diff --git a/apps/teacher/build.gradle b/apps/teacher/build.gradle
index e38b35dc14..18071fc0b5 100644
--- a/apps/teacher/build.gradle
+++ b/apps/teacher/build.gradle
@@ -39,8 +39,8 @@ android {
     defaultConfig {
         minSdkVersion Versions.MIN_SDK
         targetSdkVersion Versions.TARGET_SDK
-        versionCode = 48
-        versionName = '1.18.0'
+        versionCode = 49
+        versionName = '1.18.1'
         vectorDrawables.useSupportLibrary = true
         multiDexEnabled true
         testInstrumentationRunner 'com.instructure.teacher.ui.espresso.TeacherHiltTestRunner'
diff --git a/libs/pandautils/src/main/java/com/instructure/pandautils/utils/ColorKeeper.kt b/libs/pandautils/src/main/java/com/instructure/pandautils/utils/ColorKeeper.kt
index 7c9bc7e1a5..6e5da51f04 100644
--- a/libs/pandautils/src/main/java/com/instructure/pandautils/utils/ColorKeeper.kt
+++ b/libs/pandautils/src/main/java/com/instructure/pandautils/utils/ColorKeeper.kt
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@
 package com.instructure.pandautils.utils
 
 import android.content.Context
-import android.graphics.Color
 import android.graphics.PorterDuff
 import android.graphics.drawable.Drawable
 import androidx.annotation.ColorInt
@@ -135,11 +134,21 @@ object ColorKeeper : PrefManager(PREFERENCE_FILE_NAME) {
      * @return The parsed color, or [defaultColor] if the string could not be parsed
      */
     private fun parseColor(hexColor: String): Int = try {
-        ColorUtils.parseColor("#${hexColor.trimMargin("#")}", "")
+        val trimmedColorCode = getTrimmedColorCode(hexColor)
+        ColorUtils.parseColor(trimmedColorCode, defaultColor = defaultColor)
     } catch (e: IllegalArgumentException) {
         defaultColor
     }
 
+    // There might be cases where the color code from the response contains whitespaces.
+    private fun getTrimmedColorCode(colorCode: String): String {
+        return if (colorCode.contains("#")) {
+            "#${colorCode.trimMargin("#")}"
+        } else {
+            colorCode
+        }
+    }
+
     /**
      * Generates a generic color based on the canvas context id, this will produce consistent colors for a given course
      * @param canvasContext a valid canvas context
diff --git a/libs/pandautils/src/main/java/com/instructure/pandautils/utils/ColorUtils.kt b/libs/pandautils/src/main/java/com/instructure/pandautils/utils/ColorUtils.kt
index bfcabf2976..e8fd0cf2f4 100644
--- a/libs/pandautils/src/main/java/com/instructure/pandautils/utils/ColorUtils.kt
+++ b/libs/pandautils/src/main/java/com/instructure/pandautils/utils/ColorUtils.kt
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ package com.instructure.pandautils.utils
 import android.graphics.*
 import android.graphics.drawable.Drawable
 import android.widget.ImageView
+import androidx.annotation.ColorInt
 import androidx.core.graphics.drawable.DrawableCompat
 
 object ColorUtils {
@@ -46,7 +47,7 @@ object ColorUtils {
 
     @JvmStatic
     @JvmOverloads
-    fun parseColor(colorCode: String?, defaultColorCode: String = ColorApiHelper.K5_DEFAULT_COLOR): Int {
+    fun parseColor(colorCode: String?, @ColorInt defaultColor: Int? = null): Int {
         return try {
             val fullColorCode = if (colorCode?.length == 4 && colorCode[0].toString() == "#") {
                 "#${colorCode[1]}${colorCode[1]}${colorCode[2]}${colorCode[2]}${colorCode[3]}${colorCode[3]}"
@@ -55,7 +56,11 @@ object ColorUtils {
             }
             Color.parseColor(fullColorCode)
         } catch (e: Exception) {
-            Color.parseColor(defaultColorCode)
+            if (defaultColor != null) {
+                defaultColor
+            } else {
+                Color.parseColor(ColorApiHelper.K5_DEFAULT_COLOR)
+            }
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/libs/pandautils/src/main/java/com/instructure/pandautils/utils/ThemePrefs.kt b/libs/pandautils/src/main/java/com/instructure/pandautils/utils/ThemePrefs.kt
index abf7656c1f..c28b2e9392 100644
--- a/libs/pandautils/src/main/java/com/instructure/pandautils/utils/ThemePrefs.kt
+++ b/libs/pandautils/src/main/java/com/instructure/pandautils/utils/ThemePrefs.kt
@@ -122,10 +122,20 @@ object ThemePrefs : PrefManager("CanvasTheme") {
 
     private fun parseColor(hexColor: String, defaultColor: Int): Int {
         try {
-            return ColorUtils.parseColor("#${hexColor.trimMargin("#")}", "")
+            val trimmedColorCode = getTrimmedColorCode(hexColor)
+            return ColorUtils.parseColor(trimmedColorCode, defaultColor = defaultColor)
         } catch (e: IllegalArgumentException) {
             return defaultColor
         }
     }
 
+    // There might be cases where the color codes from the response contain whitespaces.
+    private fun getTrimmedColorCode(colorCode: String): String {
+        return if (colorCode.contains("#")) {
+            "#${colorCode.trimMargin("#")}"
+        } else {
+            colorCode
+        }
+    }
+
 }