Facebook Messenger’s dark mode was originally a bit of a secret when it first came about in 2019, with users having to send a crescent moon to activate it.
That’s no longer the case though. Here’s how to turn dark mode on inFacebook Messenger.
What is a dark mode?
People who use their phones or computers late at night or in the dark often suffer from eye strain. This is because many popular websites, apps, and even device user interfaces (UI) use light colour schemes.
There’s been research to suggest that dark modes, which re-skin the look of a site, app, or UI so that they appear darker, are more beneficial to not only your health but also your device’s battery.
As a result, Android and iOS devices both offer a system-wide dark mode and you’ll find services likeTwitter,InstagramandWhatsApp, among plenty of others including Facebook Messenger, all offering adark modeyou can enable.
How to enable Facebook Messenger’s dark mode
When Facebook Messenger’s dark mode feature first debuted in 2019, it was an easter egg. As mentioned previously, you had to send acrescent moon emojiin a chat to a friend to enable it. But, on 17 June 2025, Facebook rolled out dark mode for all users.
