# Dark Mode
## Overview
### Automatically update the native interfaces
"Native interfaces" include the file picker, window border, dialogs, context
menus, and more - anything where the UI comes from your operating system and
not from your app. The default behavior is to opt into this automatic theming
from the OS.
### Automatically update your own interfaces
If your app has its own dark mode, you should toggle it on and off in sync with
the system's dark mode setting. You can do this by using the
[prefers-color-scheme][] CSS media query.
### Manually update your own interfaces
If you want to manually switch between light/dark modes, you can do this by
setting the desired mode in the
[themeSource](../api/native-theme.md#nativethemethemesource)
property of the `nativeTheme` module. This property's value will be propagated
to your Renderer process. Any CSS rules related to `prefers-color-scheme` will
be updated accordingly.
## macOS settings
In macOS 10.14 Mojave, Apple introduced a new [system-wide dark mode][system-wide-dark-mode]
for all macOS computers. If your Electron app has a dark mode, you can make it
follow the system-wide dark mode setting using
[the `nativeTheme` api](../api/native-theme.md).
In macOS 10.15 Catalina, Apple introduced a new "automatic" dark mode option
for all macOS computers. In order for the `nativeTheme.shouldUseDarkColors` and
`Tray` APIs to work correctly in this mode on Catalina, you need to use Electron
`>=7.0.0`, or set `NSRequiresAquaSystemAppearance` to `false` in your
`Info.plist` file for older versions. Both [Electron Packager][electron-packager]
and [Electron Forge][electron-forge] have a
[`darwinDarkModeSupport` option][packager-darwindarkmode-api]
to automate the `Info.plist` changes during app build time.
If you wish to opt-out while using Electron > 8.0.0, you must
set the `NSRequiresAquaSystemAppearance` key in the `Info.plist` file to
`true`. Please note that Electron 8.0.0 and above will not let you opt-out
of this theming, due to the use of the macOS 10.14 SDK.
## Example
This example demonstrates an Electron application that derives its theme colors from the
`nativeTheme`. Additionally, it provides theme toggle and reset controls using IPC channels.
```fiddle docs/fiddles/features/dark-mode
```
### How does this work?
Starting with the `index.html` file:
```html title='index.html'
Hello World!