Google might finally bring its dark mode for search to computer users. Users have discovered testing for a dark theme for Google’s desktop web searches. The tests only appear to last briefly (Reddit user Pixel3aXL saw it come and go within hours) and don’t affect the homepage, but they work in third-party browsers like Firefox.
The look is the same, at least. If you get the test, you’ll see a dark gray background with a white Google logo and blue buttons.
Back in May, Chrome added a flag to “Show darkened search pages on Android.” The result was a near identical experience to using the Google Search app.
Google is now A/B testing a native dark theme for desktop Search. The white background switches to a dark gray hue that matches first-party mobile apps. Google’s logo is white instead of being multi-colored — though the microphone icon is unchanged, while the gray outline of the search field is reversed. The usually colorful icons representing the different filters (All, Images, News, etc.) are just blue, with the tab accent color similar.
It’s not certain when Google will expand the test to more people. It won’t be surprising if there’s a wider rollout in the months ahead, though. Both macOS and Windows 10 have had dark themes for a while, and Chrome itself supports dark modes for individual websites. A dark desktop search page would save you from searing your eyes during those late night computing sessions.
