Launched: Figma Dark Mode/Theme

The Figma team has only themselves to blame for the contentious nature of the Dark mode issue.

They shut down Figma Plus, a plugin that most users, including me, installed simply because they wanted a native dark mode experience, without providing an alternative.

Users have been asking for years for a Dark mode on the desktop client. All we hear are crickets. The lack of communication is astounding, considering that Dark mode is consistently among the top 3 most requested features ever since FigmaPlus shut down (almost 3 years ago).

The final straw is the recent update that broke FigmaDark, either intentionally or unintentionally. That was the only solution to create a native Dark mode experience and they sh*t on it with 1 update. And we paid for that too.

Designers are notoriously neurotic. A huge chunk of them works mostly or exclusively in a dim environment. And whenever they find a native dark mode solution, it feels like the Figma team is just behind to corner waiting to shut it down.

I, too, think the devs are working on a Dark mode. But working on it, and releasing it are 2 completely different things. At this pace, when will we get a native dark mode then? Hopefully 2024? Because I vaguely recall hearing the same sentiment from some other people with “good authority” back in 2020 that they were also working on a dark mode.

Nice post of not flaming the team. Lucky for me, I don’t mind the white.

If they ever DO release a Dark Mode, it will be an Enterprise feature ONLY, just as a final MIDDLE FINGER to their users. 🖕😏🖕

Framer has beautiful dark mode 🤔

Pls, my eyes are burning

It obvious users and community NEED (not just want) dark mode. The issue is communication. What has the Figma team been doing to work towards adding Dark Mode? How committed is the team? Be transparent and tell us, either way it helps set expectations.

A) We know and we’ve been hard at work. Expect it some time in Q2.
B) We find customers who want dark mode annoying and we’re just dragging out feet, because in our opinion it’s low priority.

I suspect it’s B.

Hopefully, Dark Mode will be live by 2030. The airport in Berlin was even faster 😂

There is at least one solution for the browser/Chrome version currently. For this there is this extension with which you can at least get the dark mode… better than nothing 🙃

Can we get a darkmode plzzz?
My eyeeezzzz 😵

The Figma app doesn’t respect my OS settings for dark mode. This is a UX failure. A white background is like staring into a light bulb all day long. If it has a dark mode and a switch to turn it on is buried somewhere, that’s another UX failure. I shouldn’t have to turn it on, it should respect my OS settings. I hate this app.

@Figma , @Josh,
when will we have dark mode support?

How is this still not a priority?

You’re a design tool. Even Adobe’s suite is all in dark mode.

Being behind Adobe on anything isn’t a great look.

you can not step into the same river twice, unless the river is figma light theme 🥲

I hope this is coming soon 🙏💕

Hey All,

Rest-assured, this is already on our radar! We don’t have a specific timeline to provide just yet, but stay tuned! 😉

Great to hear! Thank you.

This is very good to know 🙂 my eyes say thank you 🙏

I hope I can stop using browser plugins like Figma Dark Theme (which works well, but I think he’s been strong-armed into no longer maintaining it) and just use the mac app.

Just chiming in, I got LASIK last month and have to work with all my lights off, and everything on my computer in dark mode. I’ve never appreciated the combined efforts of every developer in the “dark mode” camp more in my life. White literally causes me physical discomfort. I can’t use the Figma desktop app since it doesn’t support web browser plugins and thus will always be primarily bright white. Can’t wait for dark mode to come out.

So a response only took over a year. Now let’s see how many years it takes to implement. 🤔

2022 and there is still no dark theme in Figma… 🤧

Yeah, that’s sad

Sadly, I don’t think we can trust any spokesman of Figma.

It’s been more than 2 years that native dark mode is a user addressed issue. They always say something along “we are working on it”. If they cared about it so much as their users care about it, it would’ve been done since.

If you check how many bugs there are still in the system, a Dark Mode theme is not that important. I’d rather have a good working application.

As for eye strain, its unclear if Dark Mode has an actual effect. Except psychological; just because you think its better, doesn’t mean it is.

" While dark mode has a lot of benefits, it may not be better for your eyes. Using dark mode is helpful in that it’s easier on the eyes than a stark, bright white screen. However, using a dark screen requires your pupils to dilate which can make it harder to focus on the screen. "

" Why does eye dilation make it harder to see? When your pupils dilate, your vision becomes less clear. When your pupils constrict under bright light, your vision sharpens. Just like a camera, a smaller aperture provides greater depth of focus. "

" Dark mode may work to decrease eye strain and dry eye for some people who spend a lot of time staring at screens. However, there’s no conclusive date that proves dark mode works for anything besides extending the battery life of your device. "

Maybe there’s a reason we couldn’t make promises until now… 😉

Me: Using Figma at 10pm: “Damn it’s bright, my eyes are dying.”

Me: Using another app that supports dark mode at 10pm: “Thank God. It’s so much more pleasant to work.”

MakePixelsWork: “As for eye strain, it’s unclear if Dark Mode has an actual effect.”

dvaliao from Community Support replies to MakePixelsWork: “Maybe there’s a reason we couldn’t make promises until now…”

No offense intended, but seriously?

🤦‍♂️ 😩