Turning to the dark side: How to watch YouTube in Dark Mode

Somebody turn down the lights! 

There’s something magical about the cinema experience. Maybe it’s the popcorn or the soft glow of the screen in a darkened room. Everything around you fades away until you’re totally focused — even if it’s only a 10-minute YouTube video. 

For me, a combination of eye strain and immersion permanently switched me to dark mode on YouTube. It creates a new vibe; no matter how late I stay up, my eyes aren’t straining. 

Mac’s Dark Mode is a lifesaver for protecting your eyes and preventing headaches from late-night work sessions, so why not enable Dark Mode on YouTube, too? I’ll cover all how you can toggle YouTube’s dark theme, including apps that control your Mac’s interface from one switch. 

Why use YouTube Dark Mode?

Activating Dark Mode on YouTube essentially shifts the interface to a darker color palette. What else? Let’s check out:

• It reduces the strain on your eyes, particularly during environments with poor light.
• Dark mode on YouTube is also great for decreasing distractions as you watch; the screen takes center stage as it should.
• Other than your eyes, the Mac also benefits from dark mode. Models with OLED or AMOLED screens can save battery life, as each pixel has to push out a lot of light. 

How to enable Dark Mode from the YouTube website

Dark Mode on YouTube is stylish and easy on the eyes, especially great for using in the dark. You can quickly turn it on in the appearance settings, and you can even match it with your Mac’s system theme.

How to turn on Dark theme on YouTube with appearance settings.

Here’s how to make YouTube dark mode through the website: 

1. Open the YouTube browser version on your Mac.
2. Click the three dots (or your profile icon if you’re signed in) at the top right of the screen.
3. Choose  Appearance > Dark Theme.

Turn on Light, Dark, and Auto appearance

If you’re like me and have every last inch of your Mac set to dark mode, you can choose Use Device Theme instead. To do this, you’ll first need to apply either light, dark, or auto appearance on Mac’s System Settings.

Here’s how to change between Light, Dark, and Auto appearance on Mac:

1. Click on the Apple menu bar > System Settings. 
2. Click Appearance on the left sidebar.
3. Choose Dark or Auto for the theme to suit the time of day.

You can also go through the Mac’s Control Center as a shortcut to activating Dark Mode:

1. On the Mac’s menu bar, click the Control Center.
2. Click Display.
3. Turn on Dark Mode. 

How to watch YouTube in Dark theme on iPhone and iPad

iPhones and iPads let us watch YouTube on the go, whether it be on the bus to work or in the doctor’s waiting room, and streaming is everywhere. 

For a bit more viewing privacy, you can learn how to make YouTube Dark Mode the app’s default. This method also works if you access YouTube through the device’s browser. 

Here’s how to activate dark mode on YouTube on iPhone and iPad: 

1. Open the YouTube app.
2. Tap You in the bottom-right corner.
3. Tap on the gear icon in the top-right corner.
4. Choose General > Appearance > Dark theme or Use device theme. 

To control your device’s theme:

1. Go to Settings > Display & Brightness. 
2. You will then see an option for Light, Dark, or Automatic themes.
3. For the Automatic theme, you can set it to switch based on sunset or a custom schedule.

While you’re in Display & Brightness, experiment with the other appearance settings, such as text size and Night Shift, which automatically change the display colors. You can adjust when the tones become warmer and to what extent. 

Force YouTube to the Dark Mode on a Mac

Instead of messing around with all of these System Settings, you can control the entire Mac’s theme and appearance from one button. One Switch lets you create custom shortcuts that can turn on Dark Mode, empty Trash, and more. 

For One Switch to enable Dark Mode on YouTube, you must first select the Use device theme in the YouTube site’s appearance settings, which we covered earlier. Then, the rest is easy! 

Here’s how to turn on Dark Mode on YouTube on Mac using One Switch: 

1. Insta and open One Switch.
2. Click the One Switch icon on the menu bar > Click the gear icon to open settings > Customize.
3. Select Dark Mode.
4. Click the One Switch icon in the menu bar > Turn on Dark Mode. 
5. Create a schedule for Dark Mode to trigger at certain times (optional). 
6. Activate the theme setting by refreshing YouTube’s page with Command + R. 

What I especially love about One Switch is that it lets me activate multiple things in the same place, including dark mode, Night Shift, and True Tone, for the ultimate viewing pleasure. With so many customization options at my fingertips, my Mac feels like it was designed just for me. 

Ask Siri to turn YouTube on Dark Mode

Without a doubt, the easiest way to toggle YouTube dark theme is through Siri. First, you need to make sure Siri is properly set up on your Mac. 

To activate Siri on Mac: 

1. Go to Apple menu bar > System Settings > Siri.
2. Turn on Siri.
3. Follow the voice calibration steps. 
4. Customise Listen for Settings, e.g., “Hey Siri”.

When I open YouTube and want to give my eyes a break, I just say “Hey Siri” to activate Siri, followed by “Turn on Dark Mode” or any similar rendition. After this step is complete, refresh the page with Command + R. It’s really easy to change the black background to white in YouTube using Siri, too. Just follow the same instructions and tell Siri to “Turn off Dark Mode.”

See the difference and Toggle YouTube Dark theme easily

If you’re not feeling the dark vibe, you can easily change YouTube back to Light Mode using apps like One Switch. Mac’s True Tone function automatically matches the screen’s tones to ambient lighting, which helps prevent eye strain during late-night streaming sessions, even without dark mode.

Paletro is an incredible, effective tool for mastering your Mac’s apps and accessing everything you need from a single window. Functions like setting reminders and clearing cache are just a sample of what this app can do. Better yet, you can adjust Paletro’s themes to be in dark mode, too. 

However, once you embrace the dark side, you might never want to go back. Whether you use Siri or a powerful app to enable Dark Mode on YouTube, to many, the result is a better viewing experience. If you want to see what else your Mac is capable of, check out Setapp’s 7-day free trial of over 250 apps covering every iPhone and Mac limitation you can imagine.