Google Maps for Android dark mode was announced way back in February before being pushed out to devices roughly a month later. Now, the Google Maps dark theme is officially set to launch on the iPhone and iPad within the next few weeks.
It’s been a little over two years now since Apple dropped dark mode with iOS 13, thereby giving weary Apple users' eyes a much-needed break from their brightly lit iPhone screens. Seeing as plenty of us will be accustomed to using Google Maps in darker environments, the dimmed and dark mode-enabled display should be a welcome addition to users' handsets when navigating at nighttime.
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Users can easily activate dark mode by heading to the settings menu on their iPhone, tapping on dark mode and then toggling it to "on." According to Google in comments made to The Verge, “Google Maps can flip between light and dark mode to match your system settings,” which is a neat feat of UI adaptability.
As you can see from the images, the Maps app is a lot gentler on the eyes when under the new night-friendly mode. Whether it's the dark shade of gray of the underlying map contours or the inset buttons changing to light gray, it should be less taxing on the eyes in darker environments.
Google also says that this new dark mode will help “save on battery life.” Google Maps can drain your phone’s battery, especially when navigating for long periods of time. And, of course, a dead phone is the last thing you need when you're trying to get from A to B, so this should be a helpful benefit of the feature if true.
Google Maps is a much more user-friendly app than, say, Apple Maps, and we think it's the best iPhone app to get you to where you need to be without getting lost. As such, it's vitally important that it's gentle on the eyes no matter what situation you find yourself in. The softly-lit Google Maps dark theme is officially “rolling out in the coming weeks,” while a full iOS launch will take place by the end of August.
