diff --git a/apps/ios/SimpleXChat/API.swift b/apps/ios/SimpleXChat/API.swift
index 3c9f77d791..cdd1008c13 100644
--- a/apps/ios/SimpleXChat/API.swift
+++ b/apps/ios/SimpleXChat/API.swift
@@ -213,13 +213,11 @@ public func chatResponse(_ s: String) -> ChatResponse {
                 }
             } else if type == "chatCmdError" {
                 if let jError = jResp["chatCmdError"] as? NSDictionary {
-                    let user: UserRef? = try? decodeObject(jError["user_"] as Any)
-                    return .chatCmdError(user_: user, chatError: .invalidJSON(json: prettyJSON(jError) ?? ""))
+                    return .chatCmdError(user_: decodeUser_(jError), chatError: .invalidJSON(json: prettyJSON(jError) ?? ""))
                 }
             } else if type == "chatError" {
                 if let jError = jResp["chatError"] as? NSDictionary {
-                    let user: UserRef? = try? decodeObject(jError["user_"] as Any)
-                    return .chatError(user_: user, chatError: .invalidJSON(json: prettyJSON(jError) ?? ""))
+                    return .chatError(user_: decodeUser_(jError), chatError: .invalidJSON(json: prettyJSON(jError) ?? ""))
                 }
             }
         }
@@ -228,6 +226,14 @@ public func chatResponse(_ s: String) -> ChatResponse {
     return ChatResponse.response(type: type ?? "invalid", json: json ?? s)
 }
 
+private func decodeUser_(_ jDict: NSDictionary) -> UserRef? {
+    if let user_ = jDict["user_"] {
+        try? decodeObject(user_ as Any)
+    } else {
+        nil
+    }
+}
+
 func parseChatData(_ jChat: Any) throws -> ChatData {
     let jChatDict = jChat as! NSDictionary
     let chatInfo: ChatInfo = try decodeObject(jChatDict["chatInfo"]!)