Google Has Turned Black on Some People's Phones, and They Don't Know Why

Technology is great and highly convenient except for the moments when it does something that feels impossible to understand. Some iPhone users have noticed that Google is now, for some reason, black whenever they open it on their phone.

If you're used to the default white setting, this can be jarring and even a little unsettling.

If you want to know why your Google screen suddenly turned black, there's usually a pretty simple explanation. Here's what we know.

For most people, the reason the app is black is relatively simple. It's likely because you've enabled dark mode on your phone. That is a system-wide setting that changes the appearance of a variety of apps on your device. Dark mode is supposed to be better for your eyesight, and also helps you save battery life by ensuring that your apps aren't displaying with as much light as possible.

Sometimes, your phone comes with that setting turned on by default, but if you navigate to Settings > Display & Brightness, you can turn it on or off. There's also an automatic mode that switches the setting independently based on how much light the phone detects in the space around you.

It's possible even if you don't have dark mode as a default, your apps could be turning black because this automatic setting is on.

It's also possible if you're using Chrome on your phone that you accidentally opened an Incognito Window. Doing so will change the appearance of the tab to a darker display because that's meant to signify that you are browsing in a more private window where your search data and other information won't be tracked. You have to proactively open an incognito window by choosing to, so the next time you open a tab, you should see your normal display.

Although there are plenty of people who prefer to have their phones in dark mode either to ease the strain on their eyes or to preserve their batteries, there are also people who are strongly opposed to turning dark mode on and will go to war over it. Of course, dark mode also has plenty of fierce partisans ready to defend it.

"Once you turn on dark mode on your phone there’s no coming back," one person wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

"The entire internet needs to be in dark mode," another person added.

"I hate dark mode," a third wrote, offering a totally opposing viewpoint.

Wherever you fall on the dark mode spectrum, you can thankfully control the way your devices present themselves to you. If you want to turn off dark mode, you can, and if you want it to be on, you can do that as well. However you feel, you have all the control, and you can be disgusted by all the people who feel differently. This is America, and that's one of our sacred rights.