diff --git a/Signal/src/UIColor+OWS.h b/Signal/src/UIColor+OWS.h
index bc3190d32..d148e9585 100644
--- a/Signal/src/UIColor+OWS.h
+++ b/Signal/src/UIColor+OWS.h
@@ -12,8 +12,6 @@
 
 + (UIColor*) ows_materialBlueColor;
 
-
-
 + (UIColor *) ows_fadedBlueColor;
 
 + (UIColor *) ows_darkBackgroundColor;
@@ -28,4 +26,6 @@
 
 + (UIColor*) ows_blackColor;
 
++ (UIColor*) backgroundColorForContact:(NSString*)contactIdentifier;
+
 @end
diff --git a/Signal/src/UIColor+OWS.m b/Signal/src/UIColor+OWS.m
index 7bea0d5bc..bdeef6270 100644
--- a/Signal/src/UIColor+OWS.m
+++ b/Signal/src/UIColor+OWS.m
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 //
 
 #import "UIColor+OWS.h"
+#import "Cryptography.h"
 
 @implementation UIColor (OWS)
 
@@ -54,6 +55,36 @@
     return [UIColor colorWithRed:242.f/255.f green:242.f/255.f blue:242.f/255.f alpha:1.f];
 }
 
++ (UIColor*) backgroundColorForContact:(NSString*)contactIdentifier {
+    NSArray *colors = @[[UIColor colorWithRed:204.f/255.f green:148.f/255.f blue:102.f/255.f alpha:1.f],
+                        [UIColor colorWithRed:187.f/255.f green:104.f/255.f blue:62.f/255.f alpha:1.f],
+                        [UIColor colorWithRed:145.f/255.f green:78.f/255.f blue:48.f/255.f alpha:1.f],
+                        [UIColor colorWithRed:122.f/255.f green:63.f/255.f blue:41.f/255.f alpha:1.f],
+                        [UIColor colorWithRed:80.f/255.f green:46.f/255.f blue:27.f/255.f alpha:1.f],
+                        [UIColor colorWithRed:57.f/255.f green:45.f/255.f blue:19.f/255.f alpha:1.f],
+                        [UIColor colorWithRed:37.f/255.f green:38.f/255.f blue:13.f/255.f alpha:1.f],
+                        [UIColor colorWithRed:23.f/255.f green:31.f/255.f blue:10.f/255.f alpha:1.f],
+                        [UIColor colorWithRed:6.f/255.f green:19.f/255.f blue:10.f/255.f alpha:1.f],
+                        [UIColor colorWithRed:13.f/255.f green:4.f/255.f blue:16.f/255.f alpha:1.f],
+                        [UIColor colorWithRed:27.f/255.f green:12.f/255.f blue:44.f/255.f alpha:1.f],
+                        [UIColor colorWithRed:18.f/255.f green:17.f/255.f blue:64.f/255.f alpha:1.f],
+                        [UIColor colorWithRed:20.f/255.f green:42.f/255.f blue:77.f/255.f alpha:1.f],
+                        [UIColor colorWithRed:18.f/255.f green:55.f/255.f blue:68.f/255.f alpha:1.f],
+                        [UIColor colorWithRed:18.f/255.f green:68.f/255.f blue:61.f/255.f alpha:1.f],
+                        [UIColor colorWithRed:19.f/255.f green:73.f/255.f blue:26.f/255.f alpha:1.f],
+                        [UIColor colorWithRed:13.f/255.f green:48.f/255.f blue:15.f/255.f alpha:1.f],
+                        [UIColor colorWithRed:44.f/255.f green:165.f/255.f blue:137.f/255.f alpha:1.f],
+                        [UIColor colorWithRed:137.f/255.f green:181.f/255.f blue:48.f/255.f alpha:1.f],
+                        [UIColor colorWithRed:208.f/255.f green:204.f/255.f blue:78.f/255.f alpha:1.f],
+                        [UIColor colorWithRed:227.f/255.f green:162.f/255.f blue:150.f/255.f alpha:1.f]];
+    NSData *contactData = [contactIdentifier dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
+    NSData *hashData = [Cryptography  computeSHA256:contactData  truncatedToBytes:8];
+    unsigned long choose;
+    [hashData getBytes:&choose length:8];
+    return [colors objectAtIndex:(choose % [colors count])];
+
+}
+
 
 @end
 
diff --git a/Signal/src/util/UIUtil.m b/Signal/src/util/UIUtil.m
index 5980b0ebc..1cf221b6d 100644
--- a/Signal/src/util/UIUtil.m
+++ b/Signal/src/util/UIUtil.m
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 
 + (void)applyRoundedBorderToImageView:(UIImageView *__strong*)imageView {
     [[*imageView layer] setBorderWidth:CONTACT_PICTURE_VIEW_BORDER_WIDTH];
-    [[*imageView layer] setBorderColor:[[UIColor lightGrayColor] CGColor]];
+    [[*imageView layer] setBorderColor:[[UIColor clearColor] CGColor]];
     [[*imageView layer] setCornerRadius:CGRectGetWidth([*imageView frame])/2];
     [[*imageView layer] setMasksToBounds:YES];
 }
diff --git a/Signal/src/view controllers/InboxTableViewCell.m b/Signal/src/view controllers/InboxTableViewCell.m
index a7bf729e3..3acc25578 100644
--- a/Signal/src/view controllers/InboxTableViewCell.m	
+++ b/Signal/src/view controllers/InboxTableViewCell.m	
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 #import "Util.h"
 #import "UIImage+JSQMessages.h"
 #import "TSGroupThread.h"
+#import "TSContactThread.h"
 #import "JSQMessagesAvatarImageFactory.h"
 #define ARCHIVE_IMAGE_VIEW_WIDTH 22.0f
 #define DELETE_IMAGE_VIEW_WIDTH 19.0f
@@ -63,14 +64,11 @@
                 }
             }
         }
-        UIImage* image = [[JSQMessagesAvatarImageFactory avatarImageWithUserInitials:initials backgroundColor:[UIColor whiteColor] textColor:[UIColor ows_materialBlueColor] font:[UIFont ows_regularFontWithSize:36.0] diameter:100] avatarImage];
+        
+        UIColor *backgroundColor = thread.isGroupThread ? [UIColor whiteColor] : [UIColor backgroundColorForContact:((TSContactThread*)thread).contactIdentifier];
+        UIImage* image = [[JSQMessagesAvatarImageFactory avatarImageWithUserInitials:initials backgroundColor:backgroundColor textColor:[UIColor whiteColor] font:[UIFont ows_boldFontWithSize:36.0] diameter:100] avatarImage];
         _contactPictureView.image = thread.image!=nil ? thread.image : image;
-        if(thread.image==nil) {
-            UIImage *overlayImage = [UIImage imageNamed:@"circContact--empty"];
-            UIImageView *overlayImageView = [[UIImageView alloc] initWithImage:overlayImage];
-            [_contactPictureView addSubview:overlayImageView];
-        }
-        else {
+        if(thread.image!=nil) {
             [UIUtil applyRoundedBorderToImageView:&_contactPictureView];
         }
     }