Upcoming PowerToys utility will finally let you set light and dark mode to cycle on a schedule in Windows 11
I swear, sometimes the only thing that actually wakes me up in the morning—besides enough caffeine to kill a small horse—is the retina searing brightness of a rogue default theme, usually from that one app I keep meaning to switch to dark mode. Now an upcoming PowerToys utility means I won't be jumpscared with a bright white blast to my eyeballs right before bed time.
For those unfamiliar, PowerToys is a Windows utility for those never content with a system default. Tucked away into the accompanying blog post for the PowerToys 0.94 update (via Windows Latest) is news of a feature in the works that will "automatically switch between light and dark mode based on your schedule."
At present in Windows 11, you can select dark mode by ducking into settings, then looking under personalisation, and then colours. You can also pick a muted 'accent' colour to highlight certain features of the Windows UI—such as sliders and hyperlink text—without harshing the more sedate vibes of dark mode.
The rest of the recent 0.94 update focuses on quality of life updates, such as adding a search box into the PowerToys settings menu, plus a new gliding cursor mode that offers a little extra support for users who otherwise struggle to make rapid mouse movements and clicks precisely. Keyboard shortcuts also enjoy a tweak; rather than hitting a hotkey and being surprised when multiple things result from the same input, PowerToys now has a new tile that warns you of keyboard shortcut conflicts and also allows you to quickly reassign any doubled-up key combinations.
You can't currently set your theming to change throughout the day in Windows 11, though that functionality is there for the Night light feature designed to reduce blue light intensity as ambient light levels drop. The PowerTools v0.95 update offering that feature should go live in October. As users have frequently requested this feature in the past (not to mention the fact a similar feature can already be found in macOS), there's a good chance that the power users won't be allowed to keep theme scheduling all to themselves forever.
And once we get themes that change based on the time of day, whose to say themes that change based on your location is out of the question either? Just think—dark mode for when you're reading fanfic about your favourite blorbo at home, and then the normcore glow of day mode for when you're in the office…though I'm not sure a shifting theme is what I'd personally consider a good enough reason to give up my location data.