HTML electronic mail darkish mode nonetheless inverts model colours in Gmail and iOS Mail regardless of all identified protections

I’m constructing a transactional HTML electronic mail (not advertising and marketing) the place model coloration constancy is essential.
The e-mail is generated server-side (Node.js) and makes use of a strictly table-based structure for optimum compatibility.

The corporate’s main model colours are yellow and blue, and preserving these actual colours is necessary.

The issue

When the e-mail is seen in darkish mode, some colours are nonetheless mechanically inverted or overridden by the e-mail consumer:

• Gmail (iOS and Android) — most frequent

• iOS Mail — intermittent

• Gmail Net — sometimes

In mild mode, the e-mail renders precisely as supposed.

This habits seems client-driven, not attributable to lacking CSS help.

What I’ve already applied

I’ve deliberately applied each at the moment documented mitigation:

Structure

• Desk-only structure (no div, flex, or grid)

• Mounted 600px container with max-width:100%

• No exterior CSS

• No background photos for brand-critical areas

Coloration safety

• Inline kinds on each factor

• bgcolor attributes on all <desk> and <td> components

• Express triple declarations (bgcolor, background-color, coloration)

• No shorthand CSS

Darkish mode dealing with

• <meta title="color-scheme" content material="mild darkish">

• <meta title="supported-color-schemes" content material="mild darkish">

• @media (prefers-color-scheme: darkish) overrides

• [data-ogsc] selectors for Outlook.com / Outlook apps

• Express dark-mode lessons the place adaptation is appropriate

Shopper issues

• -webkit-text-size-adjust

• Apple Mail reformatting disabled

• PNG icons solely (no SVG)

Examined on

• Gmail iOS / Android

• iOS Mail

• Outlook.com

• Outlook Desktop

• Apple Mail (macOS)

What nonetheless occurs

Regardless of all the above:

• Some background colours are inverted

• Some textual content colours are overridden

• This occurs inconsistently, however most frequently in Gmail

• Model colours are affected, not simply impartial backgrounds

Core query

Is there any really dependable, deterministic strategy to absolutely stop coloration inversion in HTML emails on Gmail and iOS Mail?

Or is that this habits essentially unavoidable because of proprietary dark-mode rendering heuristics applied by electronic mail shoppers?

Comply with-up (trade observe)

If full prevention is inconceivable:

• What’s the really useful manufacturing strategy in 2025?

  • Single adaptive template that tolerates partial inversion?

  • Two separate templates (mild + darkish)?

  • Hybrid strategy the place solely model sections are “locked”?

I’m particularly excited about real-world, production-proven methods, not theoretical CSS help.

white mod:

darkish mod: