diff --git a/packages/osd-ui-shared-deps/theme.ts b/packages/osd-ui-shared-deps/theme.ts
index 45a4f68cfd4b..f7dfc371c89b 100644
--- a/packages/osd-ui-shared-deps/theme.ts
+++ b/packages/osd-ui-shared-deps/theme.ts
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ export type Theme = typeof LightTheme;
 
 // in the OpenSearch Dashboards app we can rely on this global being defined, but in
 // some cases (like jest) the global is undefined
-export const tag: string = globals.__osdThemeTag__ || 'v7light';
+export const tag: string = globals.__osdThemeTag__ || 'v8light';
 export const version = tag.startsWith('v7') ? 7 : 8;
 export const darkMode = tag.endsWith('dark');
 
diff --git a/src/core/server/ui_settings/settings/theme.ts b/src/core/server/ui_settings/settings/theme.ts
index c09106f9676d..9ac7cf6aa1a6 100644
--- a/src/core/server/ui_settings/settings/theme.ts
+++ b/src/core/server/ui_settings/settings/theme.ts
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ export const getThemeSettings = (): Record<string, UiSettingsParams> => {
       name: i18n.translate('core.ui_settings.params.themeVersionTitle', {
         defaultMessage: 'Theme version',
       }),
-      value: 'v7',
+      value: 'Next (preview)',
       type: 'select',
       options: ['v7', 'Next (preview)'],
       description: i18n.translate('core.ui_settings.params.themeVersionText', {
diff --git a/src/core/server/ui_settings/ui_settings_config.ts b/src/core/server/ui_settings/ui_settings_config.ts
index 1f71e58bd7ec..6924640ca1e5 100644
--- a/src/core/server/ui_settings/ui_settings_config.ts
+++ b/src/core/server/ui_settings/ui_settings_config.ts
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ const configSchema = schema.object({
   overrides: schema.object({}, { unknowns: 'allow' }),
   defaults: schema.object({
     'theme:darkMode': schema.maybe(schema.boolean({ defaultValue: false })),
-    'theme:version': schema.maybe(schema.string({ defaultValue: 'v7' })),
+    'theme:version': schema.maybe(schema.string({ defaultValue: 'v8' })),
   }),
 });