Microsoft introduces new dark mode in Sticky Notes 3.1, fails

2 min. read

Published on October 24, 2018

published on October 24, 2018

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Microsoft’s Sticky Notes app for Windows 10 is getting another fresh coat of paint today. The new version 3.1, which has started rolling out to Skip Ahead Insiders brings what the team calls a “full-on Dark Mode.” When you choose that mode, the app will now use a dark grey background color in the home hub for your notes, similar to the new dark colour that recently appeared in the Windows 10 Mail and Calendar apps.

???????? #WindowsInsiders, Sticky Notes 3.1 is heading to Skip Ahead ????
* We tested the waters with Charcoal Note and you all seemed keen to go even darker. Introducing full-on Dark Mode!
* Sync is even faster now, including to your phone via iOS and Android #OneNote, rolling out now! pic.twitter.com/66BxOnxwh4

— Sticky Notes (@stickynotes) October 24, 2018

While the new dark theme looks nice at first sight, there is definitely a problem with the blue colour that the app uses when you enable “Insights” in settings. This makes urls and dates actionable in the app, but it’s quite a big problem when simple words like “today” or “tomorrow” become almost unreadable because of a dark blue color. Turning off Insights immediately solves the problem, but you can see why the problem in the feature image above.

In addition to the new Dark Mode, Sticky Notes 3.1 also syncs your notes in the cloud even faster, and this should also apply to the new syncing feature with the OneNote app on iOS and Android. That’s pretty nice, but we hope Microsoft will fix the new Dark Mode before rolling out to all Windows 10 users.

Update: The team said today that’s it’s aware of the issue with blue links in Dark mode, and a fix will be released before the public rollout of Sticky Notes 3.1

Thank you for reporting this issue. We are aware of it and will fix before the final release of 3.1.

— Reza Jooyandeh, PhD and stuff (@RezaJooyandeh) October 24, 2018

Radu Tyrsina

Radu Tyrsina has been a Windows fan ever since he got his first PC, a Pentium III (a monster at that time). For most of the kids of his age, the Internet was an amazing way to play and communicate with others, but he was deeply impressed by the flow of information and how easily you can find anything on the web. Prior to founding Windows Report, this particular curiosity about digital content enabled him to grow a number of sites that helped hundreds of millions reach faster the answer they're looking for.