit more insight about the Dark mode.
It is very interesting to note that old computer screens were already in a default dark mode. This means in earlier days, computer screens had white text on a black background, thanks to the working of the early cathode ray tubes, it was like this. But with time, people who were not into programming also began to explore computers. This is when the shift to black text on white background happened, just like regular paper. However, along with searching for how to enable dark mode on Instagram, let us also know about the relationship between dark modes with that of your eyes.
Effect on Your Eyes
Scientifically speaking, dark modes could cause a bit of more effort to read something, if compared to regular screen viewing. However, with the increasing number of hours a person spends over their cell phone in general, the on-time in dark bedrooms have also increased. It is proven that a bright glare of white in a dark environment for a long time, causes irreparable harm to your eyes. With most of the screen being black, the screen glare along with invisible flickering and blue light emissions are on a significant downer. The case might be a bit better for dark modes, but it surely is not an alternative to the harm phone glares cause to your eyes in general.
Effect on Phone Battery
With the introduction of OLED and AMOLED screens, battery consumption has anyway decreased. LCD screens always had to remain backlit, and on the contrary, OLED or AMOLED screens only illuminate those pixels which demand to be illuminated. Along with that surveys conclude that dark pixels consume less battery than bright white pixels. Hence, taking the example of Instagram itself, if the dark mode on Instagram takes up a certain level of power, the light mode or the regular mode, for the same amount of online time, will take up significantly more battery charge.
Cons of the Dark Mode
In brightly lit conditions, white text on dark background reduces the crispness of the text making it look washed out and un-sharp. All of these issues increase eye fatigue in general.
Many consumers of dark mode had mentioned that it becomes increasingly difficult for them to concentrate on their phones for a long time with this feature on. Hence, going through long pieces of content or readable text pose a challenge in dark mode.
The dark mode is fairly a new feature on Instagram and other applications. We learnt how to have dark mode on Instagram and also became aware of compatibility issues of the same. If you choose to use this feature, it is also important to know what exactly this feature is doing to you, including the cons. However, dark mode in Instagram is worth a try because of its chic-looking, eye-strain-reducing and battery-saving factors.
