Unwanted Dark Mode when editing Pictures

Thank you for posting this. I always think it’s just me. I went through all my settings from suggestions I read, and nothing is working. Trying to edit a photo is a nightmare. You can barely make out the markup bar. Can somebody fix this, please!!

Your “creative” guy is simply wrong.

I edit photos on my iPad only (easier to see for me). I recently updated to iOS 17.0.2. That is when the problem started. It was always a white background on the actual toolbar. I made no changes to my light/dark mode settings (I tried just in case), but that didn’t change a thing.

I haven’t updated my iPhone 13 Pro to the latest version, and nothing has changed, the toolbar is white like it supposed to be. I will not update my phone until they fix this issue.

Definitely a bug issue. I hope someone’s listening out there. Are you Apple?

i just spent the evening with apple support from first responder to senior advisor to creative… I had to ask them to check their photo editing to see what I’m talking about and they all agreed it was the same for them. The most senior person I spoke to said that he looked it up and it was “normal behavior“. If that were so it would be the same, dark mode, marking up Pages or Files docs. Both of those have the normal toolbar.

The best thing you can do as advised by the creative guy is to send feedback commenting about this issue.

Feedback - iPad - Apple

unless there is enough consumer response to this ridiculous, dark mode toolbar, they are going to put it in the back burner.

The markup toolbar appears to adopt either a light or dark theme - as dictated by the image being edited. The dark theme toolbar does appear to be consistently difficult to see - in particular when overlaid against a black background. By example:

Unfortunately, the light/dark toolbar theme cannot be manually selected - and neither can the toolbar contrast be adjusted to improve legibility of the tools and dynamic tool labels.

There are other issues with the Markup Toolbar in iPadOS17. Any pre-existing saved signatures cannot be accessed subsequent to the iPadOS 17 update (but are still accessible to devices running iPadOS 16.x or earlier) - this affecting both Notes drawing and system-wide markup tools. The markup magnifier tool is similarly absent from the latest release, despite this function being documented within the updated iPad User Guide.

You might also be well advised to seek assistance directly from from Apple Support - as they may wish to record and escalate as appropriate. You can contact the Support Team using the Support link at top-right or bottom-left of this page. Alternatively, you can initiate and manage your support cases from Apple devices using the excellent Apple Support App. If not already installed, the App can be downloaded from the App Store:

https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-support/id1130498044

Apple invite submission of comments and bug reports via its Product Feedback portal. For iPad and iPadOS:

Feedback - iPad - Apple

If submitting a Bug Report, ensure that you include details of your iPad model and installed version of iPadOS within the body-text of your report. Don't rely upon the pick-list - as this rarely includes the current versions.

Sadly, this is now an iPhone issue, as well. I updated to iOS 17 yesterday and … I am not happy about this. I expected there to be an easy fix, but there obviously is not.

I would not have upgraded had I known about this!

Please send feedback to apple.

Feedback - iPad - Apple

this only occurs in photos as far as I can tell. The toolbar is normal in pages and files.

Please tell me there is a way to fix this! I cannot see what to click on! This is a terrible choice especially for older users who have trouble seeing! It should at least be a setting!

Not a solution,

but after a first time install of iOS17 (17.3.1) I noticed hardly any difference in color between the tools and the bar itself, (much worse than in the image of the hamster below).

I found out that certain settings needed 'rekindling', notably Accessibility > Display & Text Size:

(I toggled and retoggled, so I made no real changes) Reduce Transparency, Increase Contrast, Differentiate Without Color - already much improved the bar brightness, and finally Auto-Brightness (tried this in a dimmed room too, and it was a dramatic change in overall brightness, so manual correction in Control Center was required)

Now it is much better than in the image below, while the rest of the apps appear unchanged (the iPhone SE2 kept its 'iOS 16' appearance and brightness feel as per settings).

Hope it sticks, and waiting for a fix or setting.

Paul

are they going to fix this?!?! So annoyed!!!!!!