Android Q leak shows off system-level dark mode and other new features

Google has made a habit of internally showing off its latest Android versions well before officially announcing the software. Now, a supposed Developer Preview has leaked ahead of schedule, giving us an early look at some of the features Google may be planning for Android Q.

First reported by XDA, users have managed to get their hands on a leaked preview and take screenshots of some of the new features.

Probably the most interesting revelation is that Google is working on a system-wide dark theme. Once on, it shades all of the white backgrounds to a dark grey tone. The images show that you’ll also be able to schedule dark mode to be enabled depending on the time of day.

XDA confirmed that dark mode is enabled on every app or software menu. From the Google Phone app, Google Messages, Google Contacts and things like the volume panel and Quick Settings, they were all updated for the new dark mode.

Interestingly, the preview has an option called “override force-dark” to enable dark mode on all apps, even in ones that don’t have the option.

Besides the dark mode, Android Q will include other revamped features like improved Accessibility, Permissions for privacy, and a Desktop Mode. That last one in particular is quite intriguing, and though XDA believes it’ll function similar to Samsung’s DeX and Huawei’s Easy Projection, it wasn’t able to get the feature to properly work on an external display.

It’s unclear if Google will include all of the features found in the Developer Preview of Android Q in the final version that will be available to all users later this year.