Tap @Nickname in the top bar to open Settings → Nickname, edit, and tap Save (or the keyboard’s Done action). This is the only nickname editor. Your own header omits the discriminator and sits beside the app icon on every normal screen except Settings. Pushed screens reserve an additional identity row inside the top bar so long nicknames cannot overlap navigation/title controls. Names truncate visually on narrow screens. Nearby and location setup no longer repeat the name in their body. Identity erasure deliberately hides the old nickname.
Other participants normally appear as Alice. Only when distinct active users in
the current mesh or channel share a nickname do labels show Alice#7a2f. The four hexadecimal digits come
from the first four characters of the public identity relevant to that chat:
mesh peer ID/full Noise fingerprint, location Nostr public key, bridge public
key, or group member fingerprint. Short/full forms of one mesh identity yield
the same suffix. Existing claimed hexadecimal suffixes are replaced for display,
not trusted as identities. Contact search and group invite/remove commands accept
the displayed discriminated name. Duplicate or ambiguous matches fail locally.
The suffix is a display hint, not a globally unique username, proof of identity or replacement for full fingerprint verification. Different identities can share a short prefix. Location suffixes change with channel/identity rotation; no additional stable cross-channel identifier or wire field is introduced. Other Bitchat applications retain their own display conventions. QR payloads and wire nickname fields still carry the base nickname and existing cryptographic identity.
New profiles use the persisted base Outlink, displayed as Outlink, with an identity suffix only for active duplicates. Retired generated defaults such as Outlink1234
migrate to Outlink. Custom names remain; explicitly saving a custom name in that
old digit format records an encrypted migration exception. A trailing hexadecimal
#xxxx through #xxxxxxxx is reserved for display suffixes and removed from the
editable base. Names are trimmed, nonempty and at most 64 UTF-8 bytes; the Settings
input also limits entry to 32 characters. There is no registration or name server.
Nickname saving is independent of connection/reconnection and other network settings activity. It does not wait for notification preferences to load. A ref guard coalesces duplicate activations, the latest input/native Done value is used, and a spinner indicates the single pending save. Edits invalidate delayed focus loads so an older snapshot cannot replace newly typed or saved text. Save is available with the keyboard open; success displays confirmation.
The serialized preference operation publishes the completed write to the shared reactive nickname store. Header labels, chat setup and mention highlighting update immediately, without Join. Failed writes preserve the previous saved name; identity epoch checks prevent writes overtaken by a wipe from republishing old data. Full wipe clears the preference, migration exception and transient store. Initial loads do not publish an unsaved default.
Active mesh sessions use the saved name in signed announcements. Existing keys, Noise sessions, contacts, history and relay sockets remain. Other peers learn a rename through discovery. Startup reapplies the latest reactive name after asynchronous connection setup so an in-progress Join cannot restore a stale label. New messages and QR sharing read the saved preference. Existing messages and queued payloads retain their captured base labels; presentation adds their identity suffix. Private location envelopes do not gain a new nickname wire field.
Group incoming labels use the creator-signed roster base plus member fingerprint suffix. That roster snapshot can lag a participant’s current nickname until a new signed roster arrives; see private groups.
Tapping received message text (or a public sender label) inserts the visible name, qualified only for active duplicates, such as
@Alice#7a2f or @{Alice Smith#7a2f}. Qualified matching requires the local
transport’s exact suffix; a different suffix does not match the bare nickname.
Legacy bare @Alice still works and can notify multiple identically named users.
The saved nickname supplies the base for both highlighting and local alerts;
mesh alerts also recognize the device’s current bridge alias. Suffixes remain
plain text to other clients. See mentions for notification limits.
Automated checks cover identity formatting, legacy default migration/custom exceptions, qualified mention isolation, one-activation Settings save with pending feedback, duplicate taps, delayed focus loads, independent preference loading, header navigation, persistence failures, wipe cancellation, and live session names. Physical/native touch behavior remains unverified; device testing was omitted.
Comparison ignores case, surrounding whitespace and Unicode normalization. Saved contacts, old messages and offline group roster members do not create collisions. The local active identity participates in duplicate detection; its header still always shows the base. Mesh names follow live peer announcements. Group names use active members of the selected roster. Location names come from validated recent chat and expire with the existing three-minute presence window; silent presence events do not advertise nicknames. Suffixes disappear again when the duplicate leaves or expires. Full fingerprints remain available in contacts. New qualified mentions use four hexadecimal characters; existing eight-character mentions remain recognized for the current identity. A four-character prefix can collide, so ambiguous group commands still require a full identity.