diff --git a/src/Simplex/Chat.hs b/src/Simplex/Chat.hs
index 99f4492028..c07228e7c4 100644
--- a/src/Simplex/Chat.hs
+++ b/src/Simplex/Chat.hs
@@ -4151,7 +4151,7 @@ parseAChatMessage = parseChatMessage_
 {-# INLINE parseAChatMessage #-}
 
 parseChatMessage_ :: (ChatMonad m, StrEncoding s) => ByteString -> m s
-parseChatMessage_ = liftEither . first (ChatError . CEInvalidChatMessage) . strDecode
+parseChatMessage_ s = liftEither . first (ChatError . CEInvalidChatMessage (safeDecodeUtf8 s)) $ strDecode s
 
 sendFileChunk :: ChatMonad m => User -> SndFileTransfer -> m ()
 sendFileChunk user ft@SndFileTransfer {fileId, fileStatus, agentConnId = AgentConnId acId} =
diff --git a/src/Simplex/Chat/Controller.hs b/src/Simplex/Chat/Controller.hs
index 05154440ee..2dc683d4dc 100644
--- a/src/Simplex/Chat/Controller.hs
+++ b/src/Simplex/Chat/Controller.hs
@@ -775,7 +775,7 @@ data ChatErrorType
   | CEChatNotStopped
   | CEChatStoreChanged
   | CEInvalidConnReq
-  | CEInvalidChatMessage {message :: String}
+  | CEInvalidChatMessage {messageData :: Text, message :: String}
   | CEContactNotReady {contact :: Contact}
   | CEContactDisabled {contact :: Contact}
   | CEConnectionDisabled {connection :: Connection}
diff --git a/src/Simplex/Chat/View.hs b/src/Simplex/Chat/View.hs
index 8989481a09..d270f2cd7e 100644
--- a/src/Simplex/Chat/View.hs
+++ b/src/Simplex/Chat/View.hs
@@ -1377,7 +1377,7 @@ viewChatError logLevel = \case
     CEChatNotStopped -> ["error: chat not stopped"]
     CEChatStoreChanged -> ["error: chat store changed, please restart chat"]
     CEInvalidConnReq -> viewInvalidConnReq
-    CEInvalidChatMessage e -> ["chat message error: " <> sShow e]
+    CEInvalidChatMessage msg e -> [plain $ "chat message error: " <> e <> " (" <> T.unpack (T.take 120 msg) <> ")"]
     CEContactNotReady c -> [ttyContact' c <> ": not ready"]
     CEContactDisabled Contact {localDisplayName = c} -> [ttyContact c <> ": disabled, to enable: " <> highlight ("/enable " <> c) <> ", to delete: " <> highlight ("/d " <> c)]
     CEConnectionDisabled Connection {connId, connType} -> [plain $ "connection " <> textEncode connType <> " (" <> tshow connId <> ") is disabled" | logLevel <= CLLWarning]