From the entire system-wide theme to the app-specific color schemes, users have always kept a bias towards the dark themes. Thanks to modern devices that pack the surreal AMOLED display, the ability to enjoy a dark theme in apps such as YouTube makes it not just impressive visually, but also positively impacts the battery life in theory.

How to watch YouTube in background

Google announced that a dark theme for the official YouTube app was in the works, and disappointingly enough, iOS users were the first to get it. While there are easy ways to get some premium-quality features on the YouTube app if you’ve got a rooted device, but there wasn’t a way to get YouTube dark theme on a regular stock Android device, until now.

How to get YouTube dark theme

The best part about this particular mod from XDA is the fact that you don’t need to gain root access to your Android device. You don’t even need to install a modified APK file on your phone or mess around with the system files. All you need is the ADB tool to “forcibly” enable the YouTube dark mode on your Android device.

  1. Make sure you have the latest version of YouTube app installed on your phone from the Play Store.
  2. Install ADB and Fastboot on your computer (you will only need ADB tool for this guide).
  3. Enable USB Debugging from the Developer Options on your phone.
  4. Download the zip file.
    • Filename:YouTubeDarkTheme_ADB_Restore.zip
  5. Extract the YouTubeDarkTheme_ADB_Restore.zip file and copy the ‘ab’ file and save it to the folder where the ADB binary is stored.
  6. Open a terminal window on your PC from the ADB folder.
    • For windows, open the command prompt easily using this trick: go to the ADB folder (should be in C drive) and then type cmd in the address bar, and then hit the enter key.
  7. Run the command below as applicable to your system.
    • Windows Command Prompt:
       
      adb restore YouTubeDarkTheme_XDA.ab
    • Windows Power Shell: 
      .\adb restore YouTubeDarkTheme_XDA.ab
    • macOS Terminal: 
      ./adb restore YouTubeDarkTheme_XDA.ab
    • Linux Terminal: 
      ./adb restore YouTubeDarkTheme_XDA.ab

  1. Unlock your phone and confirm the ‘Full restoration’ by pressing Restore My Data.
  2. The YouTube app will now restart with the dark theme enabled and running. If it force closes,  don’t worry, just reopen the app.

Do you like the dark mode? Were you eagerly waiting for it?