diff --git a/lib/letter-avatars.js b/lib/letter-avatars.js
index 5f489248..235baf8b 100644
--- a/lib/letter-avatars.js
+++ b/lib/letter-avatars.js
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ const config = require('./config')
 exports.generateAvatar = function (name) {
   // use darker colors for better contrast
   const color = new Chance(name).color({
+    format: 'hex',
     max_red: 150,
     max_green: 150,
     max_blue: 150
diff --git a/lib/realtime.js b/lib/realtime.js
index 9a28b8e5..ac727180 100644
--- a/lib/realtime.js
+++ b/lib/realtime.js
@@ -710,7 +710,7 @@ function connection (socket) {
 
     // initialize user data
     // random color
-    let color = chance.color()
+    let color = chance.color({ format: 'hex' })
     // make sure color not duplicated or reach max random count
     if (notes[noteId]) {
       let randomcount = 0
@@ -723,7 +723,7 @@ function connection (socket) {
           }
         })
         if (found) {
-          color = chance.color()
+          color = chance.color({ format: 'hex' })
           randomcount++
         }
       } while (found && randomcount < maxrandomcount)
diff --git a/public/docs/release-notes.md b/public/docs/release-notes.md
index 87b87cf5..ec231601 100644
--- a/public/docs/release-notes.md
+++ b/public/docs/release-notes.md
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
 # Release Notes
 
+## Unreleased
+
+### Bugfixes
+- Random colors for user's cursors and selections are now always in hex format to avoid conversion errors
+
 ## <i class="fa fa-tag"></i> 1.10.6 <i class="fa fa-calendar-o"></i> 2026-02-04
 
 ### Security fixes
diff --git a/public/js/index.js b/public/js/index.js
index 22f7ab9d..9e37e1fd 100644
--- a/public/js/index.js
+++ b/public/js/index.js
@@ -427,7 +427,7 @@ const supportExtraTags = [
     text: '[random color tag]',
     search: '[]',
     command: function () {
-      const color = chance().color()
+      const color = chance().color({ format: 'hex' })
       return '[color=' + color + ']'
     }
   }