Update 1 (09/29/2020 @ 1:44 PM ET): Google is now rolling out a toggle to theme the general UI of Google Maps with a dark theme. Scroll to the bottom for more information. The article as published on September 4, 2020, is preserved below.

Over the past year, Google has been gradually updating all its app with a new dark mode setting. The company recently released dark mode support for Google Translate, Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides. And now, the company is preparing to add a dark mode option for menus and settings on Google Maps. While Google released a dark mode for navigation on Google Maps back in 2018, the app didn't include an option to turn on dark mode for the menus and settings pages. According to a recent tweet from Android app developer and reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi (@alex193a), the company is finally working on adding a universal dark mode toggle to the app.

As you can see in the screenshots shared in the tweet, the new dark theme option in Google Maps can be found within the Appearance section in the app settings. Tapping on the option brings up a pop-up window with three options — Light theme, Dark theme, and Default to device theme. Selecting the Dark theme option and tapping on the Save button converts all of the app's white UI elements to a dark gray, with the text going from black to white to maintain visibility.

The Default to device theme option, on the other hand, will let Google Maps automatically pick the system-wide theme currently in use. This means that if you're using a scheduled system-wide dark mode, the app will conform to the current theme based on your global settings. As of now, it isn't clear which version of the app will introduce the new Dark theme setting. Paluzzi managed to manually enable the feature in version 10.5.0 of the app, but it isn't available for users at the moment. We will update this post as soon as the feature starts rolling out to users.


Update: Google Maps Dark Mode Toggle Rolling Out

The Google Maps app for Android finally has a complete dark theme, at least for some users. According to one Redditor with version 10.51.1 of the Maps app, there's a new "appearance" option in settings that lets you switch between a light theme, a dark theme, or the device default theme. When toggled, the menus and settings of Maps are tinted according to your preference. Theming the appearance of the map during navigation is accessible from a dedicated option in navigation settings.

Appearance settings in Google Maps. Screenshots credit: Redditor /u/BrokenFuckenArm

We checked for the presence of this appearance setting on several of our devices but could not find it. It's likely rolling out to users via a server-side update.

Google Maps Developer: Google LLC
Price: Free
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