PNG-Only Templates May Appear Blank in reMarkable 3.19 Beta (But There’s a Workaround!)
I wanted to share a quick heads-up if you’re part of the Simply Customize It community and use custom templates on your reMarkable.
Update
Later on April 24, 2025
Thanks to the community on Reddit! After a helpful comment there and more testing I discovered that PNG-only templates do still work in the 3.19 beta. They may just appear blank at first. If that happens, try closing and reopening the notebook then the image should then display as expected.
I’m leaving the rest of the post below for context and in case this behavior shifts again in future beta builds. I’m so glad I reached out more widely as it helped surface this nuance much faster!
Original Post:
What I Found
I recently updated both my reMarkable 2 and reMarkable Paper Tablet Pro to the 3.19.0.57 beta, and I noticed something important... any templates I use that only include a PNG file (has no corresponding SVG or templating file) no longer work on my reMarkable.
If you have any favorite templates that rely solely on a PNG file this may affect your experience so I wanted to share. Here’s what I observed:
- On the reMarkable Paper Pro, selecting a
PNG-only template results in a blank screen. - On the reMarkable 2 the same type of template loads for a while but eventually also defaults to a blank screen.
If you're currently using one of these templates the contents will still show up and you can draw on the page. This just affects the background image, or lack thereof, that doesn’t display.
PNG only template results in a blank page right now. For the reMarkable 2 you have to wait until it finishes loading to be sure. Currently SVG only templates still work.
What Can You Do
If you’re relying on PNG-only templates and want to avoid this behavior you might consider turning off automatic updates for now to stay on your current version. That said, if reMarkable continues to not support PNG-only templates this will affect you gaining any features with future updates.
Turn Off Auto Updating
How to turn off auto-updates on your reMarkable:
Start by going to Settings > General Settings > Software
From there at the top you can see your current software version and a button to check for updates... don't click that if you don't want to update. That said... at this time 3.19 is currently in beta so depending on when you read this....
Anyway look at the bottom and hit the toggle to turn Updates off.
Can Simply Customize It Help?
This change appears to be on the reMarkable side of things, so it’s not something I can fix within Simply Customize It. That said, if you come across a workaround online that restores PNG-only template support feel free to pass it along either through the comments or email me at: mail@simplykyra.com. I’ll look into it and share any confirmed solutions with the community.
Future Updates
In addition to sharing anything I learn in the future I've also posted on Reddit here in case someone else has more insight. You can check it out, follow the thread for the latest updates, or join the conversation.
What About Simply Customize It?
I’m keeping an eye on the 3.19 beta update to see what other changes may have been introduced. If I find anything else that affects Simply Customize It and/or your templates I’ll be sure to let you know and push an update if needed.
Thanks, as always, for being part of the Simply Customize It community. I’m so glad you’re here!