Microsoft brings dark mode to Office apps on iOS

By

Office-dark-mode-iOS
Download the updates today.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Microsoft today rolled out a bunch of updates that bring a long-awaited dark mode to its Office suite on iOS.

Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote are all a little easier on the eyes (if you want them to be). Dark mode will also help them be kinder on battery life on iPhone models with OLED displays.

Dark mode started making its way to some iOS apps years ago. But with system-wide support for it in iOS 13, adoption has really started to take off in recent months.

Microsoft first brought dark mode to Outlook and OneDrive back in August — just two months after iOS 13 was previewed at WWDC. Now the feature is making its way to other Office apps.

Office goes dark on iOS

Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote all saw dark mode updates today. The new look is enabled and disabled automatically when you toggle dark mode across iOS 13.

Dark mode makes using Office in dark rooms a more enjoyable experience, Microsoft says. It will also help minimize battery drain on iPhones with OLED screens.

This leaves Planner, SharePoint, and To-Do as the only Office apps still waiting for a dark mode refresh on iOS. Microsoft is yet to bring the feature to anything but Outlook on Android.

Get Microsoft’s latest updates today

You can download the latest versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote from the App Store now. Dark mode won’t work until they’ve been updated.

Newsletters

Daily round-ups or a weekly refresher, straight from Cult of Mac to your inbox.

  • The Weekender

    The week's best Apple news, reviews and how-tos from Cult of Mac, every Saturday morning. Our readers say: "Thank you guys for always posting cool stuff" -- Vaughn Nevins. "Very informative" -- Kenly Xavier.