Charcoal

While the popular Messenger mobile app has recently received and update that allows you to switch it to Dark Mode, the web application still remains in lightness. Many of you have gotten used to switching your programs to a darker theme in order to protect your eyes during night-time, so it may be a bit of a let-down that such a popular app doesn’t have this feature yet.

Fortunately, many developers have come up with extensions for your browsers that can turn your Messenger dark. Charcoal is one such add-on.

First off, it should be made clear that Charcoal works only on messenger.com; if you want something that makes your chat windows dark in Facebook, then you should probably find an extension that can switch your whole Facebook interface to dark mode.

However, if you like to use Messenger as a sort of stand-alone app directly from its website, then you might actually like Charcoal. After adding to Google Chrome, you can just hide away the extension icon from the browser toolbar. This add-on integrates perfectly into Messenger’s interface, by adding an icon at the top left of the window, right next to the settings icon.

The extension actually allows you to choose between three color themes: Deep Blue, Midnight and Charcoal. The first one has a less menacing tone the other two and may remind you of a relaxing evening or a calm sea under the moonlight. Midnight is, well, black as midnight, black as pitch, while Charcoal can send your soul right into the heart of Mordor.

Bad comparisons aside, all of the three themes look great; the developer deserves a bit of praise for adding variety to an extension with an otherwise simple purpose. If you like to stay on messenger at night but wish to protect your eyes from the monitor’s brightness, then Charcoal is definitely an add-on that you could use.