App fails to follow system theme and falls back to light theme

[akirad3d4]

Environment

App version: 0.14.2b4
OS: Android 15, Realme UI
In-app theme: System
System theme: Dark

Description

My device's system theme is set to Dark, and all other apps respect this mode correctly. In the ActivityWatch settings, I have selected "System" as the color theme.

However, when opening the app, the status bar, navigation bar, and the sidebar menu (if I manage to open it quickly) initially display in the dark theme for a couple of seconds, but then the app unexpectedly falls back to the light theme.

Additionally, I have verified that on desktop, the app correctly follows the browser theme (when opened in a browser) or the system theme (when using the aw-tauri GUI). I am opening this issue here specifically because the desktop/web versions handle theming correctly.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Set the device's system theme to Dark.
2. Ensure the in-app color theme is set to "System".
3. Open the mobile app.
4. Observe the status bar, navigation bar, and sidebar menu upon opening the app.

Expected Behavior

The app should consistently remain in the dark theme, matching the system settings without flickering or reverting.

Actual Behavior

The UI elements (status bar, navigation bar, sidebar) render in the dark theme for a few seconds upon launch, but then the app falls back to the light theme.

[ErikBjare]

@akirad3d4 Thanks for the report!

@TimeToBuildBob please fix, I noticed the same thing that the "system" setting doesn't work (becomes light mode for me, despite in system dark mode at 01:46 AM). I suppose #276 fixed part of it but the "system" option remains buggy.

[TimeToBuildBob]

Confirmed — same bug. Native chrome follows system night, then the WebView reports prefers-color-scheme: light because the activity theme is Theme.AppCompat.Light, so theme=auto flips the app to light after the JS hook (~1s flicker). Fixing it now so auto follows the device night mode.

[TimeToBuildBob]

PR #301 fixes this.

Root cause: forces the Activity into light mode, so Android WebView always reports prefers-color-scheme: light regardless of the OS setting. The "System" option in aw-webui therefore always resolved to light.

Fix: Add an AWApplication class that calls AppCompatDelegate.setDefaultNightMode(MODE_NIGHT_FOLLOW_SYSTEM) in onCreate() before any Activity starts (no recreation triggered), and change the base theme to Theme.AppCompat.DayNight so the Activity properly reflects the OS dark/light state.

PR: #301

[TimeToBuildBob]

Fixed by #301, merged 2026-09-23.

Root cause: The app theme was Theme.AppCompat.Light, which forced every Activity into light mode. Android WebView reads the Activity's configuration for prefers-color-scheme, so it always reported light regardless of the OS setting. The "System" option in aw-webui therefore always resolved to light (with a brief flicker from the initial native dark chrome).

Fix:

• Added AWApplication class that calls AppCompatDelegate.setDefaultNightMode(MODE_NIGHT_FOLLOW_SYSTEM) in onCreate() before any Activity starts
• Changed base theme to Theme.AppCompat.DayNight so Activities properly inherit the OS dark/light state

This will ship in the next release.