diff --git a/bitchat/Services/MessageFormattingEngine.swift b/bitchat/Services/MessageFormattingEngine.swift
index 88a32e3c..419e9e02 100644
--- a/bitchat/Services/MessageFormattingEngine.swift
+++ b/bitchat/Services/MessageFormattingEngine.swift
@@ -41,7 +41,9 @@ final class MessageFormattingEngine {
     enum Patterns {
         static let hashtag = SafeRegex.compile("#([a-zA-Z0-9_]+)")
 
-        static let mention = SafeRegex.compile("@([\\p{L}0-9_]+(?:#[a-fA-F0-9]{4})?)")
+        // Include \p{M} so NFD nicknames (base letter + combining mark) still
+        // parse as one mention token; NFC forms are covered by \p{L} alone.
+        static let mention = SafeRegex.compile("@([\\p{L}\\p{M}0-9_]+(?:#[a-fA-F0-9]{4})?)")
 
         static let cashu = SafeRegex.compile("\\bcashu[AB][A-Za-z0-9._-]{40,}\\b")
 
diff --git a/bitchat/ViewModels/ChatComposerCoordinator.swift b/bitchat/ViewModels/ChatComposerCoordinator.swift
index d0d347f2..0e52b3f3 100644
--- a/bitchat/ViewModels/ChatComposerCoordinator.swift
+++ b/bitchat/ViewModels/ChatComposerCoordinator.swift
@@ -116,6 +116,9 @@ final class ChatComposerCoordinator {
     }
 
     func parseMentions(from content: String) -> [String] {
+        // Canonicalize before matching so NFD typed text and NFC peer tokens
+        // share one codepoint sequence (regex also accepts combining marks).
+        let content = content.precomposedStringWithCanonicalMapping
         let regex = ChatViewModel.Patterns.mention
         let nsContent = content as NSString
         let matches = regex.matches(
@@ -125,16 +128,22 @@ final class ChatComposerCoordinator {
         )
 
         let peerNicknames = context.meshPeerNicknames()
-        var validTokens = Set(peerNicknames.values)
-        validTokens.insert(context.nickname)
-        validTokens.insert(context.nickname + "#" + String(context.myPeerID.id.prefix(4)))
+        // Key by NFC so a typed combining-accent form still resolves to the
+        // stored (precomposed) nickname token used on the wire.
+        var tokensByCanonical = [String: String]()
+        for token in peerNicknames.values {
+            tokensByCanonical[token.normalizedNickname] = token
+        }
+        tokensByCanonical[context.nickname.normalizedNickname] = context.nickname
+        let selfSuffix = context.nickname + "#" + String(context.myPeerID.id.prefix(4))
+        tokensByCanonical[selfSuffix.normalizedNickname] = selfSuffix
 
         var mentions: [String] = []
         for match in matches {
             guard let range = Range(match.range(at: 1), in: content) else { continue }
             let mentionedName = String(content[range])
-            if validTokens.contains(mentionedName) {
-                mentions.append(mentionedName)
+            if let canonical = tokensByCanonical[mentionedName.normalizedNickname] {
+                mentions.append(canonical)
             }
         }
 
diff --git a/bitchatTests/ChatComposerCoordinatorContextTests.swift b/bitchatTests/ChatComposerCoordinatorContextTests.swift
index d38ddc8a..71272253 100644
--- a/bitchatTests/ChatComposerCoordinatorContextTests.swift
+++ b/bitchatTests/ChatComposerCoordinatorContextTests.swift
@@ -192,4 +192,16 @@ struct ChatComposerCoordinatorContextTests {
         )
         #expect(Set(mentions) == ["alice", "me", "me#0011"])
     }
+
+    @Test @MainActor
+    func parseMentions_matchesUnicodeEquivalentNicknames() {
+        let context = MockChatComposerContext()
+        let coordinator = ChatComposerCoordinator(context: context)
+        let precomposed = "caf\u{00E9}"
+        let decomposed = "cafe\u{0301}"
+        context.meshNicknamesByPeerID = [PeerID(str: "1111111111111111"): precomposed]
+
+        let mentions = coordinator.parseMentions(from: "hi @\(decomposed)")
+        #expect(mentions == [precomposed])
+    }
 }