Google Still Hasn't Fixed This Dark Mode Bug on Pixel

Dark mode has saved many of us from eye pain when using our smartphones at night. The difference between a black display with white text and a blinding white screen with black text is immeasurable when your phone is the only light source in the room—especially when you're opening your eyes for the first time in a while.

While many Android users prefer to use dark mode all the time, others prefer it exclusively in the evening and night. That's where the "sunset to sunrise" schedule comes into play: On many devices, such as Google's Pixel phones, you can choose to schedule dark mode from sunset to sunrise. After the sun rises, your phone stays in light mode, so your content is bright alongside the light outside. But after sunset, when the light starts to dim, your phone conveniently switches dark mode. It's the best of both worlds—when it works.

As reported by 9to5Google, users are experiencing issues with scheduled themes on Pixel devices. The problems seem to have begun with the March 2025 Pixel update, and remains unpatched following the April update. It can be frustrating, especially when you're expecting your phone to look a certain way at a certain time of day. There are a few workarounds, but they're not a permanent solution.

Workarounds for the dark mode bug on Pixel

Back in March, when the issue first popped up on Pixel devices, users discovered a quirk that appears to trigger the glitch: manually enabling dark mode.

Typically, when you have this schedule enabled, you're still free to toggle between themes whenever you want. Android would simply override that decision during the next schedule change. For example, if light mode kicks in after sunrise, but you still want dark mode, you can manually enable it, and Android will preserve that setting until the following day's sunrise. Then, it switches back to light mode.

It appears that part of the bug has to do with this practice. If you manually toggle dark mode on in this situation, Android won't switch to light mode during the following sunrise. The same goes the opposite way: If you enable light mode after sunset, dark mode won't kick in the following sunset.

For now, one of the best workarounds is to simply not touch the toggle if you want to keep your theme schedule active and automatic. That's not a great workaround, by any means, but it seems to be the one with the most success.

Some users saw success in setting up a custom time for dark mode (Settings > Display > Dark theme > Schedule) then switching back to the "sunset to sunrise" option after the fact. However, others say the bug returns in time—indicating there is something broken in this particular schedule function. You could also try setting up a Bedtime mode rather than relying on this schedule, though that would affect more of your phone's function than usual.

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