Dark mode is finally coming to Microsoft’s Outlook app for iOS and Android, which is one of the most popular email clients on mobile devices. Dark mode has become a popular request from users after now that Windows 10 and macOS both have a system wide dark mode setting, and Microsoft had previously added dark mode options to its Office desktop apps, Outlook on the web, as well as Microsoft Teams.
“A cross-company design collaboration propels us to seamlessly bring Dark Mode to the broader M365 product suite, and today marks the initial rollout of Dark Mode on Outlook for iOS and Android, as well as Office.com! The upcoming launch of iOS 13 will then extend this rollout to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint, OneDrive, Planner, and To-Do on mobile,” wrote John Friedman, Head of Microsoft Office design on the Microsoft Design blog.
Microsoft also published a beautiful video showcasing how it plans to implement dark mode across Microsoft 365.
This Fall, both iOS 13 and Android 10 will introduce a new dark theme option that will apply to apps running on your device, and the Outlook mobile will respect your system settings and automatically switch to dark mode if you enabled in system settings. But as of today, the Outlook mobile app will also automatically switch to dark mode once you turn on battery saver on your device.
Dark mode has several benefits, and it’s definitely easier on the eyes in low-light environments. Moreover, it can also reduce power usage on devices with AMOLED screens. “We brought designers together from across the company to create a common Dark Mode experience for all our mobile and web apps,” explained Friedman, and that should lead to a more consistent rollout compared to the one for Microsoft’s new Fluent Design language.
Microsoft is starting with the Office mobile apps and Outlook.com today, but dark mode will also come to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for iOS following the launch of iOS 13 next month. Eventually, Microsoft also plans to bring dark mode to the SharePoint, OneDrive, Planner, and Microsoft To-Do mobile apps, as well as OneDrive and Microsoft Planner on the web.
We’re not seeing the new dark mode in the Outlook mobile app yet, but you should pay attention to app updates on the iOS and Android app stores.
