diff --git a/apps/ios/Shared/Views/Chat/ChatItem/MsgContentView.swift b/apps/ios/Shared/Views/Chat/ChatItem/MsgContentView.swift
index d0d2bdf3d..cad6401cc 100644
--- a/apps/ios/Shared/Views/Chat/ChatItem/MsgContentView.swift
+++ b/apps/ios/Shared/Views/Chat/ChatItem/MsgContentView.swift
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 import SwiftUI
 import SimpleXChat
 
-private let uiLinkColor = UIColor(red: 0, green: 0.533, blue: 1, alpha: 1)
+let uiLinkColor = UIColor(red: 0, green: 0.533, blue: 1, alpha: 1)
 
 private let noTyping = Text("   ")
 
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ private func linkText(_ s: String, _ link: String, _ preview: Bool, prefix: Stri
     ]))).underline()
 }
 
-private func simplexLinkText(_ linkType: SimplexLinkType, _ smpHosts: [String]) -> String {
+func simplexLinkText(_ linkType: SimplexLinkType, _ smpHosts: [String]) -> String {
     linkType.description + " " + "(via \(smpHosts.first ?? "?"))"
 }
 
diff --git a/apps/ios/Shared/Views/ChatList/ChatListView.swift b/apps/ios/Shared/Views/ChatList/ChatListView.swift
index 60b3eb16a..511b56186 100644
--- a/apps/ios/Shared/Views/ChatList/ChatListView.swift
+++ b/apps/ios/Shared/Views/ChatList/ChatListView.swift
@@ -292,7 +292,7 @@ struct ChatListSearchBar: View {
                     Image(systemName: "magnifyingglass")
                     TextField("Search or paste SimpleX link", text: $searchText)
                         .focused($searchFocussed)
-                        .foregroundColor(.primary)
+                        .foregroundColor(searchShowingSimplexLink ? Color(uiColor: uiLinkColor) : .primary)
                         .frame(maxWidth: .infinity)
                     if searchMode || searchShowingSimplexLink {
                         Image(systemName: "xmark.circle.fill")
@@ -362,9 +362,9 @@ struct ChatListSearchBar: View {
             } else {
                 if let link = strHasSingleSimplexLink(t.trimmingCharacters(in: .whitespaces)) { // if SimpleX link is pasted, show connection dialogue
                     searchFocussed = false
-                    if link.text != t {
+                    if case let .simplexLink(linkType, _, smpHosts) = link.format {
                         ignoreSearchTextChange = true
-                        searchText = link.text
+                        searchText = simplexLinkText(linkType, smpHosts)
                     }
                     searchShowingSimplexLink = true
                     searchChatFilteredBySimplexLink = nil