Google is testing dark mode for Search on the web through a Chrome flag on Android

Google recently began rolling out a dark theme to the Google app on Android. The theme helps with cutting down the brightness in the app when users view it in the dimly lit conditions and was a nifty addition for those that prefer that theme. However, the search giant has also been working on bringing a dark mode to the Google.com website’s search results page. Interestingly, a code change (spotted by 9to5Google) in Chromium last month suggested that the dark themed webpage would be triggered by a Chrome flag.

Today, users of Google Chrome Canary and Dev can test out the dark mode on Google Search on the web for Android by tweaking the Chrome flags. Users can head to chrome://flags on either of the browsers, search for ‘Show darkened search pages on Android’, enable that flag, and relaunch the browser. Users will then notice that the search results page, on searching for any keyword, has turned dark.

The other way that users can try out the dark theme on the search page is by adding an “&cs=1” suffix to the URL of the search page. This works only in Chrome, regardless of the version. It is not clear why the Mountain View company would go with a browser flag to enable dark mode on its web search page. Additionally, it looks like the mode is still work in progress, as there are rough edges and inconsistent iconography in the result cards.

Source: 9to5Google