Full brightness on your phone, laptop or TV can twice as much power as a device on a low brightness setting, the study said

Published: 11:58 ET, Feb 20 2025
Updated: 13:19 ET, Feb 20 2025

SWITCHING your devices to ‘dark mode’ is likely draining your battery faster than the standard ‘light mode’, according to new research.

The study goes against popular belief that the ‘dark mode’ available on apps and websites is an ‘energy saving’ feature.

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Having the backgrounds on apps and websites black instead of white does require less energyCredit: Apple

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Full brightness on your phone, laptop or TV can twice as much power as a device on a low brightness setting, the study saidCredit: BBC Research & Development
Having the backgrounds on apps and websites black instead of white does require less energy.

But a study from BBC Research & Development found that 80 per cent of people using it were turning up their brightness far higher than they would on ‘light mode’.

In doing so, devices ended up using more battery than they would on ‘light mode’.

“It’s great that lots of us are looking for ways we can be more environmentally friendly,” said BBC R&D engineer, Zak Datson.

“But some of the most common sustainability recommendations are overly simplistic, to the point that many simply don’t work in the way they’re intended – or in the case of dark mode, actually end up using more energy.”

Mobile phone owners can still use ‘dark mode’ to use less energy – or simply because they prefer it.

But to be energy conscious, researchers say they should turn their screen brightness down.

Full brightness on your phone, laptop or TV can twice as much power as a device on a low brightness setting, the study said.

“What we need is a better understanding of what exactly causes our devices to consume energy when we spend time online,” added Datson.

“That’s what our team is working on, so that we can make changes based on evidence that will allow us to reduce the overall footprint of digital media consumption, both here at the BBC and for the wider media industry.”

Other energy-saving tips offered by the study were to use smaller devices, and keep electronics for longer – even if they’re ageing.

For example, surfing the web on a phone or tablet requires less energy than a laptop or PC.

And using a laptop with a monitor eats up more power than using a laptop alone – which could be reflected in your energy bills.

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Devices with ‘dark mode’ switch on ended up using more battery than they would on ‘light mode’ because the brightness was turned up higherCredit: The Sun