diff --git a/lib/shared/avatar-utils.js b/lib/shared/avatar-utils.js
index 415635c37..b411d8877 100644
--- a/lib/shared/avatar-utils.js
+++ b/lib/shared/avatar-utils.js
@@ -1,94 +1,120 @@
 // @flow
 
 import invariant from 'invariant';
 import stringHash from 'string-hash';
 
 import { selectedThreadColors } from './color-utils.js';
 import { threadOtherMembers } from './thread-utils.js';
+import genesis from '../facts/genesis.js';
+import { threadInfoSelector } from '../selectors/thread-selectors.js';
 import type { ClientEmojiAvatar, ClientAvatar } from '../types/avatar-types.js';
 import {
   type RawThreadInfo,
   type ThreadInfo,
   threadTypes,
 } from '../types/thread-types.js';
 import type { UserInfos } from '../types/user-types.js';
+import { useSelector } from '../utils/redux-utils.js';
 
 const defaultAnonymousUserEmojiAvatar: ClientEmojiAvatar = {
   color: selectedThreadColors[4],
   emoji: '👤',
   type: 'emoji',
 };
 
 const defaultEmojiAvatars: $ReadOnlyArray<ClientEmojiAvatar> = [
   { color: selectedThreadColors[7], emoji: '😀', type: 'emoji' },
   { color: selectedThreadColors[0], emoji: '😆', type: 'emoji' },
   { color: selectedThreadColors[1], emoji: '🤩', type: 'emoji' },
   { color: selectedThreadColors[7], emoji: '🏈', type: 'emoji' },
   { color: selectedThreadColors[2], emoji: '👻', type: 'emoji' },
   { color: selectedThreadColors[3], emoji: '🧑‍🚀', type: 'emoji' },
   { color: selectedThreadColors[4], emoji: '🎩', type: 'emoji' },
   { color: selectedThreadColors[5], emoji: '🍦', type: 'emoji' },
   { color: selectedThreadColors[6], emoji: '🚀', type: 'emoji' },
   { color: selectedThreadColors[8], emoji: '🥰', type: 'emoji' },
   { color: selectedThreadColors[3], emoji: '🐬', type: 'emoji' },
   { color: selectedThreadColors[4], emoji: '🍀', type: 'emoji' },
   { color: selectedThreadColors[9], emoji: '🍕', type: 'emoji' },
   { color: selectedThreadColors[0], emoji: '🙄', type: 'emoji' },
   { color: selectedThreadColors[1], emoji: '🥳', type: 'emoji' },
   { color: selectedThreadColors[7], emoji: '🥸', type: 'emoji' },
   { color: selectedThreadColors[2], emoji: '🦋', type: 'emoji' },
   { color: selectedThreadColors[9], emoji: '🏆', type: 'emoji' },
   { color: selectedThreadColors[5], emoji: '🎲', type: 'emoji' },
   { color: selectedThreadColors[8], emoji: '🏀', type: 'emoji' },
 ];
 
 function getDefaultAvatar(hashKey: string, color?: string): ClientEmojiAvatar {
   const avatarIndex = stringHash(hashKey) % defaultEmojiAvatars.length;
 
   return {
     ...defaultEmojiAvatars[avatarIndex],
     color: color ? color : defaultEmojiAvatars[avatarIndex].color,
   };
 }
 
 function getAvatarForUser(
   user: ?{ +avatar?: ?ClientAvatar, +username?: ?string, ... },
 ): ClientAvatar {
   if (user?.avatar) {
     return user.avatar;
   }
 
   if (!user?.username) {
     return defaultAnonymousUserEmojiAvatar;
   }
 
   return getDefaultAvatar(user.username);
 }
 
 function getUserAvatarForThread(
   threadInfo: RawThreadInfo | ThreadInfo,
   viewerID: ?string,
   userInfos: UserInfos,
 ): ClientAvatar {
   if (threadInfo.type === threadTypes.PRIVATE) {
     invariant(viewerID, 'viewerID should be set for PRIVATE threads');
     return getAvatarForUser(userInfos[viewerID]);
   }
 
   invariant(
     threadInfo.type === threadTypes.PERSONAL,
     'threadInfo should be a PERSONAL type',
   );
 
   const memberInfos = threadOtherMembers(threadInfo.members, viewerID)
     .map(member => userInfos[member.id] && userInfos[member.id])
     .filter(Boolean);
 
   if (memberInfos.length === 0) {
     return defaultAnonymousUserEmojiAvatar;
   }
 
   return getAvatarForUser(memberInfos[0]);
 }
 
-export { getAvatarForUser, getUserAvatarForThread };
+function useGetAvatarForThread(
+  thread: RawThreadInfo | ThreadInfo,
+): ClientAvatar {
+  const containingThreadID = thread.containingThreadID;
+  const containingThreadInfo = useSelector(state =>
+    containingThreadID ? threadInfoSelector(state)[containingThreadID] : null,
+  );
+
+  if (thread.avatar) {
+    return thread.avatar;
+  }
+
+  if (thread.containingThreadID && thread.containingThreadID !== genesis.id) {
+    invariant(containingThreadInfo, 'containingThreadInfo should be set');
+
+    return containingThreadInfo.avatar
+      ? containingThreadInfo.avatar
+      : getDefaultAvatar(containingThreadInfo.id, containingThreadInfo.color);
+  }
+
+  return getDefaultAvatar(thread.id, thread.color);
+}
+
+export { getAvatarForUser, getUserAvatarForThread, useGetAvatarForThread };