Tired of looking at dark content while the sun is shining brightly? But at night everything is suddenly too bright? Auto Dark Mode is the solution for you. Android, iOS and MacOS already offer the possibility of changing the system design based on the time of the day. We're bringing this feature to Windows on a larger scale.

Auto Dark Mode helps you to be more productive. Because you shouldn't care about changing Windows settings several times a day. As soon as the sun goes down, we'll take care of your eyes. Because a simple design change would be too boring, Auto Dark Mode is packed with useful functions. For example, we can also change your desktop wallpaper or run custom scripts.

Features

  • Compatible with Windows 10* and Windows 11.
  • Theme switch based on sunrise and sunset.
  • Desktop wallpaper switch.
  • Mouse cursor switch.
  • Accent color switch.
  • Office theme switch.
  • Windows .theme file switch.
  • Keyboard shortcuts.
  • Support for turning on/off accent color on the Taskbar and title bars.
  • Auto Dark Mode can enable the grayscale color filter of Windows.
  • Suitable for gamers: Doesn't switch while playing games to avoid stuttering.
  • Run custom scripts.
  • Postpone or delay the next switch as you like.
  • Automatic updates.
  • Lightweight with clean uninstall. No admin rights needed.

What's New

New Features

  • Added theme switching based on ambient light sensors as an alternative to the time-based switch (resolves #1070 in #1168 by @BYK).
  • New design for the Accent Color page, including a new contrast check for custom colors, just like in Windows Settings (in #1111 by @ChenYiLins).
  • Added a warning to the Auto Dark Mode settings if PowerToys Light Switch is enabled (in #1218 by @20syldev).
  • Re-implemented accent color switching for the taskbar if Windows mode is set to always dark (resolves #1133 and #1121 by @Spiritreader).

Improvements

  • Improved the hotkey page. It's no longer necessary to deactivate hotkeys before modifying them. We also added real-time conflict checking, to ensure there are no duplicate or invalid shortcut keys (resolves #702 in #1119 by @ChenYiLins).
  • Improved discoverability of the Aggressive DWM Refresh feature, now called More aggressive theme switch in Settings. This feature tries to prevent theme switching glitches by forcing a full DWM refresh after every theme switch. On some machines this feature can cause lags (by @Armin2208).
  • You can now set a custom waiting time value before the aggressive DWM refresh takes effect in the configuration file under DwmRefreshViaColorizationDelay. This can be helpful on slow machines (by @Spiritreader).
  • If you use Windows theme switch, you will now see the proper names for Windows built-in themes (resolves #1208 in #1209 by @Jay-o-Way).
  • Re-implemented warning if location access is not granted for Auto Dark Mode (in #1127 by @ChenYiLins).
  • DarkThemeOnBattery now works if auto theme switching is disabled (by @Spiritreader).
  • When Don't switch themes unless the system is idle is enabled, Auto Dark Mode now still switches the theme after resuming from hibernate (resolves #1155 by @Spiritreader).
  • Improved the look of the About page (in #1183 by @Jay-o-Way).
  • Improved mouse cursor switching (by @ChenYiLins).
  • Improved window closing handling (by @ChenYiLins).

Fixes

  • Resolved a common crash when opening the Wallpaper page under Personalization (resolves #1196 by @Spiritreader and @Jay-o-Way).
  • Prevented the global wallpaper integrity check from falsely considering disconnected monitors (by @Spiritreader).
  • Resolved a crash when opening the Accent Color page under Personalization (in #1117 by @ChenYiLins).
  • Resolved an issue where Auto Dark Mode wasn't able to update itself because Windows blocked file access without elevation (by @Spiritreader).
  • The taskbar jump list now works properly (resolves #1102 in #1135 by @ChenYiLins).
  • Fixed a crash occurring when interacting with settings expander items (by @Spiritreader).
  • Fixed a wake-from-sleep lag (resolves #1230 in #1232 by @Gnio).
  • Fixed a scenario where the first automatic theme switch after boot from Dark Mode would result in a color mismatch (resolves #1227 by @Spiritreader).
  • Fixed a bug where the context menu of the tray icon would state to pause the auto switch until next sunset, although it should be until sunrise (resolves #1205 in #1207 by @Jay-o-Way).

Known Issues

  • The process list on the condition page isn't filtering processes while typing (tracked in #1105).
  • Italian language is accidentally mixed up with Chinese (tracked in #1249).