Joe Maring / Android Authority
TL;DR
- American Express’s mobile app was recently updated with a new “Premium” dark mode theme.
- The new theme is only accessible if you have Amex’s Platinum card, which just had its annual fee increased to $895/year.
- Where did everything go wrong. Why am I paying for this. How did I get here.
American Express recently overhauled its high-end Platinum credit card, and in the process, it increased the already hefty annual fee from $695 up to an eye-watering $895. American Express justified the higher price with new perks, such as a $400 Resy credit and a $200 Oura Ring credit, but there’s another new feature that topples all of them.
If and only if you have the new $895/year Amex Platinum card — like yours truly does — you’ll now unlock something completely unheard of: a dark mode for Amex’s mobile app.
The American Express app has long offered a dark mode that changes the app’s white background to a dark blue. However, for lucky cardholders of the new Amex Platinum, you now have access to the Premium dark mode, which ditches the dark blue colors for a pitch-black background.
Joe Maring / Android Authority
This was initially spotted and shared on Threads, and at first, I thought that it surely had to be a joke. But upon opening the American Express app on my Pixel, I quickly learned that it was not. There on the Home page was a big banner with a celebratory emoji promoting the “new Premium theme.”
And, man — what a theme it is. How did I go so long with the pittiful “Standard” dark mode? Dark blue? No, thank you. My dark mode needs to be pitch black like the Dark Knight himself, and if the price of admission for that is almost $900 per year, so be it. That’s money well spent if you ask me.
On a slightly more serious note, while this is a good-looking dark mode (and the option to have two styles is neat), it is truly absurd that this new dark mode is only available to people who have the Platinum card. American Express has to do what it has to do to stop customers from canceling after their annual fee just got jacked up, and it’s kind of incredible someone thought a slightly different dark theme would help with that.
As one of those people planning to cancel his Platinum card, this may come as a shock that this new dark mode isn’t enough to keep me a paying customer. It’ll be a struggle to live like a peasant and go back to the lowly Standard dark mode, but — one way or another — I’m sure I’ll get through it.
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