How to turn on Instagram's dark mode

Instagram has a dark mode, like many other apps these days. Here’s how to get it.

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The Instagram mobile app has a dark mode, just like many other apps these days.

Dark modes have become very popular in recent years, thanks to their ability to blacken interfaces, thereby reducing any strain on your eyes and simultaneously saving your device’s battery life. As a result, companies like Google and Apple offer system-wide dark modes across their operating systems, and many app developers have updated their apps with support for dark modes over the years.

In this case, we are looking at Instagram’s dark mode option and how to get it.

How to enable dark mode on Instagram’s mobile app

The way to turn Instagram’s dark mode on is different depending on the device you’re using, but it’s fairly easy on each so here’s how you do it:

Dark mode for iPhone users

If you already use iOS 13 or later and have dark mode turned on at the system level, the Instagram app will auto-adjust to dark mode.

Make sure you’re running iOS 13 or later on your iPhone
Open Settings on your device, then go to Display and Brightness, and tap Dark.
Install the Instagram app (or update it to the latest version) on your device and open it.
Instagram will, by default, automatically respond to your device’s system settings.

There’s nothing else you need to do! This will obviously apply dark mode to more than just Instagram, but your phone will now be easier on your eyes.

Dark mode for Android users

The process for Android phone users is very similar for Android 12 users as the app also reacts to the device’s theme.

Open your phone’s settings menu, navigate to Display and open it.
Activate the Dark theme toggle.
Install the Instagram app (or update it to the latest version) on your device and open it.
Instagram will, by default, automatically respond to your device’s system settings.

If you don’t want to turn on dark mode across your device entirely then you can tweak the settings specifically on the Instagram Android app:

Go to your profile by tapping your profile picture at the bottom right.
Select the menu icon at the top right.
Tap Settings and privacy
Scroll right down and find the setting for Accessibility
From here you can select Light, Dark or System Default themes.

How to turn dark mode on via Instagram on the web

If you access Instagram directly in your browser then you don’t need to put up with light mode. Yes, you can force Google Chrome to show any website in dark mode but you can also change Instagram’s settings on the site to turn dark mode on specifically. Here’s how: