After dropping my iPhone in the ocean (note to self: “waterproof” doesn’t mean “oceanproof”), I had to temporarily switch to Android. My mum gifted me a Samsung phone – slightly older, but perfectly functional – and while I initially braced for impact, the switch turned out to be… surprisingly okay.
I won’t bore you with a full Android vs iOS comparison (both ecosystems have their quirks), but I do want to highlight something very specific that took me way too long to figure out – how to stop Samsung Internet from forcing a dark theme on websites, even when it ruins the layout and visibility.
The problem
Samsung Internet – Samsung’s default browser – has a hidden setting that forces websites to appear in dark mode, regardless of how the site is actually designed. On some sites (including my agency’s), this results in completely unreadable content, invisible logos, and broken styles.
The setting is turned on by default, and there’s no prompt or suggestion that it’s what’s causing the display issues. It’s just… there. Quietly ruining websites. (Fun fact – many websites have their own dark mode, carefully tweaked by web designers to look good, but Samsung Internet ignores it and instead converts the light mode to its own version of dark mode.)
The Fix (You’re Welcome):
Here’s how to disable the forced dark theme:
Settings → Apps → Samsung Internet → Samsung Internet Settings → Labs → “Use website dark theme” ← Enable this
Once you toggle that off, sites should appear as their creators intended. No more ghost logos or unreadable text.
I only found this solution after digging through a lengthy thread on Samsung’s dev forum, and I figured it’s worth sharing for anyone else stumbling around the same issue.
A few thoughts on the Android life:
Adjusting to Android wasn’t seamless. Here’s a quick summary of what I had to wrap my head around:
- Two app stores (Samsung and Google Play) — you’ll need both.
- Two payment/wallet systems (Samsung Pay vs Google Wallet) — just use Google Wallet.
- Cloud services from every direction — Google, Samsung, Microsoft… it’s a mess. Pick your battles as you probably need all two (three? I’m still confused).
- Notification overload and tiny status icons — give it 48 hours and a few tweaks, and it becomes tolerable. Still good luck seeing your battery level unless you leave the percentage on (which I find hideous).
And last but not least, be aware that face authentication is not supported in important apps – it pretty much only lets you unlock the phone (when it works, that is). The fingerprint authentication is so anxious that if you don’t nail the position of your finger the very first time, you’re getting rejected – possibly even locked out and forced to enter your long password (sorry, the phone doesn’t support a short PIN).
From my experience, that usually happens at the airport or in a supermarket queue, sometimes on transport with the crowd pushing against you. Also, get used to calling for checkout support when you forget to unlock the payment before tapping the card/NFC reader – (Samsung Wallet life).
That said, I actually like the Samsung Internet browser. It’s snappy, plays nice with the system, and has some solid features. But this dark mode thing? Way too hidden.
Hope this helps anyone else who’s wondering why their website suddenly looks like it was designed during a blackout.
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