Navionics Night Mode on an IPAD or Android Tablet
If you’re a fan of the Navionics app, you know it’s a great tool for safely navigating your yacht or boat using a mobile device or tablet. While dedicated marine chart plotters often have night mode capabilities, no Navionics night mode exists on phones and tablets.
However, with some adjustments to your device settings, you can achieve a Navionics night mode (like) experience and keep the same features, such as AIS, GPS, and dock-to-dock functionality.
In this guide, we’ll share some hacks on adjusting your iOS or Android device to enhance your nighttime sailing navigation experience. The great thing about these methods is once you have set them up, you can toggle them on and off.
IOS Navionics Charts Night Mode
The following steps are based on IOS devices – it works on phones and iPads.
Go to the Setting Menu and select dark mode, then reduce the Brightness slider to the level that works for you. Try a 90% reduction, to begin with.
Then select Accessibility from the left-hand menu and click on Display & Text Size on the right panel.
Next, go to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Color Filters. Toggle on the Color Filters option, choose Color Tint, and move the slider to a deep red with Maximum Intensity. After that, you can switch it off, and your settings will be saved for future use.
Then go to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size and toggle on the Reduce White Point feature. Slide the adjustment to 100% for the maximum dimming effect.
Next, enable Smart Invert Colours, navigate to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size, and toggle it on.
To create a shortcut to quickly enable the settings without returning to the menu and configuration, go to Settings > Accessibility > Accessibility Shortcut and enable Color Filters, Reduce White Point, and Smart Invert Colors.
To switch the night mode on and off whenever needed, triple-click the Home or Side button (depending on your device) to toggle these settings. You can play with enabling one, two, or all three items and see what setup suits your needs.
Android Devices Using the Navionics App
The following steps are based on a Samsung Android device. Therefore there may be some variation across different Android models.
Swipe down from the top of your screen to open the notification panel, select the cog wheel to enter the Settings Menu, and navigate to the Display section.
Select dark mode, then toggle on Eye Comfort Shield: This will help reduce the blue light emitted by your screen.
Adjust your brightness to the desired level. Slide the brightness down to as low as comfortable, something like 90%.
In the Settings Menu on the left, scroll down and select Accessibility > then select Visibility Enhancements.
Toggle on Color inversion and also select Extra Dim.
Press the Magnifying Glass towards the top of the screen to enter the Settings Search and type “shortcuts“.
Select the Extra Dim Shortcut option and toggle on the Extra Dim Shortcut.
Click on the back arrow to return to the Shortcut Menu, select Color Inversion Shortcut, and switch the Colour Inversion Shortcut on.
Exit back to the Home Screen.
If you look at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen, you will now see the small icon of a person. Pressing this will bring up the shortcuts for your switch modes on and off whenever you need them.
Conclusion
So fellow boaters, there you have it! Although the Navionics nautical charts app doesn’t have a native dark or night mode, you can still ensure a safe navigation experience at night by tweaking the settings on your compatible iOS or Android devices. Give these tips a try.
