Enable YouTube dark theme on Android without root or modified APKs

Back in March, Google announced that the YouTube mobile app for Android and iOS would get a dark mode. That dark theme rolled out for iOS users almost immediately but has taken months to reach the Android version. In fact, Google only recently started testing the dark theme for a handful of users. For those of you who like to tinker with your device, you probably know that YouTube’s dark theme has been accessible on Android for months—provided you’re willing to root your device or install a modified APK. For those of you who either don’t want to root your device or sideload a modified version of the YouTube app, you’ll have a long wait ahead of you before the feature rolls out for your device. But if you don’t want to wait, we found a way to enable YouTube for Android’s dark mode without root and without modifying the APK.

If you want your YouTube app on Android to look like this, then read on.

Just like many of our previous tutorials, we’re going to be using a handy tool called “ADB” for this little trick of ours. ADB, or the Android Debug Bridge, is a computer tool that developers use to interface with their device. It offers a bunch of useful debugging tools, one of which allows users to backup and restore their application data. We’re going to be taking advantage of ADB’s backup and restore functionality to forcefully enable YouTube’s dark mode.

Enabling it is a piece of cake—the process should take seconds if you already have ADB set up. If you don’t have ADB set up, you’ll have to go through that process before you can proceed. We recommend you do set up ADB access for your smartphone, though, as it opens up a wide range of hidden customization options that normally aren’t available (such as system-wide, rootless custom themes on Android 8.0 Oreo and Android 8.1 Oreo.) If you’re comfortable with that and want to get YouTube for Android’s dark theme, then here’s how. We’ll explain exactly how this works after the step-by-step instructions.