So, you just got a new iPhone X, XS, or XS Max. Congratulations!
Unless you’re coming from an Android phone, this might be your first smartphone with an OLED display, which shows more colors and greater contrast compared to LCD displays. But what’s the best way to actually experience this new screen?
A few months ago, Apple’s App Store editors highlighted over a dozen apps in a collection called “Does This App Come In Black?“, which highlighted iOS apps that offer a “pure black mode.” Darker themes are softer on the eyes, especially at night, but apps with a pure-black mode are also a great way to take advantage of the gorgeous OLED screen.
Here are the best iPhone apps with a “pure black mode,” as selected by Apple’s App Store editors. We’ve also thrown in a few choice apps for good measure, in case you want to embrace your OLED iPhone’s dark side.
1. Reeder 3, an app for reading and sharing news stories
Price: $4.99
2. Bear, an app for writing, note-taking, coding, and sketching
Price: Free, with in-app purchases
3. Instapaper, an app for saving and reading news stories either online or offline
Price: Free
4. Twitterrific 5, a highly customizable Twitter client
Price: Free, with in-app purchases
5. Drafts 5, an app for writing, editing, and sharing text
Price: Free, with in-app purchases
6. Calzy 3, a calculator app that can store and sync past calculations
Price: $2.99
7. Just Press Record, an app for recording and transcribing audio into text
Price: $4.99
8. Speedtest by Ookla, an app that can test your internet connection speed and consistency
Price: Free, with in-app purchases
9. Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia
Price: Free
10. Overcast, an app for searching, downloading, and playing podcasts
Price: Free, with in-app purchases
11. Polarr Photo Editor, an app for enhancing, filtering, and editing photos
Price: Free, with in-app purchases
12. Apollo for Reddit, a customizable app for browsing and enjoying Reddit
Price: Free, with in-app purchases
13. Feedly, an app for organizing blogs, publications, YouTube channels, and other sources of news you like
Price: Free
14. Anybuffer, an app for storing links, images, documents, and text to re-share later, whenever you need it
Price: Free
15. Fiery Feeds: RSS Reader, an app for following the news and digging deeper into their sources
Price: Free, with in-app purchases
16. Grocery - Smart Grocery List, an app for sorting and marking off items you need to buy
Price: Free, with in-app purchases
In addition to the apps Apple listed, here are a few other notable iPhone apps with dark or "pure black" modes:
- Halide, a $6 app for taking and editing photos
- GoodTask 3, a free app for organizing your to-dos
- Canary Mail, a $10 app for managing and securing emails
And if you're ever looking for pure-black wallpapers for your OLED iPhone X, I highly recommend the "AmoledBackgrounds" subreddit.
Just click on the link above, and browse and download away.
I recommend browsing this subreddit while you're on your phone, so you can quickly save these photos and try them out as wallpapers. I'd also recommend sorting the site by "Top," either by month or all-time, to see the very best OLED wallpapers ever posted to the subreddit.
(You get bonus points if you're using the Apollo app for Reddit, which has a pure-black mode, to browse the AmoledBackgrounds subreddit.)