Microsoft is bringing dark mode to Outlook on iOS, Android
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Microsoft is bringing dark-mode support to Outlook for iOS and Android, plus Office.com for Web and mobile, officials said on August 28. Following the launch of iOS 13 this fall, Dark Mode also will come to other Office apps like Word, Excel and PowerPoint, officials said.
"Microsoft first brought a darker UI theme to desktop apps in Office 2019 in order to support and encourage customer choice," officials said in a blog post. Microsoft officials noted some users prefer Dark Mode to reduce eye strain, improve battery life or just because they like the way it looks.
Microsoft officials said the new Dark Mode Outlook app option will be available following the next round of OS releases for iOS and Android. At that time, Outlook will automatically switch to Dark Mode depending on the preference you set, they said.
"In the meantime, Outlook for Android automatically switches to Dark Mode when you choose Battery Saver. These perks all hold true for Dark Mode on Office.com," officials noted.
Once iOS 13 is out, Microsoft will be bringing Dark Mode to SharePoint, OneDrive, Planner, and To-Do on mobile, in addition to Word, Excel and PowerPoint. "Further down the pipe" are Dark Mode for Planner and OneDrive on the Web, officials said.
I asked Microsoft when and if Dark Mode would be coming for the Office apps for Android. No word back so far.
One of my readers (Christian Gang) asked why it's currently not possible to compose an email in Dark Mode in Outlook.com. A spokesperson responded:
"You cannot compose in Dark Mode in Outlook on the web or Outlook for Mac yet, but Microsoft is currently working on that feature. Outlook for Windows is starting to roll out support for Dark Mode when composing messages. If you have turned on black theme in your Office account settings, when reading or composing a message, you can toggle the message window from black to white back to a white background by using the sun icon next to the reply button in the reading pane."