Thoughts, research, private journaling, blog post drafts, meeting notes, offers and on and on. Writing is what most of us do pretty much on a daily basis. Since hand writing is long forgotten (except for sticky notes, short memos and birthday cards), we write on some type of smart device - laptop, tablet or smartphone.

Writing, for the majority of us, is a painful process that takes a lot of effort, but it is even harder when we are staring for hours the bright white screen. Before the spike of interest towards dark mode (when nobody but some computer geeks cared), there were no writing apps that offered a better for your eyes experience. Users were left with the blinding light emitted from their screens. Headache and watery eyes were something we got used to as writers, but no more!

Writing with dark mode on!

The following list contains writing and note taking apps that have have dark theme. This is the main criteria for listing an app here, but do know that all of them offer more than just a dark theme. Some of the apps like OneNote come with a lot of features, while others like Simplenote focus on distraction-free writing and note taking.

Microsoft OneNote - (iOS, Android, macOS, web, Windows)

Hands down this is the best note taking and writing app that you can find on the internet - heavy on features, fast, has dark mode and it is completely free. Ah yes, it is also available on every platform.

iA Writer - (iOS, Android, macOS, Windows)

Elegant design, power user friendly (heavy on shortcuts) and focused more on writing prosed. Unlike OneNote, iA Writer is a paid (one time payment) with available free trial.

Simplenote - (Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, web, Windows)

The name explains pretty much everything. It is the most easy to use way to capture thoughts and write. It comes with minimalist UI, lightning fast and completely free. The company created Simplenote is Automattic - the team behind WordPress.

Bear - (iOS, macOS)

Beautiful, powerful and flexible writing app that is being used by everyone - students, bloggers, developers, authors and more. The downside is that the app is available only on Apple’s ecosystem - iOS, iPadOS and macOS. The app comes with several beautiful dark themes and costs little to nothing per month. If you are using an Apple device - definitely check it out

Ulysses - (iOS, macOS)

Another Apple tied writing app that deserves your attention. It is one of the most praised app by the writer’s society. A direct competitor of iA Writer that allows the user to focus on her long form writing and research. It comes with a free trial, but it is a monthly subscription based app.

Day One - (iOS, Android, macOS, Windows)

A dedicated journaling app that has received numerous awards from Apple (which is the gold standard, right?). It is an app that ought to solve one very specific writing need - journaling. It comes with a small to medium monthly fee (based on the fact that it is a journaling app) and also offers a lighter free forever version.

Agenda - (iOS, macOS)

Note taking app that takes a quite different (and useful) approach to the process. It is a date-focused app for planning and documenting projects. If you are person who uses heavily calendar and run one or more projects, Agenda is the right choice for you. As most good writing and note taking apps, this one is available only on Apple devices.

Standard Notes - (Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, web, Windows)

The privacy focused note taking, writing and documenting app. It comes in 2 very distinct versions. The free forever offers fully encrypted note taking app that is available on every platform, syncs on every device and no limit on data capacity, The paid version comes with tons of features including the dark themes.

Google Docs and Word Online dark mode

Google Docs and Word Online are great free writing tools that can be utilised both at work and for personal use. Both can be used on all your devices thanks to their smartphone apps and the web based desktop versions.

One big drawback is that they lack native dark themes.

There is a way to enable dark theme and still use Google Docs or Word Online, but it requires to rely on browser extension like Night Eye. We’ve written detailed posts about each of them with previews here:

* Google Docs dark mode
* Word Online dark mode

Dark mode on any website

If you have gone through the whole post, there is a big chance that you, like us, are big fan of the dark UI. This is the main reason why we developed Night Eye - to have a consistent dark theme on nearly any website. It comes with 3 months of completely free trial. After the trial you can switch to the free forever version Night Eye Lite or subscribe for only $9 per year.

Start your FREE 3 month trial

No credit card, no names, nothing is required - install on your preferred browser and enjoy completely for free for 3 months. After that, you can stick with the free forever Lite version and subscribe for $9 per year.