Switching to dark mode during navigation

#1 · 24.09.2025, 03:48

I’ve been struggling to get Scenic to switch to dark mode at a time of my choosing while I’m navigating. Waiting until ‘sunset’ is too late particularly when riding under trees or using a CarPlay unit even with its brightness set to minimum. Adjusting the General Appearance setting to “System” has Scenic respond to manual changes in dark/light mode and I have a convenient button in the phone control centre for this. But Scenic’s Navigation Appearance overrides the General Appearance so when Nav Appearance is set to “Sunset <->Sunrise” it defaults to light mode until the sun has set according to the phone. And during a nav session I can’t find a way to access the settings menu to change Scenic’s Nav Appearance to “Dark”. Would it be possible to have a “System” option in the Navigation Appearance options? Or is it possible to script a shortcut and assign it to one of the big buttons accessible during a navigation session?

#2 · 24.09.2025, 12:02

Quote from Guido on 24.09.2025, 12:02
The problem with adding a "System" option for Navigation Appearance (or removing the navigation appearance all together and just use general appearance all the time) is that an AUTOMATIC appearance change (based on the appearance schedule as you set it in iOS Settings > Display & Brightness) is only applied after a screen lock and unlock. Try it... in iOS Settings > Display & Brightness set the appearance schedule to manual and set it to change after 1 or 2 minutes. Then switch to any app (like Apple's own Mail app). Watch the minutes change in the status bar, and you will notice that the appearance does not change at the set minute. Only after you lock and unlock the screen the appearance change is applied.

For most apps this is fine, but for Navigation Apps, that keep the screen 'awake' while navigating, people expect the appearance to change when they are navigating around sunset / sunrise time (or whatever schedule they set the appearance to change in iOS Settings) without them needing to lock/unlock the screen. But... it doesn't. That is why I had to add a separate setting for navigation appearance. Scenic actually has code to calculate sunset and sunrise time based on your location.

Now... in your case, where you would like to change appearance MANUALLY, this would work. But... I'd have to add yet another appearance setting in Scenic. It's already complicated enough if Im honest, and it's hard for people to wrap their head around it. If I would add a 'system' option under navigation appearance people would think it's not working because they don't know an automatic appearance change is only applied after a screen lock->unlock.

What I could do is add some customization in the navigation appearance to go to dark mode x minutes before sunset and/or add a manual option with a button in the navigation menu (big button menu) to switch between dark/light mode. I'll add that to the list, but it will be a while before I'll get around to that. I hope you understand.

The problem with adding a "System" option for Navigation Appearance (or removing the navigation appearance all together and just use general appearance all the time) is that an AUTOMATIC appearance change (based on the appearance schedule as you set it in iOS Settings > Display & Brightness) is only applied after a screen lock and unlock. Try it... in iOS Settings > Display & Brightness set the appearance schedule to manual and set it to change after 1 or 2 minutes. Then switch to any app (like Apple's own Mail app). Watch the minutes change in the status bar, and you will notice that the appearance does not change at the set minute. Only after you lock and unlock the screen the appearance change is applied.

For most apps this is fine, but for Navigation Apps, that keep the screen 'awake' while navigating, people expect the appearance to change when they are navigating around sunset / sunrise time (or whatever schedule they set the appearance to change in iOS Settings) without them needing to lock/unlock the screen. But... it doesn't. That is why I had to add a separate setting for navigation appearance. Scenic actually has code to calculate sunset and sunrise time based on your location.

Now... in your case, where you would like to change appearance MANUALLY, this would work. But... I'd have to add yet another appearance setting in Scenic. It's already complicated enough if Im honest, and it's hard for people to wrap their head around it. If I would add a 'system' option under navigation appearance people would think it's not working because they don't know an automatic appearance change is only applied after a screen lock->unlock.

What I could do is add some customization in the navigation appearance to go to dark mode x minutes before sunset and/or add a manual option with a button in the navigation menu (big button menu) to switch between dark/light mode. I'll add that to the list, but it will be a while before I'll get around to that. I hope you understand.

If you're enjoying Scenic and are happy with the support, please leave a nice rating in the App Store. It would mean a lot to me ❤️

#3 · 24.09.2025, 13:26

Hi @atticuscat,

please try the following to solve your desired dark appearance while on active navigation during the day:

if you do not have a personal map style for dark appearance yet, duplicate the "Default Dark Style" or for example import the style "CC20E7D2-D5EC-4AA8-B0BD-7B53EFD7DB5D_6BF01AC9-3162-4803-A7DC-1686224F7F9D"

- while you want to switch to dark mode while your iOS system still is on Light style, swipe on the map and enter the edit mode ..

- in edit mode you are able to switch the map style and apply the dark style (the duplicated or the import one from above) as standard for light mode (use for light appearance)

as soon you changed the style and exit the edit mode you will see that your map is now in the dark mode as you liked - its not a single tap, but max 5 should do it ...

if you want to switch back to general light mode, just follow the same process and select a light style for the light mode again.

Hope this helps, Markus

[caption id="attachment_9677" align="alignnone" width="692"] Screenshot[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_9676" align="alignnone" width="800"] Screenshot[/caption]

#4 · 24.09.2025, 16:00

Thanks Guido for the comprehensive explanation and Markus for the workaround - I hadn’t made the leap to the layers button. That should cover my needs nicely.

MjK has reacted to this post.