Android 16 QPR2 Beta 1 can intelligently invert the UI of apps that appear light despite users selecting dark theme, creating dark-mode equivalents for apps without built-in dark themes. The system analyzes an app's Light Theme attribute and automatically inverts Standard Android Views, Composables, and WebViews, while custom rendering engines like Flutter are excluded. The feature also generates themed, monochrome launcher icons by applying a color-filtering algorithm when developers do not supply dedicated dark icons. A similar Android 15 beta existed but did not ship; the current implementation appears further along and is largely intended as an accessibility enhancement.
That frustration might soon be over, as the latest beta version of Android 16 is bringing expanded support for dark mode -- including apps that don't have it built in. Also: Your Android phone just got a major upgrade for free - including these Pixel models In a recent developer blog post , Google announced that Android 16 QPR2 Beta 1 can "intelligently invert the UI of apps that appear light despite users having selected the dark theme."
Google explains that this feature works by analyzing an app's "Light Theme" attribute to determine whether to apply inversion. If an app has standard Day Night themes, this happens automatically. If not, "Standard Android Views, Composables, and WebViews will be inverted, while custom rendering engines like Flutter will not." In short, if an app doesn't have dark mode, Android will flip colors to create one.
The feature also applies to icons, as Android 16 QPR2 can generate a themed icon for an app if the developer doesn't provide a dedicated one. Android applies a color filtering algorithm to the existing launcher icon to render it in a monochrome style, letting it match the user's chosen theme. One Android 15 beta had a similar feature, but it never saw the light of day. Given that Google is discussing this one, it seems like the feature is much further along this time.
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