When Google finally gave us a dark theme for YouTube, it was a bit disappointing. They didn’t use a pure black background, reducing some of the battery savings you’d get with an OLED panel. But with the help of another app, we can fix this, and not only get a real dark mode, but other colors as well.

Because the version of YouTube on the Play Store doesn’t include any way of theming the app, a modified version was needed. YouTube Vanced is an altered version of YouTube which offers not only the same features and overall UI in the regular app, but lots of extra tweaks as well. And it is with the help of this app that we can get the black theme we’ve always desired, along with some other funky colors you might like.

Check Your Architecture

The app we are installing is a modified version of YouTube. At the time of writing, there are 59 versions available, many of which will only work with a certain CPU architecture. Therefore, to avoid the trouble of trying and failing to install a version which won’t work with your phone, you’ll need to know what kind of processor type you have.

Most phones from the last three years use ARM64 architecture, while older phones used ARM. It’s very rare to have a mobile CPU with x86 architecture. But if you’re still unsure of which type of processor you have, we have a guide that will help you find out:

Download a Themed YouTube Vanced

Once you know your processor architecture, you can now download YouTube Vanced. This app is not hosted on the Play Store and therefore requires that your phone is set to allow sideloaded apps.

Now, head to this link from your phone. First, grab MicroG (an open source version of Android Services that lets you log into YouTube Vanced) by tapping the second entry under “MicroG APK Download.” Then, scroll up and tap the search field under the “APK Download” header. Type in the color theme you want for YouTube: either Black, Dark, Blue, or Pink.

Using the architecture you found in Step 1, choose the newest version of the app from the list that either matches your phone’s architecture or displays “All” under “Architecture.” After downloading the APKs for YouTube Vanced and MicroG, install both by opening the files from your notification tray, then tapping “Install.”

https://android.gadgethacks.com/how-to/get-custom-themes-for-youtube-android-even-true-black-oled-theme-0192728/