Social messaging platform WhatsApp has added a dark mode feature - following the likes of Twitter and Instagram.

We've put together everything you need to know about Whatsapp’s dark mode - and why it’s proving to be controversial.

What is dark mode?

Whatsapp confirmed on March 3 that dark mode is finally here.

The feature has been the “most requested” from users according to a Whatsapp blog post announcing the new colour theme.

“It’s designed to reduce eye strain in low light environments,” WhatsApp explained, “And we hope it prevents those awkward moments where your phone lights up the room.”

The blog post outlines how the focus of the new theme improves readability.

It says the new theme helps “minimize eye fatigue and use colours that are closer to the system defaults on iPhone and Android respectively”.

The theme also allows for an “information hierarchy”, whereby the most important information stands out with “colour and design elements”.

The announcement ended by saying: “We hope everyone enjoys dark mode, which is rolling out in the coming days on the latest version of WhatsApp.”

How to enable the feature

The good news is that dark mode is available on both Android and iOS smartphones, so you won’t be waiting for the feature to roll out on your device whilst others are enjoying the new theme.

But the bad news is that to enable dark mode, you’ll need to be on the latest operating system on your phone, meaning either iOS 13 for Apple devices or Android 10.

You can turn on dark mode by doing the following steps:

  • Go to WhatsApp settings
  • Select ‘chats’
  • Select ‘theme’
  • From there you’ll be able to select ‘dark’ to enable dark mode