Dark theme lands for Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides on Android

The wave of software and apps that are getting the ‘dark mode’ treatment continues, ceaselessly beating against the default, glaring white of their interfaces.

Google has now announced that its G Suite products – Docs, Sheets, and Slides –are all getting support for Android's system-wide dark theme, as well as their own independent modes. The company claims that this tweak “can make it more usable in low-light environments and save battery life”.

Enabling it is simple – Android users just need to activate the system-wide dark theme (found in their device’s settings), or alternatively navigate to Menu > Settings > Theme > Dark from within either the Docs, Sheets, or Slides apps to activate them independently.

As is the case with the dark theme for Gmail, you can view specific documents or files in light mode if you’d wish to temporarily change the interface. With a document open, navigate to ‘more’, then simply select ‘view in light theme’.

While some Android users may already have the update applied to their device, those that don’t should have it within the next few weeks as Google continues to roll out the changes, however it’s worth noting that this feature is listed for ‘extended rollout’, so it may take longer than two weeks for some.

At the time of writing, there’s no sign on whether iOS versions of the apps will be getting the same dark theme treatment, but we expect it will occur at some point down the line.