diff --git a/src/app/chat/core.nim b/src/app/chat/core.nim
index 311b65acd9..159452e4ca 100644
--- a/src/app/chat/core.nim
+++ b/src/app/chat/core.nim
@@ -15,11 +15,13 @@ type ChatController* = ref object
   status*: Status
   variant*: QVariant
   appService: AppService
+  uriToOpen: string
 
-proc newController*(status: Status, appService: AppService): ChatController =
+proc newController*(status: Status, appService: AppService, uriToOpen: string): ChatController =
   result = ChatController()
   result.status = status
   result.appService = appService
+  result.uriToOpen = uriToOpen
   result.view = newChatsView(status, appService)
   result.variant = newQVariant(result.view)
 
@@ -65,6 +67,9 @@ proc init*(self: ChatController) =
   self.status.events.on("network:connected") do(e: Args):
     self.view.stickers.clearStickerPacks()
     self.view.stickers.obtainAvailableStickerPacks()
+    if self.uriToOpen != "":
+      self.view.handleProtocolUri(self.uriToOpen)
+      self.uriToOpen = ""
 
 proc loadInitialMessagesForChannel*(self: ChatController, channelId: string) =
   if (channelId.len == 0):
diff --git a/src/app/chat/view.nim b/src/app/chat/view.nim
index f587d6957d..27083f44b3 100644
--- a/src/app/chat/view.nim
+++ b/src/app/chat/view.nim
@@ -562,4 +562,14 @@ QtObject:
     )
     
     self.appService.osNotificationService.showNotification(title, message, 
-    details, useOSNotifications)
\ No newline at end of file
+    details, useOSNotifications)
+
+  proc handleProtocolUri*(self: ChatsView, uri: string) =
+    # for now this only supports links to 1-1 chats, e.g.
+    # status-im://0x04ecb3636368be823f9c62e2871f8ea5b52eb3fac0132bdcf9e57907a9cb1024d81927fb3ce12fea6d9b9a8f1acb24370df756108170ab0e3454ae93aa601f3c33
+    # TODO: support other chat types
+    let pubKey = uri.replace("status-im://", "").replace("/", "")
+    if pubKey.startsWith("0x"):
+      self.status.chat.createOneToOneChat(pubKey)
+      self.setActiveChannel(pubKey)
+  
\ No newline at end of file