Night mode still here, but dark theme goes away in latest Android N preview [Diving into Android N] (updated)

Update (5/19):  Okay, so we jumped the gun a bit. Looking around more, the night mode is still very much here and is now found through a simple toggle in the quick settings. What’s gone, however, is the dark theme. Clicking on night mode turns down the brightness and adds a red tint, making it easier to see. But with the dark theme gone, backgrounds will remain white and not black. Whether this gets re-added in the final release remains unseen.

What’s with Google and Android‘s dark mode? We first talked about it back during the ‘Diving into Android M’ article series, but it disappeared and never made it to Marshmallow’s final release. Then we found out it was back with Android N, but now that the latest developer preview beta release is out we come bearing bad news, which may keep you up at night (just like your display). Dark mode is gone… again.

We have gone through the new software release and the night mode is nowhere to be found. We find this pretty odd, as Google does seem to be putting a good amount of effort into this feature. Aside from being moved to the System UI Tuner, dark mode was actually improved.

Diving into Android N features: 

• New app switching and split-screen changes in Dev Preview 2
• ‘Clear all’ finally added to recent apps, new look for folders
• Freeform windows
• Recent apps gets a few new tricks and tweaks

Last time we checked, we were able to opt for either a black UI, a white one with a a red tint or even something as simple as a lower brightness.

As we have told you in the past, it’s still too early to tell whether this dark mode will make it to Android N’s final release or not. As time has proven, showing up in a developer preview is not enough proof of a feature coming to the market. Maybe Google pulled this capability to get it ready for prime time, or maybe it just won’t come in time for Android N’s launch. That is, if it ever does get released.

We suppose time will tell. Be sure we will let you know if we find out anything on the matter! For now, just keep it tuned to Android Authority for more Google IO 2016 coverage.

What do you guys think? Is dark mode something you are looking forward to? Does it even matter if it’s there or not?