Image does not refresh after theme change

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1

Hi everyone,

I’m experiencing an issue with images not updating correctly in my Glide app after switching between themes.

Here’s what’s happening:
I’m using dynamic images, and when the user changes the theme, the rest of the app responds as expected — but the images do not reload or adapt. This is particularly problematic when I’m using theme-specific images or placeholders that should visually match the current theme.

Even after refreshing the page or navigating to a different tab and back, the image stays the same, as if it’s cached. I’ve tried using different components (Image, Card, etc.), but the issue persists.

What I’ve tried:
• Using unique image URLs (e.g., with timestamp query params)
• Forcing a data reload
• Rebinding the image component via visibility conditions
• Clearing browser cache

No luck so far.

Has anyone encountered a similar issue or found a workaround to force image components to refresh after a theme change?

Thanks in advance!

2

So users are able to pick a theme, the theme will be stored in your database, and the app’s appearance change based on it?

How are the images dynamic related to your theme variable? Can you show us how you configure those?

3

Hi, thanks for following up.

To clarify:

We’re not storing or managing images via the database. Images are loaded dynamically from the object representing the currently playing media — for example, an album cover. When that object changes (for example, a new song starts), the image updates correctly.

However, when the theme is changed (for example, light to dark), the object and image URL stay the same, so no reload is triggered. Unfortunately, this results in the image showing as empty — even though the image URL is still valid.

We’ve implemented a custom image loading method using Glide, where we explicitly:

GlideApp.with(this).clear(this)
GlideApp.with(this)
    .load(resource)
    .dontTransform()
    .diskCacheStrategy(DiskCacheStrategy.NONE)
    .skipMemoryCache(true)

Even fallback logic that sets a default image on failure doesn’t get called — because Glide seems to think nothing needs to be done, as the resource hasn’t changed.

The core issue:

  • Image resource remains the same when switching themes.
  • Theme changes do not trigger an image reload, so the image component goes blank.
  • We still want to show the same image, just reloaded correctly to reflect the updated context.

Question:
Is there a recommended way to force an image reload or refresh in Glide apps when the image resource hasn’t changed, but some external state like theme has?

Appreciate your help!

4

What about appending a dummy query parameter to the image URL, using the current timestamp?

1 Like
5

Sorry if I’m wrong with this, but do you mean this Glide library, or the no-code builder GlideApps?

1 Like
6

I think you’re referring to the Glide image loading library, but this community is actually for Glide Apps, a no-code app builder. Funny mix-up but you’re probably in the wrong place :laughing: