diff --git a/docs/changes.txt b/docs/changes.txt
index d0c0947739..b4802f94c9 100644
--- a/docs/changes.txt
+++ b/docs/changes.txt
@@ -50,6 +50,10 @@ Changes in behaviour not resulting in compilation errors
   you ever used it under MSW (it never did anything in the other ports), you
   can turn on the native WS_EX_TRANSPARENT extended style if really needed.
 
+- wxSystemAppearance::IsDark() now returns whether this application uses dark
+  mode under MSW, use the new AreAppsDark() or IsSystemDark() to check if the
+  other applications or the system are using dark mode.
+
 
 Changes in behaviour which may result in build errors
 -----------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/include/wx/settings.h b/include/wx/settings.h
index a28947dabb..e6248e96bc 100644
--- a/include/wx/settings.h
+++ b/include/wx/settings.h
@@ -172,8 +172,15 @@ public:
     // Return the name if available or empty string otherwise.
     wxString GetName() const;
 
-    // Return true if the current system there is explicitly recognized as
-    // being a dark theme or if the default window background is dark.
+    // Return true if the applications on this system use dark theme by default.
+    bool AreAppsDark() const;
+
+    // Return true if the system elements use dark theme: this can only differ
+    // from AreAppsDark() under MSW where it's possible to configure the system
+    // (taskbar etc) to use a different theme.
+    bool IsSystemDark() const;
+
+    // Return true if this application itself uses a dark theme.
     bool IsDark() const;
 
     // Return true if the background is darker than foreground. This is used by
diff --git a/interface/wx/settings.h b/interface/wx/settings.h
index 33b4c15fa0..c46cca3f27 100644
--- a/interface/wx/settings.h
+++ b/interface/wx/settings.h
@@ -271,6 +271,22 @@ enum wxSystemScreenType
 class wxSystemAppearance
 {
 public:
+    /**
+        Return true if the applications on this system use dark theme by
+        default.
+
+        This function returns @true if dark mode is enabled for the
+        applications system-wide, even if it's not enabled for this particular
+        application.
+
+        Note that for non-MSW platforms this is currently the same as IsDark(),
+        but under MSW these two functions can return different values as dark
+        mode requires to opt-in into it specifically.
+
+        @since 3.3.0
+     */
+    bool AreAppsDark() const;
+
     /**
         Return the name if available or empty string otherwise.
 
@@ -291,9 +307,23 @@ public:
         the other applications on the system, so under MSW, for example, it
         will return @false even if dark mode is used system-wide unless the
         application opted in using dark mode using wxApp::MSWEnableDarkMode().
+        You can use IsSystemDark() or AreAppsDark() to check if the system is
+        using dark mode by default.
      */
     bool IsDark() const;
 
+    /**
+        Return true if the system UI uses dark theme.
+
+        This is the same as AreAppsDark() on the non-MSW platforms, but can be
+        different from the other function under MSW as it is possible to
+        configure default "Windows mode" and "app mode" to use different colour
+        schemes under Windows.
+
+        @since 3.3.0
+     */
+    bool IsSystemDark() const;
+
     /**
         Return true if the default window background is significantly darker
         than foreground.
diff --git a/samples/drawing/drawing.cpp b/samples/drawing/drawing.cpp
index df356c51b6..904cbda0aa 100644
--- a/samples/drawing/drawing.cpp
+++ b/samples/drawing/drawing.cpp
@@ -1676,21 +1676,31 @@ void MyCanvas::DrawSystemColours(wxDC& dc)
     wxCoord x(FromDIP(10));
     wxRect r(textSize.GetWidth() + x, x, dc.FromDIP(100), lineHeight);
 
-    wxString title = "System colours";
+    dc.DrawText("System colours", x, r.y);
+    r.y += 2*lineHeight;
 
     const wxSystemAppearance appearance = wxSystemSettings::GetAppearance();
     const wxString appearanceName = appearance.GetName();
     if ( !appearanceName.empty() )
-        title += wxString::Format(" for \"%s\"", appearanceName);
-    if ( appearance.IsDark() )
-        title += " (using dark system theme)";
-    dc.DrawText(title, x, r.y);
-    r.y += 2*lineHeight;
-    dc.DrawText(wxString::Format("Window background is %s",
-                                 appearance.IsUsingDarkBackground() ? "dark"
-                                                                    : "light"),
-                x, r.y);
-    r.y += 3*lineHeight;
+    {
+        dc.DrawText(wxString::Format("System appearance: %s", appearanceName),
+                    x, r.y);
+        r.y += lineHeight;
+    }
+
+    auto const showDarkOrLight = [&](const char* what, bool dark)
+    {
+        dc.DrawText(wxString::Format("%s: %s", what, dark ? "dark" : "light"),
+                    x, r.y);
+        r.y += 1.5*lineHeight;
+    };
+
+    showDarkOrLight("System", appearance.IsSystemDark());
+    showDarkOrLight("App default", appearance.AreAppsDark());
+    showDarkOrLight("Current app", appearance.IsDark());
+    showDarkOrLight("Background", appearance.IsUsingDarkBackground());
+
+    r.y += lineHeight;
 
     dc.SetPen(*wxTRANSPARENT_PEN);
 
diff --git a/src/common/settcmn.cpp b/src/common/settcmn.cpp
index 0a80c6fac3..ad8165f0d4 100644
--- a/src/common/settcmn.cpp
+++ b/src/common/settcmn.cpp
@@ -68,6 +68,21 @@ void wxSystemSettings::SetScreenType( wxSystemScreenType screen )
 // Trivial wxSystemAppearance implementation
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+// wxMSW has its own implementation of these functions.
+#if !defined(__WXMSW__)
+
+bool wxSystemAppearance::AreAppsDark() const
+{
+    return IsDark();
+}
+
+bool wxSystemAppearance::IsSystemDark() const
+{
+    return IsDark();
+}
+
+#endif // !__WXMSW__
+
 #if !defined(__WXOSX__)
 
 wxString wxSystemAppearance::GetName() const
diff --git a/src/msw/settings.cpp b/src/msw/settings.cpp
index a2d36f4fe2..c3900332c8 100644
--- a/src/msw/settings.cpp
+++ b/src/msw/settings.cpp
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@
 #include "wx/msw/missing.h" // for SM_CXCURSOR, SM_CYCURSOR, SM_TABLETPC
 #include "wx/msw/private/darkmode.h"
 #include "wx/msw/private/metrics.h"
+#include "wx/msw/registry.h"
 
 #include "wx/fontutil.h"
 #include "wx/fontenum.h"
@@ -369,6 +370,32 @@ extern wxFont wxGetCCDefaultFont()
 
 #endif // wxUSE_LISTCTRL || wxUSE_TREECTRL
 
+// There is no official API for determining whether dark mode is being used,
+// but HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\Personalize
+// contains AppsUseLightTheme and SystemUsesLightTheme values determining
+// whether the applications/system use light or dark mode, so use them.
+//
+// Adapted from https://stackoverflow.com/a/51336913/15275 ("How to detect
+// Windows 10 light/dark mode in Win32 application?").
+namespace
+{
+
+// Return false unless we are sure we're using the dark mode.
+bool IsUsingDarkTheme(const wxString& forWhat)
+{
+    wxRegKey rk(wxRegKey::HKCU, "Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Themes\\Personalize");
+    if ( rk.Exists() && rk.HasValue(forWhat) )
+    {
+        long value = -1;
+        if ( rk.QueryValue(forWhat, &value) )
+            return value <= 0;
+    }
+
+    return false;
+}
+
+} // anonymous namespace
+
 bool wxSystemAppearance::IsDark() const
 {
     // If the application opted in using dark mode, use the undocumented API
@@ -381,3 +408,13 @@ bool wxSystemAppearance::IsDark() const
     // application itself uses dark colour schema or not.
     return IsUsingDarkBackground();
 }
+
+bool wxSystemAppearance::AreAppsDark() const
+{
+    return IsUsingDarkTheme("AppsUseLightTheme");
+}
+
+bool wxSystemAppearance::IsSystemDark() const
+{
+    return IsUsingDarkTheme("SystemUsesLightTheme");
+}