diff --git a/packages/iios-kernel-client/src/types.ts b/packages/iios-kernel-client/src/types.ts
index d1b74dd..e8f8a01 100644
--- a/packages/iios-kernel-client/src/types.ts
+++ b/packages/iios-kernel-client/src/types.ts
@@ -37,7 +37,11 @@ export interface OpenThreadResult {
 
 export interface ReceiptEvent {
   interactionId: string;
+  /** The reader's IIOS actor UUID — an internal id, NOT comparable to a caller's userId. */
   actorId: string;
+  /** The reader's userId — the same id space clients hold, so they can ignore their own receipt.
+   *  Optional: absent from servers older than the change that added it. */
+  userId?: string;
   kind: 'READ' | 'DELIVERED';
 }
 
diff --git a/packages/iios-messaging-ui/package.json b/packages/iios-messaging-ui/package.json
index c5a77d0..5ff7d63 100644
--- a/packages/iios-messaging-ui/package.json
+++ b/packages/iios-messaging-ui/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@insignia/iios-messaging-ui",
-  "version": "0.1.13",
+  "version": "0.1.14",
   "type": "module",
   "main": "dist/index.js",
   "module": "dist/index.js",
diff --git a/packages/iios-messaging-ui/src/adapters/mock.ts b/packages/iios-messaging-ui/src/adapters/mock.ts
index 5514657..b442234 100644
--- a/packages/iios-messaging-ui/src/adapters/mock.ts
+++ b/packages/iios-messaging-ui/src/adapters/mock.ts
@@ -270,8 +270,9 @@ export class MockAdapter implements MessagingAdapter {
     // No-op: nobody is typing back in a mock.
   }
 
-  async markRead(): Promise<void> {
-    // No-op: the mock has no second party to report a read.
+  /** Echo a receipt the way a real server does, so the "ignore my own read" path is exercised. */
+  async markRead(threadId: string, messageId: string): Promise<void> {
+    this.emit(threadId, { kind: 'receipt', messageId, actorId: ME });
   }
 
   isConnected(): boolean {
diff --git a/packages/iios-messaging-ui/src/hooks/use-messages.test.tsx b/packages/iios-messaging-ui/src/hooks/use-messages.test.tsx
index f6d0771..30db811 100644
--- a/packages/iios-messaging-ui/src/hooks/use-messages.test.tsx
+++ b/packages/iios-messaging-ui/src/hooks/use-messages.test.tsx
@@ -158,3 +158,39 @@ describe('useMessages', () => {
     }
   });
 });
+
+describe('read receipts', () => {
+  // REGRESSION: the hook reported a read of the newest message regardless of author, so sending a
+  // message made the server echo a receipt for it and the sender's own bubble showed "Seen"
+  // immediately — in DMs, groups and channels alike, before anyone had opened it.
+  it('never reports a read of my own message', async () => {
+    const adapter = new MockAdapter();
+    const markRead = vi.spyOn(adapter, 'markRead');
+
+    const { result } = renderHook(() => useMessages('th_mock_1'), { wrapper: wrap(adapter) });
+    await waitFor(() => expect(result.current.loading).toBe(false));
+    markRead.mockClear();
+
+    await act(async () => {
+      await result.current.send('a message from me');
+    });
+
+    // The newest message is now mine — reading it would be reading myself.
+    const mine = result.current.messages.filter((m) => m.mine).map((m) => m.id);
+    for (const call of markRead.mock.calls) expect(mine).not.toContain(call[1]);
+  });
+
+  it('does not mark my message seen just because the receipt came back', async () => {
+    const adapter = new MockAdapter();
+    const { result } = renderHook(() => useMessages('th_mock_1'), { wrapper: wrap(adapter) });
+    await waitFor(() => expect(result.current.loading).toBe(false));
+
+    await act(async () => {
+      await result.current.send('hello there');
+    });
+
+    const mine = result.current.messages.find((m) => m.mine && m.text === 'hello there');
+    expect(mine).toBeDefined();
+    expect(result.current.seenIds.has(mine!.id)).toBe(false);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/iios-messaging-ui/src/hooks/use-messages.ts b/packages/iios-messaging-ui/src/hooks/use-messages.ts
index ccb49a6..cedb6ce 100644
--- a/packages/iios-messaging-ui/src/hooks/use-messages.ts
+++ b/packages/iios-messaging-ui/src/hooks/use-messages.ts
@@ -160,13 +160,19 @@ export function useMessages(threadId: string | null): MessagesState {
     if (threadId) adapter.sendTyping(threadId);
   }, [adapter, threadId]);
 
-  // The newest acknowledged (non-pending) message id — what we report as read.
+  // The newest acknowledged (non-pending) message id from SOMEONE ELSE — what we report as read.
+  //
+  // Skipping my own messages is load-bearing, not tidiness: reporting a read of the message I just
+  // sent makes the server broadcast a receipt for it, and the sender's own client then paints it
+  // "Seen" the instant it is delivered, before anyone has looked at it.
   const lastReadableId = useMemo(() => {
     for (let i = raw.length - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
-      if (!raw[i]!.pending) return raw[i]!.id;
+      const m = raw[i]!;
+      if (m.pending || isOwnMessage(m, currentActorId)) continue;
+      return m.id;
     }
     return null;
-  }, [raw]);
+  }, [raw, currentActorId]);
 
   // Report my read of the newest message (drives the other side's "seen" tick).
   // Keyed on the id, not the whole array, so reaction/optimistic churn doesn't re-fire it.
diff --git a/packages/iios-service/src/messaging/message.gateway.ts b/packages/iios-service/src/messaging/message.gateway.ts
index 40bbe89..7637abd 100644
--- a/packages/iios-service/src/messaging/message.gateway.ts
+++ b/packages/iios-service/src/messaging/message.gateway.ts
@@ -159,7 +159,9 @@ export class MessageGateway implements OnGatewayInit, OnGatewayConnection, OnGat
   async read(@ConnectedSocket() client: Socket, @MessageBody() body: { threadId: string; interactionId: string }) {
     const { principal } = client.data as SocketState;
     const r = await this.messages.markRead(body.threadId, principal, body.interactionId);
-    this.server.to(body.threadId).emit('receipt', { interactionId: r.interactionId, actorId: r.actorId, kind: 'READ' });
+    // userId as well as actorId: actorId is an IIOS actor UUID, but clients hold the caller's
+    // USERID, so without this they cannot tell their own receipt from someone else's.
+    this.server.to(body.threadId).emit('receipt', { interactionId: r.interactionId, actorId: r.actorId, userId: principal.userId, kind: 'READ' });
     return { ok: true };
   }
 
@@ -167,7 +169,9 @@ export class MessageGateway implements OnGatewayInit, OnGatewayConnection, OnGat
   async delivered(@ConnectedSocket() client: Socket, @MessageBody() body: { threadId: string; interactionId: string }) {
     const { principal } = client.data as SocketState;
     const r = await this.messages.markDelivered(body.threadId, principal, body.interactionId);
-    this.server.to(body.threadId).emit('receipt', { interactionId: r.interactionId, actorId: r.actorId, kind: 'DELIVERED' });
+    // userId as well as actorId: actorId is an IIOS actor UUID, but clients hold the caller's
+    // USERID, so without this they cannot tell their own receipt from someone else's.
+    this.server.to(body.threadId).emit('receipt', { interactionId: r.interactionId, actorId: r.actorId, userId: principal.userId, kind: 'DELIVERED' });
     return { ok: true };
   }