Quickly Switching Between Light and Dark Mode With NightOwl

IMPORTANT NOTE: It has been reported that Night Owl has since changed ownership and now includes malware-like behavior, contacting Internet servers and possibly using your Mac as a market research tool. Its own terms of service seems to confirm this. I will leave this video here, for now, for historical reference but do not recommend installing this app on your Mac any longer.

Dark Mode in macOS Mojave is a great new feature, but Apple didn't give us a way to quickly switch between light and dark modes. The little donation-ware app NightOwl gives you that control in your menu bar. You can also set a keyboard shortcut, select apps to stay in light mode, and set specific times to switch between modes.



Link: https://nightowl.kramser.xyz

Comments: 20 Responses to “Quickly Switching Between Light and Dark Mode With NightOwl”

    Macgeek
    5 years ago

    I just created an app in Automator and placed it in the dock.

    Michael Fisk
    5 years ago

    Terrific app. Hope lots of the viewers will donate to this developer if they like it.

    Rocky
    5 years ago

    I downloaded this (thank you), but it doesn't have a way to turn off dark mode with running apps, which is what appealed to me most about it. There is nothing after the Light Dark settings. Are you running a beta version or am I missing something?

    5 years ago

    Rocky: Did you logout or restart like it instructed?

    Rocky
    5 years ago

    Yes, I did. I restarted actually.

    Rocky
    5 years ago

    I'm on a Mac Pro (2010) running the latest Mojave version. I restarted again but it's still not showing the list of running applications. I saw here that Macgeek created an Automator app, so I tried it too and then placed it in the Finder window toolbar (even changed the icon to a light bulb). Works great, but I do wish I could control individual applications as you show in your video. It's weird, no?

    5 years ago

    Rocky: Do you have the applications running? They only show up if they are running. Also, are you scrolling up in the NightOwl window?

    Peter
    5 years ago

    Gary, another great tip. The download version is 2.7 and I see you are using 2.8. No list of running applications on 2.7

    5 years ago

    Peter: Received the 2.8 version in an automatic update. Perhaps you need to wait for the 2.8 update to trigger to get it.

    Peter Grigg
    5 years ago

    Garry. From the developer- “There are some issues for some users in v0.2.8, which i can’t solve right now, because i am backpacking in Vietnam and don’t have my Mac with me. So I removed v0.2.8. It will again be available when I am back and fixed the Problems.” I hope he doesn’t mind me sending this information on to you.
    Sorry!

    Greg
    5 years ago

    Listing of active desktop Apps not showing so i can only make them ALL Light or ALL Dark? Rebooted a number of times and reinstalled the NightOwl 3x but to no avail?

    5 years ago

    Greg: Check your version. You need the latest version (2.8). Others report downloading 2.7, so I think it is just a matter of waiting to get the automatic update.

    5 years ago

    Peter: Thanks!

    Rocky
    5 years ago

    I contacted the developer as well and was going to post his response as well (thanks Peter). At least I know now that it's not something I was doing that was wrong. :)

    Ravi
    5 years ago

    Great tip. I'll check the app. Anyway, I set up an automator "quick action" that I assigned to the Touch Bar using the following code that I got from some website. Sorry, don't have the URL, but I'm sure a net search will turn up the page.

    tell application "System Events"
    tell appearance preferences
    set dark mode to not dark mode
    end tell
    end tell

    Ravi
    5 years ago

    BTW, how does he have a website ending with .xyz?? Wiki tells me it is a TLD, but what is the use of having such a domain name as against .com, .net, .edu, .gov, etc?

    5 years ago

    Ravi: The Automator script is great for basic functionality, but it is nice to have the more advanced features of NightOwl too. People use all sorts of TLD names today, usually because the .com for the name they want isn't available, or they just like the TLD.

    Karl
    5 years ago

    I really wish Apple would just put a shortcut like this in their own software. I’m always leary of downloading third party apps because you just never know.

    Adam
    5 years ago

    OK question: I've been using this app since your video came out. Pretty handy. A new update came out today for me. I don't know where to close the app being that's not like an app you'd download from the Mac App Store. You have to close the app before updating it.

    5 years ago

    Adam: Click on it in the toolbar. Click the settings button (little gear). Then click Quit.

Comments Closed.