Update: I picked true black over dark gray for my reading app and the feedback split hard | Dark Mode Design

Jesse Kim · 2026-10-21T19:35:04.25199+00:00

I shipped a small reading app last week and had to pick between true black (#000000) and a dark gray (#1C1C1E) for the main background. I went with true black because I liked how it looked on my OLED phone, and the contrast felt crisp on my own eyes. Then about 6 of my 20 test users said the black background made the white text feel like it was floating and gave them a headache after 10 minutes. A few loved it though, mostly the ones reading at night in bed. Now I'm second guessing and thinking about offering a gray option in settings. For those of you shipping dark themes, do you start at true black or gray by default and does body text still feel comfy at longer reading lengths?

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Update: I picked true black over dark gray for my reading app and the feedback split hard | Dark Mode Design - The Design Community Hub