How to switch dark mode on and off fast on your Mac

macOS has no keyboard shortcut for dark mode out of the box. The fastest built-in switch is Control Center: click it in the menu bar, open Display and click Dark Mode. For a real key combination, make a shortcut in the Shortcuts app with its Set Appearance action and give it keys. Koi 1.13 adds a third way: tap Shift over the desktop and click Dark, or Light.

We make Koi, so read this with that in mind. Everything about Koi here is what version 1.13 does. The System Settings, Control Center and Shortcuts steps come from Apple's own guides, checked October 21, 2026, for macOS 27.

1. Choose Apple menu, then System Settings.
2. Click Appearance in the sidebar. You may need to scroll.
3. Choose Light, Dark or Auto.

Auto follows your Night Shift schedule: light by day, dark at night. It waits until your Mac has been idle for a minute before it switches, so it never flips mid-sentence. Apple's guide also covers accent and highlight colours on the same page.

1. Click Control Center in the menu bar.
2. Click the disclosure button next to Display.
3. Click Dark Mode to turn it on or off.

Three clicks, from any app, with nothing to set up. It's the quickest way most people don't know about.

1. Open the Shortcuts app and make a new shortcut.
2. Search the actions for Set Appearance and add it.
3. Set it to Toggle, so each run flips between light and dark. Name the shortcut Toggle Dark Mode.
4. In your list of shortcuts, double-click it, click the button for its details, then click Add Keyboard Shortcut.
5. Press the keys you want, like Control, Option and D.
6. Press those keys in any app to switch.

Some key combinations belong to macOS and can't be used; if yours does nothing, pick another. To take the keys off again, click the Run with field and press Delete. Apple's Shortcuts guide has the keyboard steps, and Matthew Cassinelli's toggle is a ready-made version built on the same action. Apple's guide also shows how to put a shortcut in Control Center or the Dock, if you'd rather click than press keys.

Automator has its own Change System Appearance action, with Light, Dark and Toggle Light / Dark. It's an older way to do the same thing:

1. Open Automator from Applications, choose New Document, then Quick Action.
2. Set “Workflow receives” to no input, in any application.
3. Drag in Change System Appearance and pick Toggle Light / Dark.
4. Choose File, then Save, and name it Toggle Dark Mode.
5. Run it from the app menu's Services in any app.

1. Move your pointer over the desktop, where no window is under it. It doesn't matter which app is in front.
2. Tap Shift on its own, quickly. A wheel of two opens round your pointer.
3. Click Dark. The wedge is named for what a click turns your Mac into, so in dark mode it reads Light.

• Koi switches macOS's own appearance, the same setting as System Settings, through System Events. macOS asks once whether Koi may control it.
• If you said no, Koi tells you where to allow it: System Settings, Privacy & Security, Automation.
• The other wedge hides every desktop icon and widget, for a clean screen when you share it.
• A click elsewhere, Escape, or Shift again puts the wheel away. Shift with another key, or Shift-clicking icons, never opens it.
• Nothing is sent. The desktop wheel sits under the same switch in Koi's settings as the Shift wheel.

Koi needs Accessibility permission to hear Shift in other apps, which it asks for when you set it up. More on the Shift wheel, and on the other wedge in hiding desktop icons.

• Apps with their own setting: some apps, and many websites, pick light or dark themselves. If one doesn't follow, look in its own settings for a theme set to match the system.
• Auto and manual don't mix: if Appearance is set to Auto, your Mac switches back on its schedule. Pick Light or Dark there if you'd rather decide yourself.
• Night Shift isn't dark mode: Night Shift only warms the colours on screen. Dark mode changes the windows and menus.
• Full screen: Koi's wheel needs your pointer over the desktop, so it won't open over a full-screen app. Use Control Center or a keyboard shortcut there.
• Typing capitals: the wheel opens only on a quick tap of Shift on its own. Holding Shift, or pressing it with another key, does nothing, so it never gets in the way of typing.

Want it to follow the sun? Set Appearance to Auto and forget about it. Switch a few times a week? Control Center is three clicks. Want a key combination and don't mind a few minutes of set-up? Make the Shortcuts shortcut. Already use Koi, or want dark mode and a clean desktop from the same tap? The desktop wheel does both, next to Koi's dictation and the file tools on the same Shift key.

The macOS ways are free. Koi has no free plan: Pro is $20 a month, or $192 a year, after a 3-day free trial that needs a card. Lifetime is paid once, from $59. The desktop wheel uses no AI, so it never counts against Koi's usage. See the plans.