How to Enable Dark Mode on Mac - MacRumors
Skip to Content

How to Enable Dark Mode on Mac

by

MacOS includes a Dark Mode option that works across the entire system, from the dock and menu bar to all of your apps.

Here's how to turn on ‌Dark Mode‌:

  1. Choose System Preferences on the menu bar. applesystempreferences
  2. Select General. systempreferences
  3. In the "Appearance" section at the top of the window, click the "Dark" option. darkmodetoggle

Those are the only steps required to enable ‌Dark Mode‌. If you want to turn it off again, follow the same steps but this time choose the "Light" option.

While in Dark mode, the dock, menu bar, and all of your Apple apps, including Safari, Mail, Calendar, Notes, the Mac App Store, Messages, and more will feature darker colors and themes. ‌Dark Mode‌ will need to be built into third-party Mac apps that don't already offer a dark option when macOS Mojave is released.

Related Forum: macOS Mojave

Top Rated Comments

Internet Enzyme Avatar
105 months ago
What I don’t understand is why there isnt a keyboard shortcut or a menu bar toggle or an automatic night-shift esque switching into dark mode. I feel like those are all very obvious features that shouldn’t require a year for macOS 10.15 to be in the OS
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
105 months ago
I don‘t understand why everyone seems to like dark mode. It does look cool, but my eyes are irritated after less than a minute when reading white text on dark background.
Dark mode is not meant for casual users, it meant to be use by individuals that spend a lot of time in front of an screen, developers, frontend dudes, designers, etc...adobe For example has a dark mode, most code IDE’s have a dark mode and it’s welcomed by everyone that uses them.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
m0sher Avatar
105 months ago
I’d rather have Dark mode option for iOS please.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TantalizedMind Avatar
105 months ago
WHY IS THERE NO DARK MODE FOR iOS?!!!!!!
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MacHiavelli Avatar
105 months ago
Lots of dark applications on top of each other are very difficult to distinguish between: there is no sense of depth or layering (as yet).

And in light mode, it would be nice to still have an option for a dark menu bar and dock.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kriebe Avatar
105 months ago
I'm really excited about this for many reasons, but the first thing that popped in my head was that I finally get back the black background for all of my photos that was lost from the switch from iPhoto to Photos. It's so much easier to look at a ton of photos on a black background compared to a white one. There's a reason why almost all TVs and Monitors have a dark bezel.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iPhone 18 Pro Deep Red Feature

iPhone 18 Pro Launching in Two Months With These 12 New Features

Friday July 17, 2026 10:39 am PDT by
It is now mid-July, and that means the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are now just two months away. The devices are expected to look similar to the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, but there will still be many year-over-year changes, with rumored features including a smaller Dynamic Island, 5G via satellite, and more. Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, ...
iCloud General Feature Redux

Apple Raises iCloud+ Prices in 8 Countries

Friday July 17, 2026 11:56 am PDT by
Apple has increased the price of iCloud+ in Nigeria, Türkiye, Vietnam, Japan, Egypt, New Zealand, the Philippines, and Indonesia, according to an updated version of its iCloud support document. Price increases range from 11 percent to 55 percent depending on the plan and the country. Nigeria saw the biggest hike, and a 50GB plan is now ₦1,300, up from ₦900. Türkiye saw the next largest...
Apple AppleCare One Feature

'AppleCare One' is Now Even More Valuable

Saturday July 18, 2026 6:25 am PDT by
While the monthly and annual prices of AppleCare+ plans for Macs and iPads received a slight increase this week, AppleCare One continues to start at $19.99 per month in the U.S., making the multi-device plan even more valuable. Launched in July 2025, AppleCare One allows you to cover up to three devices as part of a single subscription for $19.99 per month, and additional devices can be...