diff --git a/apps/ios/Shared/Model/SimpleXAPI.swift b/apps/ios/Shared/Model/SimpleXAPI.swift
index 495209499c..181d763a49 100644
--- a/apps/ios/Shared/Model/SimpleXAPI.swift
+++ b/apps/ios/Shared/Model/SimpleXAPI.swift
@@ -107,13 +107,13 @@ func chatSendCmdSync(_ cmd: ChatCommand, bgTask: Bool = true, bgDelay: Double? =
 }
 
 func chatSendCmd(_ cmd: ChatCommand, bgTask: Bool = true, bgDelay: Double? = nil, _ ctrl: chat_ctrl? = nil, log: Bool = true) async -> ChatResponse {
-    await withCheckedContinuation { cont in
+    await withUnsafeContinuation { cont in
         cont.resume(returning: chatSendCmdSync(cmd, bgTask: bgTask, bgDelay: bgDelay, ctrl, log: log))
     }
 }
 
 func chatRecvMsg(_ ctrl: chat_ctrl? = nil) async -> ChatResponse? {
-    await withCheckedContinuation { cont in
+    await withUnsafeContinuation { cont in
         _  = withBGTask(bgDelay: msgDelay) { () -> ChatResponse? in
             let resp = recvSimpleXMsg(ctrl)
             cont.resume(returning: resp)
diff --git a/apps/ios/SimpleXChat/API.swift b/apps/ios/SimpleXChat/API.swift
index 5e5f047611..38c8b6e0bd 100644
--- a/apps/ios/SimpleXChat/API.swift
+++ b/apps/ios/SimpleXChat/API.swift
@@ -177,14 +177,65 @@ public func fromCString(_ c: UnsafeMutablePointer<CChar>) -> String {
     return s
 }
 
+class ThreadExecutor<ResultType> {
+    private var stackSize: Int
+    private var qos: QualityOfService
+
+    /// Initialize by specifying the stack size
+    init(stackSize: Int, qos: QualityOfService) {
+        self.stackSize = stackSize
+        self.qos = qos
+    }
+
+    /// Execute a closure synchronously on a separate thread and return the result
+    func executeSync(_ task: @escaping () throws -> ResultType) throws -> ResultType {
+        // Initialize the semaphore (initially locked)
+        let semaphore = DispatchSemaphore(value: 0)
+        var result: Result<ResultType, Error>?
+
+        // Initialize the thread
+        let thread = Thread {
+            do {
+                let taskResult = try task()
+                result = .success(taskResult)
+            } catch {
+                result = .failure(error)
+            }
+            // Release the semaphore when the task is completed
+            semaphore.signal()
+        }
+
+        thread.stackSize = stackSize
+        thread.qualityOfService = qos
+
+        thread.start()
+
+        // Wait until the thread completes
+        semaphore.wait()
+
+        // Return the result
+        switch result! {
+        case .success(let result):
+            return result
+        case .failure(let error):
+            throw error
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 public func chatResponse(_ s: String) -> ChatResponse {
     let d = s.data(using: .utf8)!
     // TODO is there a way to do it without copying the data? e.g:
     //    let p = UnsafeMutableRawPointer.init(mutating: UnsafeRawPointer(cjson))
     //    let d = Data.init(bytesNoCopy: p, count: strlen(cjson), deallocator: .free)
     do {
-        let r = try jsonDecoder.decode(APIResponse.self, from: d)
-        return r.resp
+        let executor = ThreadExecutor<APIResponse>(
+            stackSize: 2*1024*1024, // 2MiB
+            qos: Thread.current.qualityOfService // inherit priority
+        )
+        return try executor.executeSync {
+            try jsonDecoder.decode(APIResponse.self, from: d)
+        }.resp
     } catch {
         logger.error("chatResponse jsonDecoder.decode error: \(error.localizedDescription)")
     }