How to Use YouTube Dark Mode & Material Design

You can test out the new YouTube Dark Mode and new Material Design without changing browser settings. This will allow you to use a night theme on YouTube that is friendlier on your eyes at night and at the same time you get to try out a cleaner theme.

We’ll show you how to sign up for the YouTube Dark Mode with a totally new YouTube theme and what you need to do to switch back and forth.

This is open to all users with a Google account. This is testing a new theme, so you may see some oddities, but so far nothing is totally broken.

How to Use YouTube Dark Mode

The first thing you need to do is sign into your Google account or YouTube account if you haven’t already done so. Once this is done, go to YouTube.com/new and then click on Try It Now.

This opts you into the new YouTube design that uses Material Design similar to Android and also unlocks the new YouTube Dark Mode without messing around in your browser settings.

Once you click on this, a new YouTube page will load showing you the new YouTube theme and then you just need to turn on the YouTube Dark Mode.

1. Click on your user icon in the upper right
2. Click where it says Dark Theme: Off
3. Click on the Toggle next to Activate Dark Theme

Now you can enjoy the YouTube Dark Mode on your computer. You can turn off the YouTube Dark Mode by going back to this same setting and toggling it off. There is currently no option to schedule YouTube Dark Mode or to use any computer light sensor to automatically trigger it.

You can also use this with Night Shift on Mac and with Night Light on Windows to avoid super-bright light messing with your sleep schedule at nigh.