# Owl - Dark Background

> Owl makes your online experience comfortable by changing the theme of webpages to a soothing dark theme with light text. Complete with site-wise settings, multiple themes and great customizability, Owl tried to minimize the strain on your eyes.

Canonical page: [https://chrome-stats.com/d/owl](https://chrome-stats.com/d/owl)

## Overview

- **ID:** `owl`
- **Platform:** Firefox
- **Type:** Firefox add-on
- **Status:** Available
- **Publisher:** tk
- **Category:** appearance
- **Daily users:** 1,022
- **Weekly downloads:** 18
- **Rating:** 4.03 / 5 (123 ratings)
- **Version:** 2.2.8
- **Last updated:** 2021-05-15
- **First published:** 2015-06-23
- **Size:** 191 KB
- **Data as of:** 2026-09-09
- **Store listing:** [Firefox Add-ons Store](https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/owl/)
- **Website:** [http://sidhant.io/get-in-touch](http://sidhant.io/get-in-touch)

## Description

Owl is a Chrome extension designed to enhance your online reading experience by applying a dark background with light text to all webpages. Ideal for users who spend extended periods in front of screens, Owl minimizes eye strain by replacing bright, harsh backgrounds with night-friendly themes.

Key features include site-wise settings, two distinct themes (Classic and Inversion), syntax highlighting for code snippets, and a quick toggle using Shift + Alt + D. Users can disable Owl on selected websites or have it start automatically with the browser. Open source and customizable, Owl provides an easy and comfortable way to browse the web without the glare of white backgrounds.

## Rankings

- #3,240 — Overall
- #4 — hd backgrounds
- #9 — background
- #66 — grow
- #69 — grok
- #88 — group

## Permissions and access

### Permissions

- `*://*/*`
- `storage`
- `activeTab`
- `tabs`

## Safety

- **Risk impact:** High risk impact
- **Risk likelihood:** Moderate risk likelihood

### Analysis details

- Allows access to all websites, posing a significant security risk as it can monitor and modify data from any visited site.
- This extension support email may not be valid

> Some risk analysis details are omitted from this free response. [Upgrade to view the full analysis](https://chrome-stats.com/pricing).

## Review summary

Reviewers commonly praise Owl for reliable performance and true night-mode benefits, with a gentler grayscale dark theme that many prefer over alternatives. The per-site activation feature is valued by some. However, recurring issues include site-specific breakages (YouTube, Facebook), inconsistent theming on certain pages, and limited, non-editable per-site controls. Some users also want automatic disablement under native dark themes and a more interactive settings UI.

### Pros

- Reliable and fast; no noticeable slowdown.
- Significantly improves night-time readability and reduces eye strain.
- Better or gentler than some alternatives (gray-toned dark mode) and well-regarded.
- Per-site activation via address bar icon for selective use.

### Cons

- Incompatibilities/breakages on certain sites, notably YouTube (fullscreen color inversion).
- Facebook-related UI issues (horizontal scrollbar problems, emoticon display, image inversion).
- Inconsistent theming on some pages and unreliable behavior on some sites (e.g., Amazon).
- Per-site controls exist but are hard or limited; lists/UI editing is non-intuitive or not editable.
- Should auto-disable on native CSS dark themes; settings page is static/not interactive.

## Similar extensions and apps

- [Light Owl 🌞](https://chrome-stats.com/d/light-owl) — 1 users
- [Night Owl Dark Theme](https://chrome-stats.com/d/night-owl-dark-theme) — 3 users
- [Nightowl - Easy on eyes (Black)](https://chrome-stats.com/d/easy-on-eyes-dark) — 1 users
- [Night Owl](https://chrome-stats.com/d/night_owl) — 140 users, 4.80 / 5
- [NightOwl: Smart Dark Mode](https://chrome-stats.com/d/nightowl-smart-dark-mode) — 1 users
- [Owl Autumn Theme](https://chrome-stats.com/d/owl-autumn-theme)
- [Night Owl 2021](https://chrome-stats.com/d/night-owl-2021) — 3 users, 5.00 / 5
- [Dark Mode](https://chrome-stats.com/d/dark-mode-guard) — 57 users, 5.00 / 5
- [Blue Owl Theme](https://chrome-stats.com/d/blue-owl-theme) — 5.00 / 5
- [Night Owl Pro](https://chrome-stats.com/d/night-owl-pro)
- [Night Owl](https://chrome-stats.com/d/night-owl-sdras) — 16 users
- [Dark Reader Night Eye](https://chrome-stats.com/d/soothing-dark-mode) — 1,102 users, 4.67 / 5

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Source: [Chrome-Stats](https://chrome-stats.com/d/owl)