Apple has just released the iOS 27.3 developer beta, and while there is still some time until the final public release in December, I have already found one feature that had me say: "Finally!"
See, if you ask me about the big highlight of the iOS 27.3 update, I would point you to the completely revamped Apple Health app. I am still spending time with it before I give you my full verdict, but there is another, much smaller change that I immediately fell in love, and it's in a different app.
Safari finally gets a proper dark mode in iOS 27.3. And it looks gorgeous for all of us nightbirds!
I know what you are thinking: Didn't iOS already get dark mode on the system level a few years back? And yes, it did, but not fully. I think dark mode on iPhones is already more powerful than on many Android phones, as it not only swaps the backgrounds, but it also changes the your icons to dark ones (which many Android phones fail to do).
But open Safari at night, and you would be blasted with bright light from most websites. The only way iOS' dark mode touched Safari was that it turned the controls and the nav bar to a darker background, but not the websites themselves.
And that is what finally gets fixed in iOS 27.3 with Adaptive Dark Mode.
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Adaptive mode turn off (left) and turned on (right) | Image by PhoneArena
The difference this makes is obvious.
Reading in bed with the new Adaptive Dark Mode means the background is now dark too, so the whole experience is much easier on the eyes. Not all sites are compatible with this new mode, but most are.
With Adaptive Dark Mode, Apple isn't simply applying a simple black filter over webpages. Safari tries to intelligently transform pages into darker appearance while preserving images, text and the overall structure. It's not perfect every time, but it's good enough for me. I'd definitely have this over a bright website at night, that's for sure.
Because of the lack of true dark mode prior to this, I had to specifically remember to not use Safari at night and instead rely on other browsers like Brave that had support for a true dark mode on iPhones. Now, I can just keep on using the Safari browser, which I generally like, so this is a welcome improvement.
Interestingly, Chrome on Android still does not support this feature either, so Android users also have to rely on third-party apps to get some relief on their eyes while reading at night.
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Victor, a seasoned mobile technology expert, has spent over a decade at PhoneArena, exploring the depths of mobile photography and reviewing hundreds of smartphones across Android and iOS ecosystems. His passion for technology, coupled with his extensive knowledge of smartphone cameras and battery life, has positioned him as a leading voice in the mobile tech industry.
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