Twitter has delivered on its promise of creating a darker 'Dark Mode' after users complained that the existing Dark Mode option wasn't dark enough, and was still hard on the eyes in low light.
You can see the issue to some degree here - over on Dark Mode List, they've provided a side-by-side comparison of various app night modes, which highlights the lighter Twitter screen.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey noted back in January that it was an issue they wanted to fix, and now, Twitter has delivered with a new range of 'Dark', and 'Lights Out' options.
It was dark. You asked for darker! Swipe right to check out our new dark mode. Rolling out today. pic.twitter.com/6MEACKRK9K
— Twitter (@Twitter) March 28, 2019
As you can see in the example flow, swipe right and you'll now be able to go through the various settings to switch on Dark mode, including the new, darker 'Lights Out' option and 'Automatic Dark Mode'
In their additional notes on the update, Twitter's Design team explained the various changes:
- Because Night Mode isn't only used at night, Twitter has switched the moon icon for the function to a light bulb (you can see that it at the bottom left of the settings tab). Rather than having to go through Settings each time you want to switch it on and off, you can also tap on the light bulb to click over to Dark Mode.
- The new 'Lights Out' darker mode uses a pure black color palette, which emits no light. A key benefit of dark mode options in apps is that they limit the use of blue light, which is designed to improve readability in the day, but can cause your brain to stop producing melatonin at night. This means that using your mobile device in normal mode at night can potentially disrupt your sleep cycle, making it harder to fall and stay asleep.
- Twitter is also bringing its 'Automatic Dark Mode' option to iOS, which is already available on Android. Automatic dark mode adapts to different environments you’re in throughout the day - "not only will it switch from am to pm, but it will also adapt to your location/timezone".
In addition to this, Twitter also notes that the expansion of its dark mode options will open the door for it to build more accessibility color palettes and tools in future. Which is interesting in relation to this recent tweet hoax you may have seen floating around.

Note: Don't do this.
The hoax suggests that if you change your birth date to 2007, you'll get a whole set of new color palette options for your profile. You won't. Instead, you'll actually get locked out of your account for being under Twitter's 13 year-old age limit.
The hoax has been shared so widely that Twitter shared this explanation earlier in the week:
We’ve noticed a prank trying to get people to change their Twitter birthday in their profile to unlock new color schemes. Please don’t try this. We don't have different color schemes based on your birthday.
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) March 27, 2019
But, potentially, additional color options for profile displays may be available for real in future, via these new dark mode settings.
Of course, the announcement has been met with the usual hail of 'Where's the edit button?' responses, and Twitter still has various other issues to fix which are more significant than a dark mode. But it's another option added to your Twitter toolkit, which, as noted, can have both usage and actual health benefits.