We’ve said it before, and we will more than likely continue saying it until final version of iOS 10 goes live to public; sometimes it’s the hidden features and functionality that are the most interesting additions to a new platform.
The first iOS 10 beta is currently out for registered developers of Apple Developer Program only, and although it’s really only intended at this time to be installed on devices that are deemed for testing and development purposes, history has already taught us that some users will always find a way to “test” it out, should they wish to do so.
One tester, Andrew Wilk, who describes himself as a programmer and student, has managed to find what appears to be a hidden dark mode in the platform, which potentially hints at what’s to come.
When running iOS 10 in simulation on a Mac through Xcode, Wilk, and a number of other individuals for that matter, have managed to turn on the setting in the stock Messages app while playing around. The dark mode that is then displayed within the Messages interface looks to be a long way from being described as a complete, although Wilk has suggested that the integration of a darker user-interface in the Messages app is “app wide”, which potentially could mean that it’s likely to be available across a number of Apple’s stock apps going forward on system level.
Here’s what it looks like:
A French publication has since “confirmed” the existence of the dark mode, sharing several images that show stock apps like Messages, iBooks, iTunes Store, Clock, and Safari all displayed with the new dark skin applied to them.
All of this appears to be enough to evidence to suggest that Apple is indeed working on bringing a dark UI to the iOS ecosystem, which would make sense given the fact that the Cupertino-based company announced a similar integration for the Apple TV via tvOS 10 update during the opening keynote to this year’s WWDC.
iPhone and iPad owners have actually been expecting this dark mode to arrive prior to WWDC kicking off earlier this week. A few iOS device owners had previously used Siri to ask “turn on dark mode”. Rather than getting a confused response, Apple’s digital assistant simply stated that she did not have access to that setting at this time. If that’s not a hint that something is coming, then we have no idea what is.
Like many other features that have ultimately been integrated into iOS, we are expecting an official dark mode presence in later iOS 10 betas.
(Source: Twitter [1, 2] | Top image via: iOS 10 Dark Mode Concept)
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