diff --git a/src/Render/FriendicaSmarty.php b/src/Render/FriendicaSmarty.php
index b147d7e81..278fe1f93 100644
--- a/src/Render/FriendicaSmarty.php
+++ b/src/Render/FriendicaSmarty.php
@@ -6,15 +6,15 @@ namespace Friendica\Render;
 
 use Smarty;
 
-define('SMARTY3_TEMPLATE_FOLDER', 'templates');
-
 /**
- * Description of FriendicaSmarty
+ * Friendica extension of the Smarty3 template engine
  *
- * @author benlo
+ * @author Hypolite Petovan <mrpetovan@gmail.com>
  */
 class FriendicaSmarty extends Smarty
 {
+	const SMARTY3_TEMPLATE_FOLDER = 'templates';
+
 	public $filename;
 
 	function __construct()
@@ -26,12 +26,12 @@ class FriendicaSmarty extends Smarty
 
 		// setTemplateDir can be set to an array, which Smarty will parse in order.
 		// The order is thus very important here
-		$template_dirs = ['theme' => "view/theme/$theme/" . SMARTY3_TEMPLATE_FOLDER . "/"];
+		$template_dirs = ['theme' => "view/theme/$theme/" . self::SMARTY3_TEMPLATE_FOLDER . "/"];
 		if (x($a->theme_info, "extends")) {
-			$template_dirs = $template_dirs + ['extends' => "view/theme/" . $a->theme_info["extends"] . "/" . SMARTY3_TEMPLATE_FOLDER . "/"];
+			$template_dirs = $template_dirs + ['extends' => "view/theme/" . $a->theme_info["extends"] . "/" . self::SMARTY3_TEMPLATE_FOLDER . "/"];
 		}
 
-		$template_dirs = $template_dirs + ['base' => "view/" . SMARTY3_TEMPLATE_FOLDER . "/"];
+		$template_dirs = $template_dirs + ['base' => "view/" . self::SMARTY3_TEMPLATE_FOLDER . "/"];
 		$this->setTemplateDir($template_dirs);
 
 		$this->setCompileDir('view/smarty3/compiled/');
diff --git a/src/Render/FriendicaSmartyEngine.php b/src/Render/FriendicaSmartyEngine.php
index 6fd51cf5d..949ac58c8 100644
--- a/src/Render/FriendicaSmartyEngine.php
+++ b/src/Render/FriendicaSmartyEngine.php
@@ -6,8 +6,11 @@ namespace Friendica\Render;
 
 use Friendica\Core\Addon;
 
-define('SMARTY3_TEMPLATE_FOLDER', 'templates');
-
+/**
+ * Smarty implementation of the Friendica template engine interface
+ *
+ * @author Hypolite Petovan <mrpetovan@gmail.com>
+ */
 class FriendicaSmartyEngine implements ITemplateEngine
 {
 	static $name = "smarty3";
@@ -52,8 +55,26 @@ class FriendicaSmartyEngine implements ITemplateEngine
 	public function getTemplateFile($file, $root = '')
 	{
 		$a = get_app();
-		$template_file = get_template_file($a, SMARTY3_TEMPLATE_FOLDER . '/' . $file, $root);
 		$template = new FriendicaSmarty();
+
+		// Make sure $root ends with a slash /
+		if ($root !== '' && substr($root, -1, 1) !== '/') {
+			$root = $root . '/';
+		}
+
+		$theme = current_theme();
+		$filename = $template::SMARTY3_TEMPLATE_FOLDER . '/' . $file;
+
+		if (file_exists("{$root}view/theme/$theme/$filename")) {
+			$template_file = "{$root}view/theme/$theme/$filename";
+		} elseif (x($a->theme_info, 'extends') && file_exists(sprintf('%sview/theme/%s}/%s', $root, $a->theme_info['extends'], $filename))) {
+			$template_file = sprintf('%sview/theme/%s}/%s', $root, $a->theme_info['extends'], $filename);
+		} elseif (file_exists("{$root}/$filename")) {
+			$template_file = "{$root}/$filename";
+		} else {
+			$template_file = "{$root}view/$filename";
+		}
+
 		$template->filename = $template_file;
 
 		return $template;