diff --git a/src/components/views/settings/tabs/user/GeneralUserSettingsTab.js b/src/components/views/settings/tabs/user/GeneralUserSettingsTab.js
index dbe0a9a301..b518f7c81b 100644
--- a/src/components/views/settings/tabs/user/GeneralUserSettingsTab.js
+++ b/src/components/views/settings/tabs/user/GeneralUserSettingsTab.js
@@ -185,7 +185,10 @@ export default class GeneralUserSettingsTab extends React.Component {
         // The settings watcher doesn't fire until the echo comes back from the
         // server, so to make the theme change immediately we need to manually
         // do the dispatch now
-        dis.dispatch({action: 'recheck_theme'});
+        // XXX: The local echoed value appears to be unreliable, in particular
+        // when settings custom themes(!) so adding forceTheme to override
+        // the value from settings.
+        dis.dispatch({action: 'recheck_theme', forceTheme: newTheme});
     };
 
     _onUseSystemThemeChanged = (checked) => {
diff --git a/src/theme.js b/src/theme.js
index 8996fe28fd..5e390bf2c8 100644
--- a/src/theme.js
+++ b/src/theme.js
@@ -60,13 +60,15 @@ export class ThemeWatcher {
 
     _onAction = (payload) => {
         if (payload.action === 'recheck_theme') {
-            this.recheck();
+            // XXX forceTheme
+            this.recheck(payload.forceTheme);
         }
     }
 
-    recheck() {
+    // XXX: forceTheme param aded here as local echo appears to be unreliable
+    recheck(forceTheme) {
         const oldTheme = this._currentTheme;
-        this._currentTheme = this.getEffectiveTheme();
+        this._currentTheme = forceTheme === undefined ? this.getEffectiveTheme() : forceTheme;
         if (oldTheme !== this._currentTheme) {
             setTheme(this._currentTheme);
         }