It was a long-cherished wish of many Apple users, but since macOS Mojave you can finally provide your Mac with a complete dark mode. It is not about a few apps that are displayed in dark gray tones, but the entire operating system.
For example, menus, icons, windows and standard apps are automatically adjusted when you choose this view. Third-party apps can also use the standard dark mode without the developer having to make too many changes. You can also activate dark mode automatically.
Enable Dark Mode on a Mac
- Open  ▸ System Settings on a Mac with macOS Ventura or later
- Navigate to Appearance
- Click on ‘Dark’
Do you have a Mac with macOS Ventura or older? You can then find these settings via  ▸ System Preferences ▸ General ▸ Appearance.
Once you choose this view you will notice that everything immediately appears darker, ideal for the space gray MacBook Pro or midnight MacBook Air.
Activate dark mode automatically
Since macOS Catalina, it is also possible to automatically enable the dark display on your Mac based on sunset and sunrise. Once the sun sets, your Mac will turn on dark mode and automatically turn it off when the sun rises.
You can enable automatic activation of dark mode via  â–¸ System settings â–¸ Display. Click on ‘Automatic’ under ‘display’. Do you still have macOS Mojave? Then you can also activate the dark display based on a schedule with third-party apps.
Automatically colorize the background
It is also possible to automatically change the color of the desktop background with the dark mode. Via  ▸ System settings ▸ wallpaper you can choose from different wallpapers that support this option.
Perhaps the nicest wallpapers are the dynamic desktop images. The wallpaper gradually changes from light to dark throughout the day depending on your current location.
The images in this selection work together with the light and dark modes for macOS and consist of two still images. At sunset it changes from light to dark depending on your current location. Of course, the background is also changed when you manually select a display mode.