How to Create and Share a Custom Telegram Theme

You create a custom Telegram theme from the theme section of the app's chat or appearance settings: start from an existing theme, change the accent colour, background and, on Android and Desktop, individual interface colours, then save it. Every saved theme gets a sharing link. Anyone who opens that link can apply your theme, and when you edit it later, the change reaches everyone using it.

This guide explains how themes are built, walks through creating one on each platform, shows how to share and update it, and covers the problems that come up when a theme looks right on one device and wrong on another. For lighter changes such as font size or a new chat background, see how to customise Telegram.

What a Telegram theme actually is

A theme is a set of colours and a background that Telegram applies across the whole app. It controls things like the colour of your own message bubbles, the bubbles of the person you talk to, the header bar, links, buttons, icons and the chat background.

Telegram stores custom themes in the cloud, which is why they are often called cloud themes. That has three practical effects:

• Your theme is linked to your account. You can find it again after reinstalling the app.
• Every theme has a link. The link is in the form t.me/addtheme followed by a short name. Sharing the theme means sharing that link.
• Edits are live. When the creator saves a change, everyone who applied the theme sees the new version. Nobody has to reinstall anything.

Three levels of customisation

It helps to separate three things that people often mix up:

1. The built-in themes. Telegram ships with a few base looks, such as a classic light theme, a day theme and dark options. You can tint most of them with an accent colour. No editing needed.
2. A custom theme. Your own saved combination of colours and background, with a link you can share. This is what this guide is about.
3. A chat theme. A look applied to one specific conversation. In a private chat, both people see it. This is separate from your app-wide theme and does not change other chats.

You can use all three together. For example, a dark custom theme for the app, and a playful chat theme in one conversation with a friend.

Why themes look different on each platform

Android, iPhone and Desktop each draw their interface differently, so each has its own list of colour settings. Telegram handles this in two ways:

• Simple themes, made from an accent colour and a background, can be translated to other platforms automatically. These are the ones most likely to look consistent everywhere.
• Detailed themes, where you change individual elements one by one, are tied to the platform they were made on. The same link may still open elsewhere, but the detailed colours only apply where they were defined.

Keep this in mind before you start. If you want people on every device to see the same thing, keep the theme simple, or plan to build a version for each platform.

Before you start

1. Update Telegram. Theme editors improve over time, and older versions may lack options described here.
2. Pick a base. Every custom theme starts from an existing one. Choose the base closest to what you want: a dark base for a dark theme, a light base for a light theme. Starting from the wrong base means changing far more colours.
3. Decide on two or three main colours. A theme with one accent colour, one background tone and one text tone is easier to get right than one that changes everything.
4. Think about who will use it. A theme for yourself can be as bold as you like. A theme you plan to share with a channel's subscribers should be readable for people with different screens and eyesight.
5. Check contrast in daylight and at night. A theme that looks elegant indoors may be unreadable outside on a phone. Plan to test it in both.

How to create a theme on Android

Android has the most detailed in-app editor. You can change almost every colour on screen.

Step 1: Open the theme settings

1. Open Telegram and go to Settings.
2. Open Chat Settings. The themes and colour options are near the top.
3. You will see a row of theme previews and an option to create or browse themes. On many versions the option is in the menu at the top of the theme section (three dots).

Step 2: Create a new theme

1. Choose the option to create a new theme.
2. Telegram asks you to name it. Pick something short and clear, because it appears to anyone who opens your link.
3. The app returns to normal view with a floating palette button. This is the editor.

Step 3: Edit colours

1. Navigate to any screen you want to change: the chat list, a chat, the side menu, settings.
2. Tap the palette button. Telegram lists the elements visible on that screen.
3. Tap an element and choose its colour with the picker, or type a colour code if you have one.
4. Repeat for each element you want to change.

Because you edit the screen you are looking at, work through the app in order: chat list first, then a chat, then menus. It is easy to forget screens like the attachment menu or the call screen, which keep the base colours unless you change them.

Step 4: Set the background

1. Return to Chat Settings and open the chat background options.
2. Choose a colour, a gradient, a pattern, or your own photo.
3. With a photo, you can usually blur it or add a motion effect. Blurring helps messages stay readable over a busy picture.

Step 5: Save

1. Tap the palette button and choose save, or leave the editor and confirm.
2. Your theme appears in the row of theme previews with the name you gave it.

How to create a theme on iPhone and iPad

The iPhone app focuses on simpler themes: an accent colour, a base and a background. This is less granular than Android, but the themes it makes tend to work well across platforms.

1. Open Settings and go to Appearance.
2. Choose the base theme you want to start from.
3. Use the accent colour options to pick a colour. Many versions let you open a full colour picker for an exact shade.
4. Set the chat background from the background options in the same section.
5. Look for the option to create a new theme from your current settings. Give it a name and save.

Once saved, the theme gets its own link like any other. If you want to fine-tune individual elements that the iPhone app does not expose, you can continue editing in Telegram's online theme editor, covered below.

Bubble colours on iPhone

On iPhone, the accent colour usually drives the colour of your outgoing message bubbles. Some versions allow a separate colour or gradient for the bubbles. If your messages look too similar to the background, change the bubble colour rather than the background; it usually solves readability faster.

How to create a theme on Telegram Desktop

Telegram Desktop has a full palette editor, separate from the mobile ones.

1. Open Settings, then Chat Settings.
2. In the theme section, choose the option to create a new theme. On some versions you first pick a base and then choose to edit it.
3. An editor panel opens beside the app, listing colour entries by name.
4. Click an entry to change its colour. The app updates as you go, so you can see each change immediately.
5. Set a background from the chat background options. You can tile a pattern or stretch an image.
6. Save the theme and give it a name.

The Desktop editor lists many technical entries. Use the search box in the editor if there is one, and type a word like "bubble", "window" or "link" to narrow the list. If you change something and cannot tell what it affected, undo it and try the next one, rather than changing several at once.

The online theme editor

Telegram also offers an online theme editor that you log in to with your Telegram account. It lets you:

• Open themes you made in the apps, because saved themes sync to it.
• Edit a theme's colours by name, using a colour code or a picker.
• Choose a short name for the theme's link.
• Attach a background by using a background link.

Its main advantage is precision. You can set exact colours and see the full list of entries at once. Its downside is that you cannot see your phone's screen while you edit, so you will switch back and forth to check results. Telegram's own documentation on creating cloud themes explains the editor's options in detail; search for it in Telegram's help pages if you want the full reference.

How to share your theme

Getting the link

1. Go to the theme list in your settings.
2. Press and hold your theme on mobile, or right-click it on Desktop.
3. Choose the share option. Telegram creates a message with the theme link, which you can send to a chat or copy.

What happens when someone opens it

The person sees a preview of the theme applied to sample chats. They can apply it with one tap or close the preview. Applying it does not affect their messages, contacts or settings beyond the colours and background.

Choosing a short, readable link

By default the link ends in a generated string. You can usually change it to something readable in the theme's sharing settings or in the online editor. A readable link is easier to post in a channel description, a pinned message or a printed QR code. If you plan to share a theme publicly, choose a name that is unlikely to be confused with another theme, such as your channel name plus "dark".

Posting a theme to a channel

If you run a channel, a branded theme can be a small extra for subscribers:

1. Build a simple, readable theme in your channel's colours.
2. Post the link with a screenshot of what it looks like.
3. Pin the post so new subscribers find it.

Do not expect a theme to grow a channel on its own. It is a pleasant extra for people who already like your content. For actual growth, see how to grow a Telegram channel.

How to update a theme after sharing it

Because themes are cloud-based, updating is the same as editing:

1. Apply your theme so you are looking at it.
2. Open the editor on the platform where you created it.
3. Make your changes.
4. Save.

Everyone who applied your theme sees the update the next time their app syncs. This is powerful and also a responsibility: if you make a mistake, such as white text on a white background, everyone gets that mistake too. Test changes before saving if your theme is widely used.

Keeping a safe copy

If you want to experiment without affecting other people, create a second theme from your existing one, edit that, and only copy the successful changes back. That way the shared link keeps pointing to a version you know works.

Worked example: a readable dark theme for a channel

This is an illustrative scenario.

Leo runs a channel about astronomy and wants a dark theme in deep blue for subscribers. Most of them read on phones at night.

1. Base. On Android he starts from the night theme, since it is already dark.
2. Accent. He picks a soft light blue for links and buttons. It stands out on dark blue without glaring.
3. Bubbles. He makes outgoing bubbles a medium blue and incoming bubbles a dark grey-blue. Both have pale text.
4. Background. He picks a dark starfield photo, then blurs it so text stays readable.
5. Test. He reads a long chat with the brightness at minimum and again outside. The links are still clear.
6. Cross-platform check. He asks a subscriber on iPhone to open the link. The detailed Android colours do not all carry over, so he also builds a simpler accent-and-background version on iPhone and posts both links, labelled by platform.
7. Share. He changes the link names to readable ones, posts them with screenshots, and pins the post.

The key decision was step 6. Without checking another platform, half his readers would have seen something quite different from the screenshot.

Designing a theme people can read

A theme can look stylish and still be hard to use. These rules help:

• Contrast first. Text must stand out clearly from the bubble it sits in. Pale grey on white, or dark blue on black, looks elegant and tires the eyes quickly.
• Bubbles must differ. Your messages and other people's messages should be easy to tell apart at a glance. Change the shade, not just a thin border.
• Links need their own colour. If links are the same colour as body text, readers miss them.
• Calm backgrounds. A busy photo behind messages makes reading slow. Blur it, darken it, or choose a pattern.
• Check every screen. The chat list, settings, menus, the attachment panel and pop-ups all use theme colours. An unedited screen in a jarring base colour is the most common sign of a half-finished theme.
• Avoid pure white on pure black. Very high contrast can look harsh on bright screens at night. A slightly softened white on near-black is easier to read for long periods.

A simple method for choosing colours

Most themes fail not because the editor is hard, but because the colours were picked one at a time with no plan. This method keeps them consistent:

1. Pick one main colour. This is your accent: buttons, links, the send icon, your outgoing bubbles. If the theme is for a brand or channel, use its main colour.
2. Make a light and a dark version of it. In the colour picker, keep the same hue and move the brightness up and down. Use the light version for light surfaces and the dark one for headers or dark-theme bubbles. Shades of one hue always look related.
3. Choose one neutral. A grey, beige or near-black for the background and incoming bubbles. Neutrals stop the accent from becoming tiring.
4. Pick text colours last. Choose them against the actual bubbles they sit on, not in isolation.
5. Squint test. Look at a chat with your eyes half closed. If you can still tell your bubbles from theirs and spot the links, the contrast works.

Thinking about colour blindness

Some readers cannot easily tell red from green, or blue from purple. If your theme relies on two colours of similar brightness to tell things apart, such as a red outgoing bubble and a green incoming one, some people will see two nearly identical shapes. The fix is to make the two differ in brightness as well as hue: one clearly lighter than the other. A quick check is to take a screenshot and view it in greyscale using your phone's photo editor. If the bubbles look the same in grey, change one of them.

Matching a brand without copying it badly

Brand colours are designed for logos and websites, not for long reading. A saturated brand red works on a button and becomes exhausting as a full bubble colour. Use the brand colour for accents and a softened version of it for large areas. Readers will still recognise it.

What a theme cannot change

Knowing the limits saves time hunting for settings that are not there:

• Text size and font. These are separate settings in Chat Settings or Appearance, not part of a theme. A shared theme will not change someone else's text size.
• Layout and icon shapes. A theme recolours the interface; it does not move buttons or change their shape.
• Other people's name colours. Profile and name colours are chosen by each user, some with Telegram Premium. Your theme cannot override them.
• Channel wallpapers set by channel owners. Some channels set their own wallpaper for subscribers, a feature unlocked through channel boosts. In that channel, their choice may appear instead of your background.
• The app icon. Alternative app icons, where available, are a separate setting and not part of a theme.

If you were hoping a theme would change one of these, look for the dedicated setting instead.

Night mode and automatic switching

Many people want a light theme in the day and a dark one at night. Telegram supports this:

• On Android, the chat settings usually include an automatic night mode. It can follow a schedule, sunrise and sunset, your screen's brightness, or the system setting. You choose which dark theme it switches to, which can be your custom one.
• On iPhone, Telegram follows the system's light and dark setting, and you can choose which dark theme it uses.
• On Desktop, there is a night mode toggle, and newer versions can follow the system.

If you build a custom dark theme, set it as the night theme so the switch uses it instead of the default.

Chat themes for a single conversation

Separate from your app theme, you can give one private chat its own look. In the chat, open the menu and look for the option to change colours or the chat's theme. Pick from the available chat themes. The other person sees the same theme in that chat, and Telegram shows a small service message when it changes.

Chat themes come from a set Telegram provides, so they are not the same as your custom cloud theme. You can, however, set a custom wallpaper for a single chat in most versions, which only you see unless you choose to apply it for both.

Troubleshooting

My theme looks different on another device

Why it happens: the theme's detailed colours were set on another platform, or the other device runs an older app version.

Fix:

1. Update Telegram on both devices.
2. Check which platform the theme was made on. Detailed edits on Android only fully apply on Android.
3. For a consistent look everywhere, make a simple theme based on an accent colour and background, or create a version for each platform.

If that does not help: open the theme in the online editor to see which platforms it has colours for.

People see an old version of my theme

Why it happens: their app has not synced since you saved the change, or you saved a copy rather than the original.

Fix:

1. Confirm you edited the theme whose link you shared. If you made a copy, the shared link still points to the original.
2. Ask the person to fully close and reopen Telegram.
3. If they applied it long ago, ask them to open the link again and reapply.

I cannot find the option to create a theme

Why it happens: menu layouts differ by platform and version, and Telegram moves things.

Fix:

1. Update the app.
2. Look in both Chat Settings and Appearance.
3. Use the settings search, if your app has one, and type "theme".
4. If your platform has no editor for what you want, create a simple theme there and finish it in the online theme editor.

Text is unreadable after applying a theme

Fix: go back to settings and pick one of the built-in themes. Your custom theme stays in the list; nothing is lost. Then edit the theme to fix the contrast, or delete it if it was someone else's.

My background is blurry or stretched

Why it happens: the image is too small for your screen, or blur is turned on.

Fix: choose a larger image, turn off blur, or use a pattern background, which scales cleanly.

Finding themes other people made

If you would rather browse than build, themes are shared the same way as any link. Designers post theme links with screenshots in channels dedicated to Telegram customisation, and some communities share a theme in their pinned message. You can browse channels by topic on our categories page or use the methods in how to find Telegram channels.

When you find one:

1. Tap the link and study the preview carefully, including the chat list, not just the sample chat.
2. Apply it and use it for a day before deciding. Some themes look striking in a screenshot and tiring in practice.
3. If you like most of it, create your own theme based on it and fix the parts that bother you.

Remember that the original creator can change a theme you applied. If you want a version that stays exactly as it is, make your own copy.

Removing or deleting a theme

To stop using a theme, simply pick another one. To delete one from your list, press and hold it on mobile or right-click on Desktop and choose delete. Deleting a theme you created may remove it for others who use it too, so if you have shared it widely, consider leaving it in place and simply switching away.

Staying safe with shared themes

A theme link only changes colours and backgrounds inside Telegram. It cannot read your messages or access your account. However:

• Be wary of "theme" files sent outside Telegram's link system, such as files on random websites that ask you to install something. Cloud theme links open inside Telegram and need nothing else.
• Ignore anyone who asks for a login code to "activate" a theme. No theme needs one. Read how to spot Telegram scams for the common patterns.

Common mistakes

• Starting from the wrong base. Building a dark theme from a light base means re-colouring every element. Start from the closest base.
• Editing only the chat screen. Menus and pop-ups keep the base colours and look out of place.
• Testing in one light condition only. Check at low brightness and in daylight.
• Assuming detailed edits cross platforms. Build simple themes for mixed audiences, or one version per platform.
• Editing a widely shared theme carelessly. Every saved change reaches everyone using it. Experiment on a copy.
• Using a busy photo background without blur. Messages become hard to read.

FAQ

Are custom Telegram themes free?

Yes. Creating, sharing and applying custom themes is free. Some other appearance features, such as certain profile colours and emoji statuses, are part of Telegram Premium, but cloud themes are not.

Can I use someone else's theme as a starting point?

Yes. Apply their theme, then create a new theme based on it. Your copy is separate; their later edits will not change yours.

Does applying a theme change anything for the people I chat with?

No. Your app theme is only on your devices. Only a chat theme set inside a private chat is shared with the other person.

Can I make a theme for Telegram Web?

The web versions have fewer theme options than the apps. Create your theme in a mobile or desktop app; the web versions may show its basic colours.

Will my theme survive a reinstall?

Yes. Custom themes are stored with your account. Log in again and they appear in your theme list.

Can a theme be removed by Telegram?

Telegram can remove content that breaks its rules, and themes with offensive names or images could be reported. An ordinary colour theme is not affected.

Summary

A custom Telegram theme is a cloud-stored set of colours and a background with its own link. Create one from the theme section of settings: Android and Desktop offer detailed editors, iPhone focuses on accent and background, and the online editor gives precise control. Share it with its link, ideally a readable short name, and remember that every saved edit reaches everyone using it. For a theme that looks the same everywhere, keep it simple or build one version per platform, and always test readability before you share.