Mastodon can be displayed in dark mode, light mode or sometimes other colour schemes as well.
How do I set dark or light mode on a mobile app?
Colour schemes depend on which app you’re using, but generally they all have some kind of colour setting in their Settings menu, often in a section labelled “Appearance” or “Themes” or “Colours”.
How do I set dark or light mode on the website?
If you’re using your server’s website or web app, do the following:
- Click ⚙️ Preferences
- In the dropdown menu Site theme select the colour scheme you want
- Click the Save changes button
Are there any other options apart from dark and light?
Yes, but it depends on how you access Mastodon.
Some apps have lots of themes to choose from, and/or they let you customise the individual colours used by the interface.
The website and web app come with a dark theme, light theme and high contrast theme by default, but they also include the ability for the admin to add custom third party themes. If you want more themes on your server’s website, ask your server admin about it. For example here’s a popular third party theme called Tangerine ⧉ and there’s an admin’s guide to setting custom CSS here.
Can I set the colour scheme to match my phone or laptop settings?
Some apps have an option to match your device’s settings for dark more and light mode. This is usually presented alongside the themes.
If you’re using the website or web app, this doesn’t yet have an option to match your device setting.