Appearance

import {Appearance} from 'react-native';

The Appearance module exposes information about the user's appearance preferences, such as their preferred color scheme (light or dark).

Developer notes

Example

You can use the Appearance module to determine if the user prefers a dark color scheme:

const colorScheme = Appearance.getColorScheme();
if (colorScheme === 'dark') {
  // Use dark color scheme
}

Although the color scheme is available immediately, this may change (e.g. scheduled color scheme change at sunrise or sunset). Any rendering logic or styles that depend on the user preferred color scheme should try to call this function on every render, rather than caching the value. For example, you may use the useColorScheme React hook as it provides and subscribes to color scheme updates, or you may use inline styles rather than setting a value in a StyleSheet.

Reference

Methods

getColorScheme()

static getColorScheme(): 'light' | 'dark' | null;

Indicates the current user preferred color scheme. The value may be updated later, either through direct user action (e.g. theme selection in device settings or application-level selected user interface style via setColorScheme) or on a schedule (e.g. light and dark themes that follow the day/night cycle).

Supported color schemes:

• 'light': The user prefers a light color theme.
• 'dark': The user prefers a dark color theme.
• null: The user has not indicated a preferred color theme.

See also: useColorScheme hook.

setColorScheme()

static setColorScheme('light' | 'dark' | null): void;

Force the application to always adopt a light or dark interface style. The default value is null which causes the application to inherit the system's interface style. If you assign a different value, the new style applies to the application and all native elements within the application (Alerts, Pickers etc).

Supported color schemes:

• light: Apply light user interface style.
• dark: Apply dark user interface style.
• null: Follow the system's interface style.

addChangeListener()

static addChangeListener(
  listener: (preferences: {colorScheme: 'light' | 'dark' | null}) => void,
): NativeEventSubscription;

Add an event handler that is fired when appearance preferences change.

Last updated: May 13, 2026