What you need to know
- Google confirms that its dark themed Assistant on Android 13 is intentional.
- Many users reported the Assistant going into dark mode as a bug when the rest of the phone was set to light mode.
- Google has made this change as it looks to make its products feel “more consistent” across its ecosystem.
A once-reported Google Assistant bug on Android 13 has actually turned out to be an intended feature.
According to a recent tweet by Artem Russakovskii, Google Assistant constantly appearing in dark mode on Android 13 is intended by the company (via Android Police). The “issue” was first spotted in August by users when Android 13 began rolling out for devices. The reception was a mixed bag, with some people wondering why the change happened when their phone’s theme was set to light mode, while others were okay with the change.
Android Police and other users on Twitter have also pointed out that the once-thought issue had actually persisted since the beta of Android 13.
A post made by a member of Google on its Issue Tracker confirms that Google Assistant manually shifting itself into dark mode is an intended feature.
So the dark-only Google Assistant is… a feature, not a bug? This explanation makes no sense, the “feature” makes no sense, and Google makes no sense.https://t.co/GoxTNxPCo9 pic.twitter.com/w0UEBfZGZhNovember 1, 2022
The “issue” as of October 31 has been marked as “Won’t Fix (Intended Behavior),” and users are still displeased with the development.
With that, the Googler stated, “Google Assistant regularly tries new ideas to see what works and what could work better. This includes ways to make our products look and feel consistent throughout our product ecosystem. To offer a more helpful visual experience across all your devices, including Pixel Watch and Google TV, when you engage with Assistant on mobile Light mode is no longer available – it will now have a dark appearance, even if you have Dark theme turned off in your phone settings.”
Android 13 brought in additional customization options that people are pretty familiar with by now in terms of making their Pixel 7 Pro and others feel personal to them. Ideally, if the phone is set to light mode, you’d want everything to follow suit. But having the Assistant in dark mode when the rest of the phone is not breaks that immersion for users who are still voicing their displeasure with Google.
As Google looks to take one of its most prominent core features in a more connected direction amongst all of its devices, there’s nothing users can do to change it, unfortunately. However, some Twitter users have suggested that Google make the Assistant’s dark theme the default but still allow them to change it if they choose to.
