How to prevent iOS 13 Dark Mode from breaking emails
We have an e-commerce app that sends out order details when a purchase is made, and we just redesigned that email template. We've received reports over the past few days of some customers having half the text in the email missing.
After finally getting a screenshot, we've learned that the issue is happening on iPhones using dark mode. So far they've all been customers using gmail with either the Mail app or with Safari (both have the same problem). I'm not sure if the gmail factor is relevant or a coincidence.
Our email is simple -- it has a white background, gray headings, and black body text. Dark mode is leaving the white background and gray headings untouched, but the body text is being changed from black to white. On the white background, the white text is obviously invisible, and the email looks like it's missing large amounts of content.
Is there anything that can be done to prevent dark mode from changing our text from black to white?
I should note that we also have a QR code embedded in the email, so I'm concerned about solutions that would allow dark mode to proceed in recoloring our full email, as I believe it would make it harder for the QR code to be recognized.
Edit: this is not related to any app code, so guidelines on developing iOS for dark mode don't apply. This is simply an issue of how Apple's Mail app on iOS 13 in dark mode is displaying an HTML email.
Answer
You can forcibly remove this on Apple devices, but now we have Gmail and Outlook on Mac without a way to stop them.
Simply put this in the <head>:
<meta name="color-scheme" content="only">
"Only" is short for "Light only" (which also still works)
That will fix for iPhone dark mode and Apple Mail but not Outlook on Mac or Gmail.
You can currently override Outlook on Mac, but there is no known hack for Gmail.
Here is how to override for Outlook on Mac:
<style type="text/css">
.body, .darkmode, .darkmode div { /* With class body on the body tag, and all elements represented here that have a background color */
background-image: linear-gradient(#ffffff,#ffffff) !important;
}
.darkmode p { /* Add other selectors for other text elements */
-webkit-text-fill-color: #000000 !important;
}
</style>
HT to Brian Thies on Litmus forum for this
But it's best to try and fix the root problem, rather than remove a functionality (dark mode) that your customers want.
Apple have provided such a way, with this in the <head>:
<meta name="color-scheme" content="light dark">
<style type="text/css">
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
.darkmode { background-color: #1e1e1e !important; }
.darkmode p { color: #ffffff !important; }
}
</style>
Also, ensure your outermost element with the background-color has the class "darkmode", e.g.
<table width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0">
<tr>
<td align="center" class="darkmode" bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top" style="padding: 0px 15px;">
So by default, you'll have white background, black text; and on dark mode it will be a dark background with light text.
(Please supply the code for any further queries.)