Most browsers nowadays come with their built-in dark mode toggles and they also usually follow the System-wide dark theming. When turned on, the browsers appear dark including all webpages too. But the Chrome browser usually comes a bit different.
If you turn on Dark Mode on the Google Chrome browser or say you turn on the system-wide dark theme, all sections of the browser (Home page, Settings page, Menu page, etc) will turn dark but web contents (google search) still remain white (or in other colours) except those that come in dark or that have built-in dark mode toggles.
To make Google display all web contents in dark mode, you have to turn on the toggle from Chrome’s hidden Settings page. This is what we’ll be doing in this article. Though turning on Dark Mode from the hidden Settings page is the most efficient, we will also show you an alternative way of turning dark theme (or themes of other colours) on the Chrome desktop variant and other browsers that support extensions, whether desktop or mobile – this is of course with the use of browser extensions.
How To Enable Dark Mode On Google Chrome And Its Variants
Google has been gradually rolling out dark mode for its web pages for quite some time now and the feature has reached a lot of users irrespective of the browser been used to access Google search. The dark mode for google search is activated by default but if the dark mode is not already enabled for you then, below are a few workarounds.
1. Update Your Browser
The first you should try is to update your web browser to the latest version. Running the latest version means that you also get all the new features released for all users including the dark mode for web content.
To update your Chrome browser, simply click on the three-dot at the top right corner of the browser to display the list of available options and settings. Hover your cursor on the help option and click on ‘About Google Chrome’.
You will be taken to Google Chrome about page and the browser will do a quick check for new updates, if found, the updates will be downloaded and installed automatically.
However, if you are running the latest version of Chrome and still not getting dark mode on your google search, try the other solutions below.
2. Enable Dark Mode From Chrome’s Hidden Settings
To bring out a set of hidden settings on Chrome (whether the desktop or mobile variant) where even dark mode is found, paste to the address bar the following link and press enter: chrome://flags/. In the search bar, type dark mode and from the results, scroll to find Force Dark Mode for Web Contents/ Auto Dark Mode for Web Contents.
Alternatively, to go to the dark mode setting directly, enter the address below on Chrome’s address bar and press enter: chrome://flags/#enable-force-dark. Once you have either of the two options, click on the drop menu carrying Default next to Force Dark Mode for Web Contents. Now choose Enabled from the options.
Now, click on Relaunch at the bottom. That’s it. You have successfully set dark mode on the Chrome browser.
To disable the dark theme, just follow a similar procedure. Choose Default or Disabled from the options and then Relaunch.
3. Using Browser Extensions/Plugins
Browser extensions/plugins are like apps meant for browsers. They are used to increase the functioning and powers of a browser. Though common for desktop browsers, some few mobile browsers like Kiwi and Yandex have the ability to use these plugins – though many won’t work as intended or won’t work at all.
We can use theming extensions to set themes on supported browsers. Apart from the dark themes, some are capable of providing different theming colours that will give your browser and webpages a nicer look. Below are two webpage theming extensions (there are many others that you can test out).
a. Eye Protector
This is one of my best webpage theming extensions. It provides colours apart from black. You can also blacklist websites that you don’t want the extension to the theme. If you use Chrome desktop browser or any other browser that supports Chrome extensions, then access Eye Protector by 久远寺千歳 here.
b. Night Eye
This is a dark mode theming extension that you can use to make web pages appear dark. You can also blacklist websites that you don’t want the extension to the theme. If you use Chrome desktop browser or any other browser that supports Chrome extensions, then access Night Eye by nighteye.app here.
That’s it on how to enable dark mode on webpages in Google Chrome. Please like and share this post if you find it helpful. Drop a comment below if you have any questions or doubts.
