Google shuts down the dream of a dark mode for Android

Keen Android users who’ve been following a
from November of last year celebrated an exciting new development today. The thread, in which a user asked about a dark mode to improve battery life on Android phones with OLED screens, had been marked “fixed,” with a Google employee saying the Android engineering team had added this feature and that it would “be available in a future Android release.”
Unfortunately, Google now says that was a mistake. “Unfortunately, this bug was closed prematurely due to a miscommunication with the team that handles AOSP issues,” the company said in a statement given to Android Police. “What we have added in a future Android release is a developer-facing setting (via Developer Options) to toggle the -night UI mode qualifier, which will make it easier for developers to create and test apps that implement night mode.” Google added that “if it’s any consolation, we will also not be adding Hot Dog Mode (where all UI elements are yellow and red),” which is clearly not any consolation at all.