Making web sites dark on an iPhone

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Making web sites dark on an iPhone

Does anyone know if there is a way to invert colours on web sites on an iPhone?

On my Mac I can use Night Eye, Dark Reader etc, and on my Android I can use Dark Text and Light Background for Firefox. All of which are great. But is there anything that would work on an iPhone? I've not found anything just yet but really hope there is.

(I don't mean the general invert whole colours feature as this doesn't work so well for images - I want just web site colour inversion)

iPhone 11

Posted on Nov 10, 2019 3:52 AM

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Answer 1

Alancito

Level 7

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Nov 10, 2019 10:50 AM in response to mrgrieves4

mrgrieves4 wrote: "Ah - does that work for web sites?"

Yes. But if you don't like Smart Invert, an alternative is Safari's Reader view (see HERE), which can be configured to have a black background and set for "All Websites" in Settings > Safari > Reader. ...A page in Safari then looks like this with font size, font and background color options:

And here's Apple's "Vision" accessibility page for iPhone:

https://www.apple.com/accessibility/iphone/vision/

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Answer 2

Alancito

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Nov 10, 2019 8:37 AM in response to mrgrieves4

mrgrieves4 wrote: "Does Safari on the iPhone support extensions like the Mac version does?"

I believe it supports only content blocker extensions: "Content blockers are third-party apps and extensions that let Safari block cookies, images, resources, pop-ups, and other content." [Source: Apple]

Also consider experimenting with Apple's free Shortcuts app (User Guide) which offers several actions for Safari:

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Answer 3

Alancito

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Nov 11, 2019 11:58 AM in response to mrgrieves4

mrgrieves4 wrote: "Does ios reader moder work pretty much like OSX reader mode?"

Yes, iOS Safari Reader view works much like macOS Safari Reader view. But both rely on webpages conforming to guidelines set by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). Nonconformity probably explains why some webpages don't display in Reader view.

There's a Community dedicated to Accessibility > Vision, so I'm going to request that the moderators relocate this thread there:

https://discussions.apple.com/community/accessibility/vision

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Answer 4

mrgrieves4 Author

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Nov 10, 2019 7:54 AM in response to SravanKrA

Not sure I quite understand your reply. Does that mean that there is nothing on the iphone at the moment to do this? Or did you misunderstand my question? Reading it back, I could have been a little clearer.

Does Safari on the iPhone support extensions like the Mac version does? I presume it doesn't natively have a feature that changes the colours of web sites?

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Answer 5

Alancito

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Nov 10, 2019 8:17 AM in response to mrgrieves4

mrgrieves4 wrote: "(I don't mean the general invert whole colours feature as this doesn't work so well for images...)"

mrgrieves ~ iOS offers two types of Invert: Smart Invert & Classic Invert — see Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size.

...The Smart Invert option claims: "except for images..."

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Answer 6

Alancito

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Nov 10, 2019 8:50 AM in response to lobsterghost1

rbrylawski wrote: "If you are using iOS 13 or higher, use Dark Mode."

But Dark Mode only works for websites that have been encoded for it, such as this one:

Say hello to Dark Mode on iMore!

(These Apple Support Communities don't yet support Dark Mode.)

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Answer 7

mrgrieves4 Author

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Nov 10, 2019 10:16 AM in response to Alancito

Ah - does that work for web sites? That sounds like maybe what I need.

I should have mentioned that I don't currently have an iPhone - I actually have an Android right now, but I am visually impaired and find white background impossible to read. I am thinking of upgrading to an OS that has proper native dark themes, but I need web sites to be dark too. It's a toss-up for me between Android 10 and iOS13.

At the moment I use Dark Text and Light Background for Firefox in Android which works well (except my phone is crap so it's quite sluggish).

I've been considering an IPhone because I believe it will be better for when my eyes deteriorate further (which sadly is ongoing)

I'll look up Smart Invert, but it sounds like it might be what I'm after.

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Answer 8

mrgrieves4 Author

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Nov 10, 2019 1:39 PM in response to Alancito

Thanks - that's very helpful.

I've used things like Readability in the past, which were helpful until I discovered extensions like Dark Reader which I've felt are better suited. Readability could often just not work ons ome sites, or at the very least wouldn't have proper navigation available. But that was a few years ago, and I've not really tried Safari reader mode much. TBH I've not used Safari very much at all, even after getting my Mac, because its dark reader extensions aren't free unlike the other browsers. Does ios reader moder work pretty much like OSX reader mode? If so, maybe I should give it a go first.

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Answer 9

Nov 10, 2019 5:57 AM in response to mrgrieves4

Your feedback goes here --> Product Feedback - Apple

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Answer 10

Nov 10, 2019 8:38 AM in response to mrgrieves4

If you are using iOS 13 or higher, use Dark Mode.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210332

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Answer 11

Nov 10, 2019 8:53 AM in response to Alancito

Sorry then, but that's the only option you've got.

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Making web sites dark on an iPhone

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