diff --git a/admin/settings/appearance.php b/admin/settings/appearance.php
index 0844b6f4ed6..56b1c0724c8 100644
--- a/admin/settings/appearance.php
+++ b/admin/settings/appearance.php
@@ -349,14 +349,17 @@ if ($hassiteconfig or has_any_capability($capabilities, $systemcontext)) { // sp
         new lang_string('themeselector', 'admin'), $CFG->wwwroot . '/admin/themeselector.php'));
 
     // Settings page for each theme.
+    $ADMIN->add('appearance', new admin_category('themes', new lang_string('themesettingscustom', 'admin')));
     foreach (core_component::get_plugin_list('theme') as $theme => $themedir) {
         $settingspath = "$themedir/settings.php";
         if (file_exists($settingspath)) {
-            $settings = new admin_externalpage('themesetting' . $theme, new lang_string('pluginname', 'theme_'.$theme),
-                new moodle_url($settingspath), 'moodle/site:config', true);
+            $settings = new admin_settingpage("themesetting$theme", new lang_string('pluginname', "theme_$theme"),
+                'moodle/site:config', true
+            );
             include($settingspath);
-            if ($settings) {
-                $ADMIN->add('appearance', $settings);
+            // Add settings if not hidden (to avoid displaying the section if it appears empty in the UI).
+            if ($settings && !$settings->hidden) {
+                $ADMIN->add('themes', $settings);
             }
         }
     }
diff --git a/lang/en/admin.php b/lang/en/admin.php
index 92803fafd90..7b500fb9159 100644
--- a/lang/en/admin.php
+++ b/lang/en/admin.php
@@ -1458,6 +1458,7 @@ $string['themeresetcaches'] = 'Clear theme caches';
 $string['themeselect'] = 'Change theme';
 $string['themeselector'] = 'Themes';
 $string['themesettingsadvanced'] = 'Advanced theme settings';
+$string['themesettingscustom'] = 'Custom theme settings';
 $string['themeeditsettingsname'] = 'Edit theme settings \'{$a}\'';
 $string['themesettingsname'] = 'Theme settings \'{$a}\'';
 $string['themeusagereportname'] = 'Theme usage report \'{$a}\'';