Android Q expected to launch in mid-2019

Jan 7, 2019 12:07 GMT  ·  By

Google has already launched dark modes for many of its applications, including YouTube and Google News, and now it looks like the next step is to release a full dark theme for Android too.

According to recent Android Police findings, Google could release a dark visual style for the entire operating system when the Android Q update becomes available later this year.

A Google engineer explains in the Chromium bug tracker that the dark mode is already a priority and the development team is now focused on updating preloaded apps to align with this UI update.

Basically, Google needs all applications that are preinstalled on Windows 10 to boast such a dark mode before making Android available with such a theme too.

“Dark mode is an approved Q feature […] The Q team wants to ensure that all preloaded apps support dark mode natively. In order to ship dark mode successfully, we need all UI elements to be ideally themed dark by May 2019,” the engineer explains in a post that has already been removed.

First beta build expected in a couple of months

By the looks of things, the dark mode will require a specific wallpaper file, though at this point it’s not yet clear why this approach is necessary.

“Dark Mode expects a specific wallpaper file to be present in the filesystem. This file is generated for most ways that the wallpaper can be set except for when the default_wallpaper resource is used,” another post reads.

The new dark theme will be available on Android Q in a new section at Settings > Display > Dark Mode, according to these findings.

Most likely, the dark mode will be included in the beta builds that Google will roll out to users later this year, while the stable version will probably land in August for Pixel devices. The first beta of Android P was published last year in March, so with a little luck, a preview of Android Q would see daylight in just a couple of months.