How to enable YouTube’s built-in Dark Mode

While Netflix toppled it in the US some time back, YouTube remains the most used online streaming service, at least in India. Launched first in 2005, Google acquired YouTube from its original founders in 2006 soon after which the streaming service quickly picked up the votes and was widely used across the globe. But, YouTube has a secret Dark Mode built inside which can be activated with some simple steps. Thanks to _paul- from reddit who first spotted this new menu. So if being different is your thing, or you think black is simply cool, or you simply want to show off, here is how you go about moving to ‘Dark Mode’.

Step 1: Open the YouTube homepage in your Browser such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Microsoft EDGE etc.

Step 2: Once there, Press Ctrl+Shift+I to open up the developer menu on Windows. Mac users can open the developer menu by pressing Option+Command+I.

Step 3: Navigate to ‘Console’ tab and copy-paste the following code inside and hit enter –

var cookieDate = new Date();

cookieDate.setFullYear(cookieDate.getFullYear( ) + 1);

document.cookie=”VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE=fPQ4jCL6EiE; expires=” + cookieDate.toGMTString( ) + “; path=/”;

Step 4: After this, reload your YouTube homepage and you will be then greeted with the new YouTube layout.

Step 5: The new layout, however, would still have the white background. To enable the Dark Mode, head on to the three dot menu on the top right corner (if you are not signed in) or click your YouTube avatar to get to a new drop down menu. Enable the ‘Dark Mode’ here.

Note that entering the above code in your Console tab will change your YouTube layout for 1 year. To revert back enter the following code in the Console tab.

var cookieDate = new Date();

cookieDate.setFullYear(cookieDate.getFullYear( ) – 1);

document.cookie=”VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE=fPQ4jCL6EiE; expires=” + cookieDate.toGMTString( ) + “; path=/”;

Close your browser and open YouTube again. Voila, you are back to square one.