[Updated] YouTube Team aware of Dark Mode issue on web version, fix expected soon

New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…….

Original story (published on November 27, 2020) follows:

Just about every application, and many websites, now support Dark Mode or a night theme. And those who tend to use their phones or computers at night, know exactly how good it is to have a night mode option.

Apart from the obvious benefit of preventing your eyes from being blasted with light from a white background at night, some even find dark modes to be more visually pleasing.

YouTube is one such platform that offers users a dark mode theme on its application as well as on the web version. Therefore, users can watch videos comfortably at night on their PCs and mobile devices.

But it seems that many users on the web version of YouTube are complaining that the Dark Mode theme is now broken.

We’ve shared multiple reports from affected users below along with a screenshot which shows the broken dark mode theme:

Why does my youtube switch to light mode every time I refresh? I want it to stayy in dark mode (Source)

idk what is going with @youtube but the damn website won’t stay in dark mode and its really grinding my gear ya know (Source)

Okay, I’m getting really pissed off @YouTube! I put it on Dark Mode for a reason! I turn off Autoplay for a reason! You never used to have a problem saving those settings for my browser, but now I have to redo that every fucking time I open a new tab! WTF?!(Source)

youtube still will not stay in dark mode like if i open it in a new tab it just keeps going back??? it literally has never had a problem before this im actually pissed (Source)

A quick search on Twitter would serve you with dozens of new reports from users. Therefore, it seems this is a widespread problem that is affecting users in all regions.

According to most reports, the Dark Mode theme on the web version of YouTube simply does not remain. Opening YouTube on another tab or refreshing the page automatically resets the theme to Light Mode.

We also ran into the same problem while conducting a quick test to see whether the problem is present on a wider scale.

Traditionally, when a user selects the Dark Mode option on YouTube, the theme option is saved and remains the same even after refreshing the page or loading YouTube in a new tab.

This Dark Mode issue on the web version of YouTube seems to have been around for a few days at least, however, YouTube has still not fixed it at the time of writing.

But thanks to the influx of numerous complaints, YouTube has finally responded to a few of them by stating that the problem will be looked into. Here’s the message TeamYouTube on Twitter has been sharing:

Thanks for sending this our way – we’ve seen similar reports about this issue. We’re letting the team know, and will get back to you once there’s an update. Appreciate your patience in the meantime.

Now that the problem has been brought to the attention of YouTube, we expect that the issue will be fixed sooner rather than later.

However, if you aren’t willing to wait for YouTube to fix the Dark Mode issue on the web version, you could try force enabling dark mode on Google Chrome — the browser that most users are reporting the issue on.

To force enable the dark theme in Chrome, enter this in the address bar; chrome://flags/#enable-force-dark, then click on the drop-down menu beside the Force Dark Mode for Web Contents option and select Enabled.

This quick workaround seems to have worked for at least one user who tried it, and it’s likely going to work for all.

In the meantime, we will continue to keep tabs on the situation and will post an update once YouTube fixes the problem or when there are any further developments.

Of course, this isn’t the only recent bug YouTube users have had to deal with. We’ve reported on other bugs such as the one that turns on captions automatically even when disabled and the AS-10 error.

Matter of fact, you can check out our dedicated tracker to know all about the bugs and issues on YouTube and the pending improvements that are to come to the app or web version.

09:34 pm (IST): Some users are again reporting the issue where dark mode on YouTube automatically keeps changing to light mode.

@YouTube Hello, I have a problem with the display. I set You Tube and You Tube studio to dark mode, but every time I open you tube again, or I reload the page, it changes to light mode. Is there any permanent way to fix it? (Source)

@TeamYouTube Why is Youtube not staying in Dark Mode? This has been going for a week at least and multiple ppl are reporting. Same with Autoplay, won’t stay disabled. You set it to Dark Mode and when you F5 it’s Light again. (Source)

Anyone elses youtube keep changing theme on its own? (Light/dark mode) Mine keeps going back to light mode every refresh -_- (Source)

Fortunately, TeamYouTube on Twitter has acknowledged this bug and said that they are investigating it.

09:35 am (IST): Users who are still facing this issue can use the dark mode extension called Darkness – Beautiful Dark Themes as a potential workaround.

11:35 am (IST): While YouTube is working on a fix for this issue, here’s a potential workaround that may help you resolve this problem in the meantime.

Workaround:

I had the same problem and I managed to fix it by closing all the tabs except a new one, then I cleared all the cookies from the last 7 days and closed everything, then I just opened youtube and switched to dark mode and it started working again (Source)

10:20 am (IST): User reports on Twitter as well as in the comments below this article suggest that the dark mode bug isn’t present on Microsoft’s Edge browser. Thus, you may want to switch to it until a fix arrives.

12:37 pm (IST): One of our readers suggested a workaround — which he claims to be a permanent solution — for the dark mode issue.

Workaround:

Here’s a solution to make dark theme permanent:

– Click on the lock icon beside the URL

– Click “site settings”

– Click “Clear Data” (if it doesn’t appear, wait a few moments)

– Refresh youtube, then set it back to dark theme and it should stay.

Thanks for the tip: Stephanus Andi Priambodo!

Meanwhile, another reader, via our comment section, has confirmed that this issue is fixed for them.

Thanks for the information, James Underhill!

06:27 pm (IST): The issue with dark mode was already fixed previously, however, fresh reports (1, 2, 3, 4) indicate that its back again.

Luckily, TeamYouTube has acknowledged the bug and said that they are still investigating it. However, they did not provide any ETA for the fix.

11:41 am (IST): Some YouTube users are again reporting (1, 2) that they aren’t able to switch to dark mode. Unfortunately, YouTube support hasn’t yet acknowledged the problem.

10:46 am (IST): Some users are again reporting (1, 2, 3) that the dark theme is not working for them. Users complain that the dark theme suddenly switched to light mode and now it’s not reverting back.

Luckily, there’s a potential workaround that can help you fix this problem.

A Redditor said that this is caused due to ‘Improve YouTube! (for YouTube & Videos)’ extension on Chrome and changing the theme in extension to dark mode fixes it.

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