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How do I enable Dark Mode in my Galaxy Tab A?

D

disman00911

Newbie
Hello.

I want to turn my settings theme from light to dark (both to save some battery life and to be more easier on my eyes) but I can't find the "System IU Tuner" in my settings. I tried holding the "Cogwheel" icon for 7-10 seconds but that didn't work.

I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab A Android tablet. The Android version is 7.1.1 and is up to date. I've viewed many websites & YouTube videos about dark mode (for both rooted and unrooted devices), but I can't find anything specific about Galaxy Tab A.

The following options are available on my settings:
Connections
Sound
Notifications
Display
Wallpaper
Advanced features
Device Maintenance
Apps
Lock Screen and Security
Cloud and Accounts
Google
Accessibility
General Management
Software Update
Help
About Tablet

Thanks
 
You don't list "developer options" there, which might be where it is (I can't remember any more where it used to be - in Android 9 on the Pixel it's hidden).

If you don't have developer options, go into the "About Tablet", look at the software information, find the build number and then tap on it repeatedly until it tells you you are now a developer. You should not have a new Developer Options menu, and it might be inside that.
 
I was able to unlock "developer options", but I can't find anything related to "Device Theme". Under "Display", I have Brightness, Auto-Brightness, Screen Mode, Screen Zoom and Font, Home Screen, Icon Frame, Status Bar, Screen Timeout, Screen Saver, Language and Input, and Vision. When I tap to "Vision", I have Voice Assistant, Accessibility Shortcut, Screen Zoom and Font, High Contrast Fonts, Show Button Shapes, Magnifier Window, Magnification Gestures, Large Mouse/Touchpad Pointer, Grayscale, Negative Colors, and Color Adjustment. I have the following currently grayed-out: Voice Assistant Help, Dark Screen, Rapid Key Input, Speak Passwords, and High Contrast Keyboard. Negative Colors comes closest to what I'm looking for, but I'm not satisfied with the results.

I do see some paid wallpaper/theme/launcher apps on Google Play, but I don't want risk wasting my money and finding out that my Android may not be compatible.

I do have a 3rd party app called "Blue Light Filter-Night Mode" that helps dim the screen at night. However, I'm specifically looking for something that changes the menu settings, notifications, keyboard, etc from white to black, basically inverting the default color scheme. Do Nova Launcher or any other launcher app have this option? Thanks.

My android is nougat, btw.
 
A launcher cannot change the properties of other apps, and certainly not the system settings. So the short answer is "no".

If you were running Oreo I'd suggest looking at Substratum (a theming app that uses overlays to change the appearance of system items and, if supported by the theme, other apps). But I'm pretty certain that if it works at all with Nougat it requires root.

Otherwise I do not believe that any user app will be able to do what you require. Keyboard at least is doable: change keyboard app to one that has theme options. But for most of what you ask you need Samsung to provide it (and even then it won't invert the colour scheme of other apps).
 
I'm using Oreo 8.0.0. Under its Accessibility settings, I tried "invert colors" and it appeared to do what you're looking for. Can your tablet be updated to Oreo?
 
I've had my Samsung Galaxy Tab A for about 3-4 years. I do check for updates and it is currently up to date. That said, I'm not sure if I can upgrade from Nougat to Oreo. When I first got the Android, it was originally Marshmallow and I was able to upgrade to Nougat when that update was available.

I do have GO Keyboard installed and I'm able to change the color scheme of the keyboard. The default Samsung keyboard doesn't have this option.
 
Chances are that there aren't any more updates for it if it's 3-4 years old. Admittedly my Note 10.1 did get one last update when it was 3 years old, but it only ever advanced 1 major OS version during its support period.

Most third party keyboards let you change colour. The Go dev team have had some privacy issues so personally I don't trust their apps, but that's your call.
 
disman00911 said:
What are some 3rd party Keyboard apps (with additional color scheme options) that don't have privacy issues?
Click to expand...

One thing to always check when you install something like a 3rd party keyboard app is what Permissions it has in your phone's Settings >> Apps menu. Just keep in mind if you disable a keyboard's access to some item like the microphone, that might have an effect on something like voice commands.

Another option is to install a good firewall app, like NetGuard or Mobiwol. This allows you to selectively allow or block apps you install from any Wifi and/or mobile data connectivity. In this instance if you happen to like the interface of some keyboard app but question what Permissions it requires, you can leave that as is, but block that app from any online access. This allows that app its full functionality, except for not being able to go online in the case where there is some background privacy issue involved.
NetGuard
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.faircode.netguard&hl=en_US
Mobiwol
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.netspark.firewall&hl=en_US
(These are just a couple of no root required suggestions that I've tried out, there are of course several others that you might suit your needs better. NoRoot Firewall continues to get recommended a lot by some but do keep in mind that it appears to be a dead project and no longer supported, its last update was in 2014 -- irony being that those that continue to use it are securing their devices with a potentially insecure app.)
 
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