[Tip] Disable Material Design UI and Incognito Mode Dark Theme in Google Chrome
UPDATE: A new tutorial is available to restore old classic theme and UI in newer Google Chrome versions:
If you are using newer Google Chrome web browser versions, you might have noticed the new flat UI which is called “Material Design“. In the new UI, the icons, tabs and other things look a lot flatter. Tabs are larger and contain sharp corners, icons are thinner and different than previous versions. The hamburger menu has also been replaced by a new 3 dots menu.
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Following screenshot shows the new Material Design UI in action:
And following screenshot shows the previous classic UI of Google Chrome:
If you don’t like the new Material Design UI of Google Chrome and want to bring back the previous UI, here is a good news for you. Fortunately, Google provides a way to turn off the new Material Design UI in Google Chrome new versions.
You can follow these simple steps to disable new Material Design and restore previous classic UI in Google Chrome:
NOTE: Following method will also disable the new dark theme which you get on Incognito mode.
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1. Open Google Chrome web browser and type chrome://flags/ in addressbar and press Enter. It’ll open the advanced configuration page.
2. Now press “Ctrl+F” keys together to launch find box and type material in the find box.
It’ll directly go to following option:
Material Design in the browser’s top chrome (Mac, Windows, Linux, Chrome OS)
Sets the material design elements in the browser’s top chrome.
3. Select Non-material option from the drop-down box.
4. Click on “Relaunch Now” button and it’ll restart Google Chrome web browser.
That’s it. It’ll disable the new Material Design and apply classic UI back in Google Chrome.
PS: You can also set following options to Disabled for disabling new Material Design in other parts of Google Chrome such as User Manager, History, Settings pages, etc:
Enable Material Design User Manager
Use material design user menu
Enable Material Design history
Enable Material Design settings
NOTE: If you like the new Material Design and want to enable it in other areas such as bubbles, dialog boxes, etc, you can enable following option in chrome://flags page:
Material Design in the rest of the browser’s native UI
Thanks to our reader “OppfinnarJocke” for sharing the tip…
Also Check:
[Tip] Disable New Material Design UI of Settings Page in Google Chrome
Will this also get rid of that awful dark theme on incognito mode? TBH I rather like the new material design UI but find that dark incognito theme unbearable. Sometimes it gets so hard to discern between active tabs if you have multiple tabs open.
^^ Yes. It’ll disable the dark theme on incognito mode as well.
Is there a way to only get rid of dark theme on incognito keeping material in normal mode!
@Kunal
Indeed there is! Install my Material Incognito Light Theme: chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/material-incognito-light/necpbhkfondbpbloppmkjpdkdimldobc/
The option removed from latest Google Chrome 🙁
Yeah that forced dark incognito mode looks like effin doodoo on Windows 7 with aero enabled and a dark wallpaper. Totally unusable. Not being able to change it in v.55 is quite annoying, so byebye Google Chrome, don’t let the door smack you in the a** on your way out.
This option does not work in Version 58.0.3029.96 (64-bit)