Facebook isn't following the recent dark mode trend in tech anytime soon in its primary social networking app.
All other companies in Silicon Valley have adopted some kind of dark mode in their software. Apple allows users to automatically turn on the feature in both its desktop Mac OS and mobile iOS operating systems as soon as the sun goes down. Google does nearly exactly the same thing in Chrome and Android.
What's Dark Mode For?
All the apps built on those two major platforms offer dark modes, too. The feature is supposed to help save battery life, and only if the device in question is using an OLED screen.
"Dark Mode makes it easier to stay focused on your work because your content stands out while darkened controls and windows recede into the background," Apple said.
Name any popular app, and it probably has a dark mode: Firefox, Slack, Medium, Twitter, and the list goes on and on.
Facebook's own messaging app, Messenger, also has its own dark mode. Whether it's any better or not than previous versions is subjective, but the company has yet to apply the same design language to the main Facebook app anytime soon.
The Facebook App Is In A League Of Its Own
In fact, Facebook seems to be taking the opposite approach: it's making the app even whiter. It could be quite a stand to take as Mark Zuckerberg has historically been one to follow (and copy) the footsteps of its social networking peers.
Take Snap, for example. Both the Facebook and Instagram apps heavily borrowed from the Stories feature from Snapchat. Now more people use the Stories feature on Instagram than on Snapchat's own similar feature and has arguably boosted Instagram to the front runner position of this generation's social media race.
However, Facebook is in a race of its own. A social media behemoth boasting of over 2 billion monthly active users, suddenly flipping a switch to dark mode could have unintended effects. Similarly, Facebook's signature blue branding would not contrast as well with a black background.
White Mode Over Dark Mode
The latest iteration of the Facebook app forgoes much of the company's blue branding. The app has a more minimalist look similar to that of Messenger, with a greater emphasis on the contrast between icons and text on an endless stream of white on the Newsfeed and a user's profile page.
For now, the changes to the Facebook app are yet to be made available to the general public. To test the all-white version of Facebook requires a server-side switch. As with all unreleased software updates, users update at their own risk.
