diff --git a/apps/ios/Shared/Theme/Theme.swift b/apps/ios/Shared/Theme/Theme.swift
index 53f2931d16..de67390026 100644
--- a/apps/ios/Shared/Theme/Theme.swift
+++ b/apps/ios/Shared/Theme/Theme.swift
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ extension ThemeWallpaper {
         let preset: String? = if case let WallpaperType.preset(filename, _) = type { filename } else { nil }
         let scale: Float? = if case let WallpaperType.preset(_, scale) = type { scale } else { if case let WallpaperType.image(_, scale, _) = type { scale } else { 1.0 } }
         let scaleType: WallpaperScaleType? = if case let WallpaperType.image(_, _, scaleType) = type { scaleType } else { nil }
-        let image: String? = if case WallpaperType.image = type, let image = type.uiImage { resizeImageToStrSize(image, maxDataSize: 5_000_000) } else { nil }
+        let image: String? = if case WallpaperType.image = type, let image = type.uiImage { resizeImageToStrSizeSync(image, maxDataSize: 5_000_000) } else { nil }
         return ThemeWallpaper (
             preset: preset,
             scale: scale,
diff --git a/apps/ios/Shared/Views/Chat/ComposeMessage/ComposeView.swift b/apps/ios/Shared/Views/Chat/ComposeMessage/ComposeView.swift
index 8cd851446f..971d088fe2 100644
--- a/apps/ios/Shared/Views/Chat/ComposeMessage/ComposeView.swift
+++ b/apps/ios/Shared/Views/Chat/ComposeMessage/ComposeView.swift
@@ -459,7 +459,7 @@ struct ComposeView: View {
             Task {
                 var media: [(String, UploadContent)] = []
                 for content in selected {
-                    if let img = resizeImageToStrSize(content.uiImage, maxDataSize: 14000) {
+                    if let img = await resizeImageToStrSize(content.uiImage, maxDataSize: 14000) {
                         media.append((img, content))
                         await MainActor.run {
                             composeState = composeState.copy(preview: .mediaPreviews(mediaPreviews: media))
@@ -551,7 +551,7 @@ struct ComposeView: View {
     }
 
     private func addMediaContent(_ content: UploadContent) async {
-        if let img = resizeImageToStrSize(content.uiImage, maxDataSize: 14000) {
+        if let img = await resizeImageToStrSize(content.uiImage, maxDataSize: 14000) {
             var newMedia: [(String, UploadContent?)] = []
             if case var .mediaPreviews(media) = composeState.preview {
                 media.append((img, content))
diff --git a/apps/ios/Shared/Views/Chat/Group/GroupProfileView.swift b/apps/ios/Shared/Views/Chat/Group/GroupProfileView.swift
index 18cc3f4d80..1617edd11f 100644
--- a/apps/ios/Shared/Views/Chat/Group/GroupProfileView.swift
+++ b/apps/ios/Shared/Views/Chat/Group/GroupProfileView.swift
@@ -110,10 +110,13 @@ struct GroupProfileView: View {
             }
         }
         .onChange(of: chosenImage) { image in
-            if let image = image {
-                groupProfile.image = resizeImageToStrSize(cropToSquare(image), maxDataSize: 12500)
-            } else {
-                groupProfile.image = nil
+            Task {
+                let resized: String? = if let image {
+                    await resizeImageToStrSize(cropToSquare(image), maxDataSize: 12500)
+                } else {
+                    nil
+                }
+                await MainActor.run { groupProfile.image = resized }
             }
         }
         .onAppear {
diff --git a/apps/ios/Shared/Views/NewChat/AddGroupView.swift b/apps/ios/Shared/Views/NewChat/AddGroupView.swift
index 33c187b64b..0c7f6136ff 100644
--- a/apps/ios/Shared/Views/NewChat/AddGroupView.swift
+++ b/apps/ios/Shared/Views/NewChat/AddGroupView.swift
@@ -137,10 +137,13 @@ struct AddGroupView: View {
             createInvalidNameAlert(mkValidName(profile.displayName), $profile.displayName)
         }
         .onChange(of: chosenImage) { image in
-            if let image = image {
-                profile.image = resizeImageToStrSize(cropToSquare(image), maxDataSize: 12500)
-            } else {
-                profile.image = nil
+            Task {
+                let resized: String? = if let image {
+                    await resizeImageToStrSize(cropToSquare(image), maxDataSize: 12500)
+                } else {
+                    nil
+                }
+                await MainActor.run { profile.image = resized }
             }
         }
         .modifier(ThemedBackground(grouped: true))
diff --git a/apps/ios/Shared/Views/UserSettings/UserProfile.swift b/apps/ios/Shared/Views/UserSettings/UserProfile.swift
index 6ca661ae48..8a70efbe82 100644
--- a/apps/ios/Shared/Views/UserSettings/UserProfile.swift
+++ b/apps/ios/Shared/Views/UserSettings/UserProfile.swift
@@ -94,10 +94,13 @@ struct UserProfile: View {
             }
         }
         .onChange(of: chosenImage) { image in
-            if let image {
-                profile.image = resizeImageToStrSize(cropToSquare(image), maxDataSize: 12500)
-            } else {
-                profile.image = nil
+            Task {
+                let resized: String? = if let image {
+                    await resizeImageToStrSize(cropToSquare(image), maxDataSize: 12500)
+                } else {
+                    nil
+                }
+                await MainActor.run { profile.image = resized }
             }
         }
         // Modals
diff --git a/apps/ios/SimpleX SE/ShareModel.swift b/apps/ios/SimpleX SE/ShareModel.swift
index 807f2c9903..21908026b2 100644
--- a/apps/ios/SimpleX SE/ShareModel.swift	
+++ b/apps/ios/SimpleX SE/ShareModel.swift	
@@ -417,7 +417,7 @@ fileprivate func getSharedContent(_ ip: NSItemProvider) async -> Result<SharedCo
                    let data = try? Data(contentsOf: url),
                    let image = UIImage(data: data),
                    let cryptoFile = saveFile(data, generateNewFileName("IMG", "gif"), encrypted: privacyEncryptLocalFilesGroupDefault.get()),
-                   let preview = resizeImageToStrSize(image, maxDataSize: MAX_DATA_SIZE) {
+                   let preview = await resizeImageToStrSize(image, maxDataSize: MAX_DATA_SIZE) {
                     .success(.image(preview: preview, cryptoFile: cryptoFile))
                 } else { .failure(ErrorAlert("Error preparing message")) }
 
@@ -425,7 +425,7 @@ fileprivate func getSharedContent(_ ip: NSItemProvider) async -> Result<SharedCo
             } else {
                 if let image = await staticImage(),
                    let cryptoFile = saveImage(image),
-                   let preview = resizeImageToStrSize(image, maxDataSize: MAX_DATA_SIZE) {
+                   let preview = await resizeImageToStrSize(image, maxDataSize: MAX_DATA_SIZE) {
                     .success(.image(preview: preview, cryptoFile: cryptoFile))
                 } else { .failure(ErrorAlert("Error preparing message")) }
             }
@@ -435,7 +435,7 @@ fileprivate func getSharedContent(_ ip: NSItemProvider) async -> Result<SharedCo
             if let url = try? await inPlaceUrl(type: type),
                let trancodedUrl = await transcodeVideo(from: url),
                let (image, duration) = AVAsset(url: trancodedUrl).generatePreview(),
-               let preview = resizeImageToStrSize(image, maxDataSize: MAX_DATA_SIZE),
+               let preview = await resizeImageToStrSize(image, maxDataSize: MAX_DATA_SIZE),
                let cryptoFile = moveTempFileFromURL(trancodedUrl) {
                 try? FileManager.default.removeItem(at: trancodedUrl)
                 return .success(.movie(preview: preview, duration: duration, cryptoFile: cryptoFile))
diff --git a/apps/ios/SimpleXChat/ImageUtils.swift b/apps/ios/SimpleXChat/ImageUtils.swift
index 36148d4324..9702408c27 100644
--- a/apps/ios/SimpleXChat/ImageUtils.swift
+++ b/apps/ios/SimpleXChat/ImageUtils.swift
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ public func resizeImageToDataSize(_ image: UIImage, maxDataSize: Int64, hasAlpha
     return data
 }
 
-public func resizeImageToStrSize(_ image: UIImage, maxDataSize: Int64) -> String? {
+public func resizeImageToStrSizeSync(_ image: UIImage, maxDataSize: Int64) -> String? {
     var img = image
     let hasAlpha = imageHasAlpha(image)
     var str = compressImageStr(img, hasAlpha: hasAlpha)
@@ -116,7 +116,15 @@ public func resizeImageToStrSize(_ image: UIImage, maxDataSize: Int64) -> String
     return str
 }
 
+public func resizeImageToStrSize(_ image: UIImage, maxDataSize: Int64) async -> String? {
+    resizeImageToStrSizeSync(image, maxDataSize: maxDataSize)
+}
+
 public func compressImageStr(_ image: UIImage, _ compressionQuality: CGFloat = 0.85, hasAlpha: Bool) -> String? {
+//    // Heavy workload to verify if UI gets blocked by the call
+//    for i in 0..<100 {
+//        print(image.jpegData(compressionQuality: Double(i) / 100)?.count ?? 0, terminator: ", ")
+//    }
     let ext = hasAlpha ? "png" : "jpg"
     if let data = hasAlpha ? image.pngData() : image.jpegData(compressionQuality: compressionQuality) {
         return "data:image/\(ext);base64,\(data.base64EncodedString())"
@@ -426,7 +434,7 @@ public func getLinkPreview(url: URL, cb: @escaping (LinkPreview?) -> Void) {
                     logger.error("Couldn't load image preview from link metadata with error: \(error.localizedDescription)")
                 } else {
                     if let image = object as? UIImage,
-                       let resized = resizeImageToStrSize(image, maxDataSize: 14000),
+                       let resized = resizeImageToStrSizeSync(image, maxDataSize: 14000),
                        let title = metadata.title,
                        let uri = metadata.originalURL {
                         linkPreview = LinkPreview(uri: uri, title: title, image: resized)