It’s proven: Dark mode really saves battery life on OLED phones, especially iPhones

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Fans of OLED screens have long used dark wallpapers and turned on dark mode in apps to save on battery life. The thing is, there hasn’t been conclusive proof shown, other than Google mentioning something about, that dark mode does, in fact, save battery.

Now we have conclusive proof, with PhoneBuff testing two otherwise identical iPhone XS devices with a series of tests done by robots. Yea, robots.

We’ve long thought dark mode would save battery life on OLED phones – now there’s proof

PhoneBuff‘s full test is in the above video, showing the robots doing the ultimate “Light side vs. Dark side” test – normal UI vs. Dark mode. The skinny? The iPhone with dark mode enabled had 30 percent of its battery life left when the “light mode” iPhone XS gave up the ghost. That’s a pretty high contrast…

• The tests included watching a YouTube video, using Twitter, navigation via Google Maps and chatting on iMessage – pretty standard uses for anyone
• Both phones were run at 200 nits (that’s bright)
• Only dark-mode compatible apps were used in the test

So, there you have it. At least on the iPhone XS’s OLED screens, using system-wide dark mode saves your battery. A whole lot of battery, as it happens, giving you enough to get through the most grueling of days with juice in the tank.

So, do yourself a favor – go turn on dark mode everywhere.

Do you already use Dark Mode on your iPhone? Have any thoughts to this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

Editors’ Recommendations:

• Dark mode for Gmail and Maps is officially rolling out – here’s how to turn it on
• Dark mode lands on Instagram – Here’s how to turn it on
• Dark Mode for Slack’s desktop app is finally here – here’s how to turn it on
• How to turn on Facebook Messenger’s dark mode without sending an emoji

Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience at KnowTechie, SlashGear and XDA Developers. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere, with particular focus in gadgetry and handheld gaming. Shoot him an email at joe@knowtechie.com.