How to Get Dark Mode for TikTok on Your Phone

With bans looming or already happening across the world, TikTok still remains one of the most popular, entertaining, and addicting apps you can download right now. The problem is, browsing TikTok can be a bit painful at night since everything outside of the video feed uses a bright white theme. Thankfully, dark mode for TikTok is here, but there's a catch.

So What's the Catch?

At this time, only iPhone users can take advantage of TikTok's dark mode. Why TikTok only offers its night-themed feature to iOS users isn't clear. The app clearly has a large user base on Android as well, so we hope that a dark mode Android update is in the works. Android 10's system-wide dark theme setting doesn't do anything, nor does the option to force it within unsupported apps. And inverting colors on Android will invert the videos too, so that's not a good option.

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Make Sure You're Updated

Until Android supports it, you'll need an iPhone running iOS 13 or later with a current TikTok update to go dark, but it should work the same on both devices whenever Android does get a dark mode update. (Note that the "Smart Invert" feature on iOS 12 and under isn't very "smart" for TikTok since it also inverts videos, so we don't recommend that if you're using an older iOS version.)

The Dark Mode Options for TikTok

Tap the "Me" tab in the bottom right, then the ellipsis (•••) in the top right. Now, under General, tap "Dark mode." From here, you can tap "Dark" to switch TikTok's theme instantly. Alternatively, you can toggle on the "Use device settings" switch, which is off by default. Then, whenever you switch on your iPhone's system-wide dark mode (the long way or short way), it'll work for TikTok too.

Switching to "Dark" (left) vs. using "Use device setting" (right).

Switching to "Dark" (left) vs. using "Use device setting" (right).

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If you don't see this settings option in your app, make sure your app is completely up to date. Having a TikTok account shouldn't matter, as we were able to use the dark mode with and without one.

Cover image and GIFs by Jake Peterson/Gadget Hacks