A new automated battery test has shown that Dark Mode in iOS 13 can deliver about 30% more battery life than Light Mode on iPhones that come with OLED displays. The test was done using applications that support native dark mode in iOS 13, as well as Google applications that do not support pure black theme, but a dark gray.

Apple introduced dark mode on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch with the new iOS 13, after this feature has been long awaited by users. It allows you to change the theme of the operating system, as well as the supported third-party applications, which use the Apple API for dark mode.

The automated test was performed by the YouTube channel, PhoneBuff, using bots. They followed a set of predefined tasks that included writing massages, scrolling on Twitter, using YouTube and Google Maps, etc. Two iPhone XS Max terminals were used for these tests, and both were calibrated at the same brightness of 200 nits. Each task was performed on repeat for two hours each, and battery consumption was recorded.

How does Dark Mode for iPhone work?

When you use the black color on an OLED screen, the screen does not use the pixels, and turns them off instead. This resulted in better battery efficiency. That's why the difference between the two modes of use is so great. Even though Google applications do not use a dark theme like the rest of the applications in this test, even the gray improves battery life compared to a bright color.

Even if in this test, the phone that used the dark mode still had 30% battery, user results may be different. This video also showed that the difference in battery consumption between several levels of brightness is much smaller.

Although this test was interesting, we are sure that many iPhone users wonder if dark mode has any relevance on battery life for LCD screens, and the answer to this question is unfortunately not. Except for a change of tones, dark mode on an LCD screens does not offer any benefit when it comes to efficiency.

How to use Dark Mode on iPhone in iOS 13

1. Open Settings

2. Swipe down and tap Display & Brightness

3. At the top of your screen choose Dark

4. Use the toggle next to Automatic if you’d like to switch between the dark and light theme automatically

5. You can also tell Siri to turn Dark Mode on and off or quickly toggle Dark Mode it in Control Center.

Here is the complete video with the test: