Update 1 (06/10/2020 @ 01:35 AM ET): Screenshots are now available for Google Earth's upcoming dark mode. Scroll to the bottom for more information. The article as published on June 9, 2020, is preserved below.
Android 10 was announced back in September 2019, with one of its highlight features being the system-wide dark mode that had finally made its way officially to Android. It has been months since the announcement, but several of Google's own apps have been very slow to adopt the darker theme. Even other popular apps like WhatsApp took more than a fair amount of time, while others like Facebook are yet to jump on board. With that in mind, we can excuse a less popular app from being slow to adopt dark mode, especially if the app does not have a lot of UI elements that can be darkened. Nonetheless, Google Earth is the next app from Google that is jumping on board the dark mode train.
An APK teardown can often predict features that may arrive in a future update of an application, but it is possible that any of the features we mention here may not make it in a future release. This is because these features are currently unimplemented in the live build and may be pulled at any time by the developers in a future build.
Google Earth v9.3.19.8 has added in new strings that indicate the Google is preparing a dark theme for the app's few themeable user interaction areas.
<string name="settings_darkmode">Dark theme</string>
<string name="settings_darkmode_label_off">Light</string>
<string name="settings_darkmode_label_on">Dark</string>
<string name="settings_darkmode_label_system">System</string>
<string name="settings_darkmode_summary">Reduce glare and improve night viewing</string>
As indicated in the strings above, Google Earth will soon add a dark theme to the app. Users can choose to set either the default Light theme, or the Dark theme, or let the app follow the system settings on Android 10. This change would apply to user interaction areas such as the side pane and info cards, since there aren't many areas within this app that can be themed. The dark theme settings are not yet active on the app, but we can expect to see it go live soon.
Update: Screenshots of Google Earth's Dark Mode
Our Editor-in-Chief Mishaal Rahman has managed to enable Google Earth's Android 10-friendly Dark Mode.
The dark mode is not a complete blackout mode, but a very dark gray.