Facebook Messenger Officially Gets Dark Mode Globally, No Need to Send Moon Emoji

Facebook in a blog post announced that the dark mode feature for its Messenger app is now rolling out officially for users across the globe, and doesn't require users sending an emoji to activate it. Since last year, Facebook has been teasing its highly anticipated dark mode feature for its Messenger app. The company first announced the much-awaited feature in October last year with a promise to roll out the feature soon. Four months later, the feature did show up as it was silently rolled out to users in several countries including India in the form of an Easter Egg - sending the moon emoji activated it.



To activate the new feature, simply open Facebook Messenger on your phone. Now, tap on your profile photo to access settings and on the next screen, you'll now notice a dark mode toggle that sits right below your name. Toggle it on and voila! Your screen will turn from white to black signifying that you just activated the dark mode. 

 According to Facebook's blog post, by turning on the dark mode on Messenger, the brightness of the screen is lowered all while maintaining contrast and vibrancy. Additionally, it cuts down the glare from your phone for better usability in low-light situations. 


Dark mode for messenger was first spotted last month when the company launched the feature in the form of a hidden Easter Egg for users in a few select countries. So whenever a user sent a moon emoji in a chat, a message at the top would pop-up stating, “You found dark mode”. And after turning it on, Facebook displayed a message saying it's still working on this feature so you won't see dark mode everywhere in the Messenger app. It was spotted testing in select countries in January.