We didn’t notice that the light mode was gradually getting lighter, and I have a graph to prove it. I did what any normal person would do, I downloaded the same (or similar) screenshots from the MacOS screenshot library 512 pixels. This project would have been much more difficult without a single place to get organized screenshots. I cropped each image so only a representative portion of the window was present, shown here with a pink rectangle:
Pillows were then used to obtain the average lightness of each cropped image:
for file in sorted(os.listdir('.')):
image = Image.open(file)
greyscale = image.convert('L')
stat = ImageStat.Stat(greyscale)
avg_lightness = int(stat.mean[0])
print(f"{file}\t{avg_lightness}")
This ignores any perceived brightness or tinting that MacOS has been doing for some time based on the color of your wallpaper. I could go on a huge tangent trying to figure out what’s the best way to measure this, but given that the screenshots aren’t completely comparable between versions, it seems appropriate to compare the average brightness of a grayscale image.
I graphed the release year of each OS version, doing the same for dark mode:
This graph is an SVG, which may not render correctly in feed readers. View this post on the web.
You can clearly see that the brightness of the UI has been continuously increasing for the last 16 years. The upper line is the default mode/light mode, the lower line is the dark mode. When I started using MacOS in 2012, I was running Snow Leopard, the average brightness of windows was 71%. Since then they have grown steadily so much so that in MacOS Tahoe, they are at full 100%.
What I have graphed here is only the brightness of the window chrome, which is not actually representative of the actual total screen brightness. A better study would be to look at the overall brightness of a specific set of apps. The default background color for windows, as well as the color for inactive windows, will probably give a more complete picture.
For example, the darkest color in a normal light-mode window in Tahoe is the color of a section in the Settings window idle at 97% brightness. The snow leopard had 90% color equivalent, and was one of the brilliant Parts of the window, because window chrome was usually darker than the window material.
I tried to remember exactly when I started using dark mode all the time on MacOS. I’ve always used a dark background for my editor and terminal, but I couldn’t believe it when I changed the system themes between them. When it first came out I remember thinking it looked cheesy.
This obviously can’t be before 2018, because that’s when dark mode was introduced in MacOS Mojave. I’m pretty sure when I updated my personal laptop to an M1 MacBook Air in late 2020 I set it to use dark mode. This would make sense, since the Big Sur update increased the brightness from 85% to 97%, which probably pushed me over the edge.
I think the reason this happens is that if you look at two designs, photos or anything, it’s really easy to be attracted to liking the brighter design. Or if they are predominantly dark, darker complexions. I’ve done it myself with this very site. If I’m changing the colors it’s easy to increase the brightness on the background and say “Oh wow, yes, that sure is clean”, then change it back and go “Oh, looks like it needs a good scrub”. If this is the dark mode color, a dark background will appear Coolant.
I’m no designer, but I believe resisting this urge is something you learn in design school. Just like making a website look good with a non-greyscale background.
In iOS 26 this year, some UI elements use HDR screens to make certain elements and highlights brighter than 100% white. It is much subtler this year, but the potential for inflation remains. If you’ve ever looked at an HDR photo on an iPhone (or any other HDR screen), then looked at the UI while it’s still being shown in SDR, you’ll know how gray and sad it looks. If you’re designing a new UI, how tempting would it be to make it a little bit more, a little bit brighter?
As someone whose work involves looking at macOS all day long, I think I basically do to pass Use dark mode to avoid seeing a display where all the system UI is blasting 100% white to my eyes. But this doesn’t require the option to be almost black, I’d be happy to have a UI that’s a medium gray color. In fact the thing I’m missing since swapping to using dark mode is that there is no contrast between windows. Everything looks the same, whether it’s a text editor, IDE, terminal, web browser, or Finder window. All black, all the time.
Somewhat in the spirit of Mavericks Forever, if I had to pick an old MacOS design to go back to it would probably be Yosemite. I have no nostalgia for skeuomorphic brushed metal or stitched leather, but I quite like the flattened design and blurred effect brought by Yosemite. Ironically, the brightness of Yosemite was much higher than that of previous versions.
So if you’re creating an interface or website, be adventurous and choose 50% gray. My eyes will thank you.
<a href