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Here’s a quick look and how to enable an early version of OS X Yosemite’s new dark mode

Screen Shot 2014-06-17 at 2.41.17 PM

Although the dark mode for OS X Yosemite that Apple previewed onstage at WWDC two weeks ago hasn’t officially made it into any build of Yosemite as of today, developer Hamza Sood has figured out a Terminal command which will let you get a taste of OS X’s dark mode now:

Just paste the line below into Terminal, and log out of your account. After logging back in, you’ll see that the Dock, Menu Bar, and corresponding menus all take on the new dark theme.

Of course, this is an extremely early version of dark mode, and many of the icons in the menu bar appear to be displaying incorrectly. As always, use your own discretion when enabling features like this. If you’d like to revert back to the default OS X style, there’s a Terminal entry for that too:

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Comments

  1. tilalabubakr - 10 years ago

    I hope it’s going to be all over the system, not just the menu bar and the dock.

  2. andredewaard1991 - 10 years ago

    how could your itunes logo already be red. i still have the old one.

  3. Vaidhyanathan Mohan - 10 years ago

    But this one’s too bad to be called a dark mode. I mean, it looks more like high contrast on rather than a black theme.

  4. Bruno Fernandes (@Linkb8) - 10 years ago

    Yay, white text! That’s sure to make the poor Helvetica look much better on screen. :(

    Please, let’s get a newly developed screen-version of Helvetica prior to shipping a public beta or revert back to Lucida, the current builds looks absolutely terrible wrt to type.

  5. Ben Smith - 10 years ago

    Doesn’t seem to be working for me. Perhaps I’m not pasting the multi-lined log correctly or maybe it’s the act of logging off and on. Can you specify which characters I’m to paste into terminal?

    • Jason Martin - 10 years ago

      Required restart for me.

    • Clint (@ClintAustin26) - 10 years ago

      start at sudo, end at dark. The use of sudo requires you to put in your password after you hit enter. It will not show any characters when typing in your password.

      • Ben Smith - 10 years ago

        I’ve tried Restart and full Shut Down after I type my password and hit enter. Maybe it’s no good for machines running 10.9.3?

    • Brian (@BrianVoll) - 10 years ago

      I had to reboot afterwards for it to take effect.

      • Ben Smith - 10 years ago

        Terminal is asking for my password just as Clint said it would. After you type your password and hit enter do you immediately Restart your computer or do you completely Shut Down?

  6. New Tweetbot for Mac. Nice.

  7. Stephen Hagans - 10 years ago

    did nothing for me….

  8. Garth Lahana - 10 years ago

    I have just installed beta 2, and this new interface is really ugly imho. The inconsistencies in the icons, the new tabs for example, that ugly system preferences icon to mention just a few. I love the look and feel of iOS8 which is much like iOS7, but this is very disappointing. I realise it’s a work in progress, but if it keeps going in this direction, I’ll be sticking with Mavericks!!!

  9. manuti - 10 years ago

    UBUNTU MODE ON

  10. so all the icons with clock are still black which will make it hard to see, i think apple got some better plans for it.

  11. Tyler Banks - 10 years ago

    Just so everyone is aware (those having issues), you must have a beta of OS X Yosemite for this terminal to work

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Avatar for Michael Steeber Michael Steeber

Michael is a Creative Editor who covered Apple Retail and design on 9to5Mac. His stories highlighted the work of talented artists, designers, and customers through a unique lens of architecture, creativity, and community.

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