Dark Mode on iOS impacting Shopify Email visibility

Topic summary

Users are experiencing issues with Shopify Email campaigns displaying incorrectly on iOS devices using dark mode, particularly in Gmail mobile. Black logos become illegible against dark backgrounds, and chosen background colors are being overridden by the device’s dark mode settings.

Key Problem:

  • Email designs with specific color schemes are automatically inverted or altered in dark mode
  • No preview option exists to see how emails appear in dark mode
  • Images with transparent backgrounds compound the visibility issue

Shopify’s Response:

  • Initially suggested using logos with solid backgrounds instead of transparent ones
  • Confirmed Shopify Email doesn’t support custom HTML/CSS/code to override dark mode behavior
  • Recommended third-party email marketing apps for advanced dark mode control
  • Submitted feedback to developers but provided no timeline for fixes

Current Status:

  • Issue remains unresolved as of May 2025 (4 years after initial report)
  • Users report other brands successfully send emails unaffected by dark mode
  • Support has characterized it as a “bug” with no available workaround
  • Growing frustration over lack of basic dark mode controls or preview functionality
Summarized with AI on October 28. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.

This is not an acceptable solution to the problem we are having, nor is it a solution to the problem you’ve identified with the transparent background on my logo. If I choose a logo image with a solid background colour, it would appear like this:

How is this your solution?? I chose the background colour for that section and expect it to display on all devices irregardless of dark mode settings.

The problem we are having is that we are choosing specific colours that we want to appear as the background of sections of our emails, but Shopify allows a setting on people’s devices to change those colours. How can we prevent background colours like this:

being changed to this:

This should not be the default. The default actions should be whatever colours we choose are the ones displayed. We can’t even preview what our emails would look like in dark mode. If some people wish to accommodate their customer’s dark mode setting, then Shopify needs to add a toggle that will show us a preview of what that will look like and allow us to enable or disable this.

Is there a piece of code that I can add to my email template or wherever, that will allow me to prevent devices displaying my email content in dark mode?

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