diff --git a/bec_widgets/cli/server.py b/bec_widgets/cli/server.py
index ea45c61e..d27a74f7 100644
--- a/bec_widgets/cli/server.py
+++ b/bec_widgets/cli/server.py
@@ -7,8 +7,10 @@ import signal
 import sys
 from contextlib import redirect_stderr, redirect_stdout
 
+import darkdetect
 from bec_lib.logger import bec_logger
 from bec_lib.service_config import ServiceConfig
+from bec_qthemes import apply_theme
 from qtmonaco.pylsp_provider import pylsp_server
 from qtpy.QtCore import QSize, Qt
 from qtpy.QtGui import QIcon
@@ -92,6 +94,11 @@ class GUIServer:
         Run the GUI server.
         """
         self.app = QApplication(sys.argv)
+        if darkdetect.isDark():
+            apply_theme("dark")
+        else:
+            apply_theme("light")
+
         self.app.setApplicationName("BEC")
         self.app.gui_id = self.gui_id  # type: ignore
         self.setup_bec_icon()
diff --git a/bec_widgets/utils/bec_widget.py b/bec_widgets/utils/bec_widget.py
index ee52ae29..67a4c5e9 100644
--- a/bec_widgets/utils/bec_widget.py
+++ b/bec_widgets/utils/bec_widget.py
@@ -3,16 +3,14 @@ from __future__ import annotations
 from datetime import datetime
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
 
-import darkdetect
 import PySide6QtAds as QtAds
 import shiboken6
 from bec_lib.logger import bec_logger
-from qtpy.QtCore import QObject, QTimer
+from qtpy.QtCore import QObject
 from qtpy.QtWidgets import QApplication, QFileDialog, QWidget
 
 from bec_widgets.cli.rpc.rpc_register import RPCRegister
 from bec_widgets.utils.bec_connector import BECConnector, ConnectionConfig
-from bec_widgets.utils.colors import apply_theme
 from bec_widgets.utils.error_popups import SafeSlot
 from bec_widgets.utils.rpc_decorator import rpc_timeout
 from bec_widgets.utils.widget_io import WidgetHierarchy
@@ -63,14 +61,6 @@ class BECWidget(BECConnector):
         )
         if not isinstance(self, QObject):
             raise RuntimeError(f"{repr(self)} is not a subclass of QWidget")
-        app = QApplication.instance()
-        if not hasattr(app, "theme"):
-            # DO NOT SET THE THEME TO AUTO! Otherwise, the qwebengineview will segfault
-            # Instead, we will set the theme to the system setting on startup
-            if darkdetect.isDark():
-                apply_theme("dark")
-            else:
-                apply_theme("light")
 
         if theme_update:
             logger.debug(f"Subscribing to theme updates for {self.__class__.__name__}")