Creating Custom Cloud Themes

Official Telegram apps support custom cloud themes as of version 5.11. Everyone is welcome to create and share their themes.

Creating a theme

You can use the Online Theme Editor (use a VPN if it is blocked in your country) to create new Telegram themes from scratch or edit existing ones. Simply log in with your Telegram account and pick a platform to start editing the relevant theme file – or import an existing theme.

  • Set a name for your theme using the name attribute
  • Set colors for elements using hex codes or the color picker
  • Press ‘Save and apply theme’ to push changes to all users of your theme

Checking your theme in-app

Once you have saved a theme for the first time, Telegram will send you a message with its sharing link. Open the link in the app to switch to your theme.

You can always switch to your theme in Settings > Chat Settings. On iOS and MacOS native app – Settings > Appearance.

Publishing your theme

Each theme has a t.me/addtheme link which people can use to switch to your theme. You can choose a beautiful short link (e.g., https://t.me/addtheme/desert) by changing the shortname attribute. If you add support for multiple platforms, the same link can be used for setting your theme on all of them.

Updating your theme

Your theme gets updated automatically for all its users whenever you save and apply changes.

Including a chat background

Your themes can include a custom wallpaper. To do this, simply go to Settings > Chat Settings > Chat Background. On iOS and MacOS native app – Settings > Appearance > Chat Background.

Open any background and tap the sharing button in the top right corner, then copy its t.me/bg/... link. In the theme file, set this link as the value of the wallpaper attribute.

For Telegram Desktop, if you want to make the background tiled, add ?mode=tiled at the end of the link. For example:

wallpaper: t.me/bg/-jI7lnO3DFABAAAA1vXcFaZP_Vo?mode=tiled

Creating themes in-app

If you prefer a more WYSIWYG approach, try creating themes using the in-app tools for customizing appearance. Telegram for Android and Telegram Desktop have advanced in-app theme editors. Telegram for iOS and MacOS allow choosing a custom accent color from the color wheel and a background, then saving the result as a custom theme.

Once you have saved a new theme in any of the apps, it also becomes accessible in the online editor.

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