With the release of Fire OS 8 on the 12th Gen Fire 7 (Fire 7 2022), Fire HD 8 (Fire HD 8 2022), and Fire HD 10 2023 (13th Gen), Dark theme on Fire tablets is now available in these devices, and the Fire Max 11 (13th Gen).
This Fire tablet how-to guide explains the advantages of the Dark Theme on Fire tablets, the difference between the Night Mode, Blue Shed, and Dark Theme, how to turn on/off the Dark Theme on Fire tablets with Fire OS 8, and how to schedule Dark theme on Fire tablets.
Dark Theme was introduced in Fire OS 8. So, this guide applies to Amazon Fire tablets with Fire OS 8.
Why do you need the Dark Theme on Fire tablets?
Dark Theme, aka system-wide dark theme, was officially introduced in Android 10. It allows you to show content in a dark background on the screen.
Fire OS 8, which is based on Android 10, implemented the Dark Theme on Fire tablets without messing it up.
The advantages of using the Dark Theme include the following:
- Reduce eye strain, especially in a low-light environment.
- Make the screen more comfortable (arguable) for most users in most situations.
- Improve visibility for users with low vision and those who are sensitive to bright light.
- Reduce battery usage (therefore, increase battery life) if adaptive brightness is available and enabled.
Fire 7 (all generations) does not have a light sensor. Therefore, it will not benefit from the longer battery life when enabling the Dark Theme. Fire HD 8 (including Fire HD 8 Plus) and Fire HD 10 (including Fire HD 10 Plus) support adaptable brightness.
For most Fire tablet owners, you may just leave the Dark Theme on in most situations.
However, a few poorly designed apps may look weird with the Dark Theme. This only affects apps that “support” the Dark Theme, but it was not implemented properly with the UI design. Most third-party apps in the Amazon Appstore actually do not support Dark Theme currently.
What is the difference between the Night Mode, the Dark Theme, and the Blue Shade?
Prior to Fire OS 8, the “dark” background was actually used in many locations of the Fire tablets. Of course, most of them are NOT customizable.
For example, the Settings app in most versions of Fire OS has a dark background, unlike the white background color in many old Android phones and tablets. Amazon also “locked” the UI so that you cannot change it.
But such features are just part of the UI design. They are not related to the Dark Theme, Night Mode, or Blue Shade.
Let's explore the differences between these three features.
Blue Shade
Blue Shade is the “oldest” feature among these three. Since Fire OS 5, Amazon has already included this feature in the Fire tablets. And it is available on all subsequent tablets.
In stock Android, the same feature is now called “Night Light”.
The purpose of Blue Shade is to “filter” out the blue light, which may cause some sleep problems when overexposed, especially before sleeping.
So, once activated, Blue Shade adds a yellowish filter over the screen to reduce the blue light. It does not care about the content you are watching.
You can enable/disable Blue Shed in two ways:
- Use the Blue Shade button in Quick Settings.
- From Settings — Display — Blue Shed.
Night Mode
Night Mode is the predecessor of Dark Theme.
In Android Pie (Android 9), Google introduced Night Mode, which turns the background to a dark color and adjusts other colours accordingly. Fire OS implemented it in Fire OS 7.
Ironically, the stock Android Pie reverted the background color for the Quick Settings panel to white. You can check this with your Fire tablet with Fire OS 7.
In a nutshell, the Night Mode in Android Pie and Fire OS 7 is mainly designed for third-party apps. It is not designed for the system UI.
The Night Mode settings are only available in the Developer options in Fire OS 7.
Dark Theme
In Android 10, Dark Theme superseded Night Mode and was implemented as a system-wide feature. Fire OS 8 implemented the feature.
Compared to the Night Mode, Dark Theme, once enabled, will be enforced for the system UI (and supported apps). This creates a consistent UI among Android devices: Dark Theme or light theme.
In Fire OS 7, Dark Theme on Fire tablets has a dedicated entry in Settings — Display.
Is Dark Theme available on all Fire tablets?
As mentioned earlier, Dark Theme is only available on Fire OS 8.
Currently, only the following devices are running Fire OS 8:
- Fire 7 2022 (12th Gen).
- Fire HD 8 2022 (12th Gen) and Fire HD 8 Plus 2022.
- Fire HD 10 2023 (13th Gen).
- Fire Max 11 (13th Gen).
So, if the Fire OS on your tablet is older, you will not be able to use Dark Theme.
How to turn on and off Dark Theme on Fire tablets with Fire OS 8?
There are 3 ways to turn on/off Dark Them on your Fire tablet.
- Use the Quick Setting button.
- Use Settings.
- Use the Lower power mode.
By default, the Dark Theme button is enabled in the Quick Settings panel on Fire OS 8.
As shown in the screenshot below, you can tap the Dark Theme button to enable (if it is disabled) or disable (if it is enabled) the Dark Theme on Fire tablets with Fire OS 8.
Please check this guide on using Quick Settings on Fire tablets.
Method 2: Use Fire tablet Settings
You can also enable or disable the Dark Theme from tablet Settings.
As shown in the screenshot below, tap Display on the Fire tablet Settings page to access the Display Settings page.
The Dark Theme feature is located under Display Settings.
As shown in the screenshot above, you can find the entry for the Dark Theme.
By default, the Dark Theme is not enabled.
You can tap the Switch highlighted in the screenshot to turn on the Dark Theme immediately.
If you tap the Dark Theme field instead of the switch (button), you can access the Dark Theme Settings (read on).
Now, the Settings page immediately changes to a dark background, as shown in the screenshot below.
Of course, you can now use the switch on this page to turn off the Dark Theme.
Method 3: Use the Lower power mode
On Fire OS 8, there is a Lower power mode, which is essentially the Power saving mode in Android.
When you turn on the Lower power mode on the Fire tablet with Fire OS 8, Dark Theme will be enabled automatically.
You cannot even turn off the Dark Theme when in the Lower power mode.
As mentioned earlier, the Dark Theme is only available on Fire OS 8. On Fire OS 7, although you can also find the Lower power mode, there is no dark theme to be enabled by it.
You can enable Lower power mode in two ways:
- Use the Lower power mode button in Quick Settings, as shown in the screenshot below.
- From Settings — battery — Lower power mode
Once you exit the Lower power mode, the Dark Theme will NOT be deactivated automatically.
Note that the Dark Theme button in the Quick Settings panel also indicates the theme is enabled by the Lower power mode, as shown in the screenshot below.
The button is also grayed out. It means you cannot manually exit the Dark Theme when the power-saving mode is enabled.
How to schedule Dark Theme on Fire tablets with Fire OS 8?
In addition to turning on/off the Dark Theme manually, as illustrated earlier, you can schedule Dark Theme on Fire tablets so that it will be turned on and off automatically based on your requirements.
To schedule Dark Theme, you may follow these steps.
Step 1. Access Dark Theme Settings
As shown in the screenshot below, on the Display Settings page, you can tap the Dark Theme field instead of the switch/button to access Dark Theme Settings on Fire tablets.
This would bring you to the Dark Theme Settings page, as shown in the screenshot below.
If you tap the switch/button, you will simply turn on or turn off the Dark Theme.
On the Dark Theme Settings page, you can tap the Schedule button to schedule the Dark Theme.
Note that you can also quickly access this Dark Theme Settings page from the Fire tablet Quick Settings panel.
As explained here, you can tap and hold (long tap) the Quick Setting button to access the corresponding settings pages.
So, in the Quick Settings panel, you can tap and hold the Dark Theme button, as shown in the screenshot below, to access the same Dark Theme Settings page on Fire tablets.
Step 2. Choose your schedule
As shown in the screenshot below, you may schedule Dark Theme as:
- None. You will turn on and off the Dark Theme manually.
- Turns on at the custom time.
- Turns on from sunset to sunrise.
If you want to automatically turn on the Dark Theme at sunset and turn it off at sunrise, you need to enable Location-based services in Settings — Security & Privacy — Location-based services.
Of course, you can choose your own timing to schedule the Dark Theme.
For example, you can choose “Turns on at custom time”. Then, you can set the schedule, as shown in the screenshot above.
In this example, the Dark Theme will be automatically enabled at 10:00 pm and disabled at 6 am daily.
Because the Dark Theme was manually enabled and the current time is 6:42 pm, as shown in this example, you have the button to Turn off until 10:00 pm. It means if you manually turn off the Dark Theme now, it will be automatically enabled at 10 pm (based on the schedule).
Step 3. Check Dark Theme Settings on Fire tablets
You can quickly check the current schedule for Dark Theme on Fire tablets by looking at the Dark Theme button in the Quick Settings panel.
For example, if the Dark Theme is turned off, the Dark Theme button will tell you when it will be on (as shown on the left in the picture below). In this example, it tells you Dark Theme will be on at 10 pm.
If the Dark Theme is turned on currently, the button will tell you when it will be turned off (as shown on the right in the picture below). In this example, the Dark Theme will be turned off automatically at 6 am.
Of course, you can manually turn on or turn off Dark Theme at any time to overwrite the “current” schedule. But it will NOT affect the “future” schedule.
Why do some apps use white backgrounds even when the Dark Theme is enabled on Fire tablets?
Although the Dark Theme in Fire OS 8 is a system-wide feature, it does NOT overwrite individual apps. The app developers can choose to support the dark theme or not.
Some may choose to implement their own dark theme. For example, Amazon's Silk Browser uses its own dark and light theme.
Also, to support Dark Theme in their apps, the developers need to slightly modify the code and re-build the package. Unfortunately, most apps in Amazon Appstore have not been updated for a long time.
So, even if you enable the Dark Theme on your Fire tablet, some apps may still give you an annoying light background. For example, Amazon's own calendar app is still only using a white background.
Do you have any questions on Dark Theme on Fire Tablets with Fire OS 8?
If you need help using or scheduling Dark Theme on Fire Tablets with Fire OS 8, please let us know in the comment box below. The community will help you.
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