The long, arduous journey towards a WhatsApp dark mode for iOS may finally be reaching its conclusion.

All iPhone owners rocking the latest beta version of WhatsApp via Apple’s TestFlight platform can now access the long-awaited, retina-saving feature. The news, as it often does, comes via the eagle-eyed folks at WABetaInfo (via MacRumors) within the latest 2.20.30.25 build.

The beta requires iOS 13, meaning you’ll need an iPhone 6s or later to access it, but it does offer some significant improvements on previous versions of the beta.

First off, you won’t see your battery drained to within an inch of its life while using it. The new version also conforms to Apple’s system-wide dark mode settings. So, if you are deploying dark mode across iOS 13, you should automatically see WhatsApp follow suit.

Related: Dark mode apps you should try

The start-up screen is now all black with a white logo (and the unfortunate “From Facebook” message that makes everyone sad), while wallpaper and chat bubbles now offer darker settings. According to the report, it’s also possible to lighten up the Dark Theme if the contrast settings are amended within the iPhone settings.

Here’s what the WABetaInfo report has to say about it:

WhatsApp for iOS also supports a second configuration of the Dark Theme. You can choose to enable Increase contrast in your iPhone Settings in order to enable the second configuration, that uses lighter dark colors for some UI elements.

There’s still no word on when the feature will officially roll out to all users, but we’re surely not far away from being able to open WhatsApp at night without burning our eyeballs out.

Previously, the dark mode was only available to certain to users on TestFlight, so the rollout to all beta users is certainly a sign that the full rollout isn’t too far away.

Chris Smith

Chris Smith is a freelance technology journalist for a host of UK tech publications, including Trusted Reviews. He's based in South Florida, USA. …