Twitter adds a hidden ‘night mode’, in what might be a preview of the next iPhone

The feature turns the screen dark, and puts white text on a black background – useful for night time, but maybe more useful for something else

Andrew Griffin
Tuesday 23 August 2016 10:06 BST
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The logo of Twitter and the symbol on which Twitter's stock will be traded (TWTR) is viewed on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on November 7, 2013 in New York
The logo of Twitter and the symbol on which Twitter's stock will be traded (TWTR) is viewed on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on November 7, 2013 in New York (EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images)

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Twitter has added a “night mode” to its app, in a move that might be a preview of the next iPhone.

The new setting lets people turn their background and text opposite colours – making the writing white and the app itself a dark blue.

And it might well be a preview of what’s coming in future devices. The iPhone, for instance, has long been rumoured to be getting a night mode across its apps.

That wouldn’t just help with not being dazzled when looking at apps in the dark, and by making apps look slightly cooler. It would also be important if Apple rolls out an OLED screen.

OLED screens have to work less hard to produce blacks, and those blacks themselves are far richer, meaning that designing apps to use darker colours helps preserve battery life and looks better.

But the feature has only been rolled out to some apps so far, and only by developers. Twitter is one of the first major apps to offer it.

The new setting is accessed by heading to your own profile by selecting the “Me” tab in the app, and clicking the cog in the top right hand corner. When that’s done, a big list of options will come up – one of which will be “Turn on night mode”.

The feature can be turned off in the same way.

Some people joked that using Twitter at the sort of time that would require the night mode probably means that you shouldn’t be on Twitter at all.

The feature is available in both the iOS and Android versions of the app.

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