native mobile text field alpha vs. dark mode vs. clear control

[Mike Kerner]

apparently this is related to "support dark mode". if you have
"support dark mode" selected in the build settings for ios, and the
device is in dark mode, the default colors for native controls change
(duh). Since I am manually setting my background and text colors, I
never noticed. BUT, that setting also changes the way that things like
the clear button are rendered, independent of and unaffected by your
settings for an object.