But are these leaked screenshots indicative of dark mode, or simply a dark theming for iOS? Will users have a choice?
Dark Mode
It seems unlikely that Apple would only release a dark theme for a few apps and the home screen. After all, that’s a lot of work to just throw out an existing user interface. Some people might act actually prefer the lighter UI. I know, hard to believe, but they may exist.
The screenshots clearly show a dark version of the dock on the home screen, a dark version of the Apple Music app, and a dark version of the screenshot markup tool. Furthermore, according to the person who shared these leaked screenshots with 9to5Mac, iOS’s dark mode will also darken tab bars darker, and automatically switch some app’s backgrounds from white to black.
Dark mode doesn’t just save your eyes from glare at night, it can also improve your sleep and save battery life. Your eyes react to the blue light emitted by screens, slowing melatonin production and keeping you up later. Furthermore, blue light may cause eye damage and eye strain, as your eyes have difficulty focusing on it. Some studies showed blue light can actually damage retinas, though this hasn’t been connected directly to smartphone screens yet.
OLED displays, like those on the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max, use more electricity to light up white pixels than they do black pixels. By using darker colors, you save a significant amount of battery life. A “hack” to enable a sort of dark mode by inverting colors and using grayscale on the iPhone X significantly improved battery life in tests. iOS 13 may bring a huge improvement for battery life for new iPhone owners, although, the iPhone XR will be left out, as it still uses an LED display.
New UI Elements
WWDC 2019
We’ll know all of this for sure later today, when Apple reveals iOS 13 alongside new versions of macOS, watchOS, and tvOS during the opening keynote at WWDC. You’ll be able to learn all about that starting at 1PM eastern, 10am Pacific.
Sources:
- Roger Fingas, AppleInsider
- Guilherme Rambo, 9to5Mac