diff --git a/app/src/main/java/org/linphone/ui/main/chat/model/MessageModel.kt b/app/src/main/java/org/linphone/ui/main/chat/model/MessageModel.kt
index 02b996192..a8319a2bf 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/org/linphone/ui/main/chat/model/MessageModel.kt
+++ b/app/src/main/java/org/linphone/ui/main/chat/model/MessageModel.kt
@@ -676,21 +676,6 @@ class MessageModel
             return
         }
 
-        // Check for search
-        if (highlight.isNotEmpty()) {
-            val indexStart = rawTextContent.indexOf(highlight, 0, ignoreCase = true)
-            if (indexStart >= 0) {
-                isTextHighlighted = true
-                val indexEnd = indexStart + highlight.length
-                spannableBuilder.setSpan(
-                    StyleSpan(Typeface.BOLD),
-                    indexStart,
-                    indexEnd,
-                    Spannable.SPAN_EXCLUSIVE_EXCLUSIVE
-                )
-            }
-        }
-
         // Check for mentions
         val chatRoom = chatMessage.chatRoom
         val matcher = Pattern.compile(MENTION_REGEXP).matcher(rawTextContent)
@@ -787,6 +772,21 @@ class MessageModel
                 )
                 .build(spannableBuilder)
         )
+
+        // Check for search
+        if (highlight.isNotEmpty()) {
+            val indexStart = rawTextContent.indexOf(highlight, 0, ignoreCase = true)
+            if (indexStart >= 0) {
+                isTextHighlighted = true
+                val indexEnd = indexStart + highlight.length
+                spannableBuilder.setSpan(
+                    StyleSpan(Typeface.BOLD),
+                    indexStart,
+                    indexEnd,
+                    Spannable.SPAN_EXCLUSIVE_EXCLUSIVE
+                )
+            }
+        }
     }
 
     @WorkerThread
diff --git a/app/src/main/java/org/linphone/ui/main/chat/viewmodel/ConversationViewModel.kt b/app/src/main/java/org/linphone/ui/main/chat/viewmodel/ConversationViewModel.kt
index 45c41a951..616c84937 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/org/linphone/ui/main/chat/viewmodel/ConversationViewModel.kt
+++ b/app/src/main/java/org/linphone/ui/main/chat/viewmodel/ConversationViewModel.kt
@@ -152,6 +152,8 @@ class ConversationViewModel
 
     private var latestMatch: EventLog? = null
 
+    private var latestMatchModel: MessageModel? = null
+
     private val chatRoomListener = object : ChatRoomListenerStub() {
         @WorkerThread
         override fun onConferenceJoined(chatRoom: ChatRoom, eventLog: EventLog) {
@@ -381,20 +383,17 @@ class ConversationViewModel
 
     @UiThread
     fun closeSearchBar() {
+        coreContext.postOnCoreThread {
+            latestMatchModel?.highlightText("")
+            latestMatchModel = null
+        }
+
         searchFilter.value = ""
         searchBarVisible.value = false
         focusSearchBarEvent.value = Event(false)
         latestMatch = null
         canSearchDown.value = false
         canSearchUp.value = false
-
-        coreContext.postOnCoreThread {
-            for (eventLog in eventsList) {
-                if ((eventLog.model as? MessageModel)?.isTextHighlighted == true) {
-                    eventLog.model.highlightText("")
-                }
-            }
-        }
     }
 
     @UiThread
@@ -1031,11 +1030,13 @@ class ConversationViewModel
             canSearchDown.postValue(true)
             canSearchUp.postValue(true)
 
+            // Clear highlight from previous match
+            latestMatchModel?.highlightText("")
+
             Log.i(
                 "$TAG Found result [${match.chatMessage?.messageId}] while looking up for message with text [$textToSearch] in direction [$direction] starting from message [${latestMatch?.chatMessage?.messageId}]"
             )
             latestMatch = match
-
             val found = eventsList.find {
                 it.eventLog == match
             }
@@ -1044,7 +1045,8 @@ class ConversationViewModel
                 loadMessagesUpTo(match)
             } else {
                 Log.i("$TAG Found result is already in history, no need to load more history")
-                (found.model as? MessageModel)?.highlightText(textToSearch)
+                latestMatchModel = (found.model as? MessageModel)
+                latestMatchModel?.highlightText(textToSearch)
                 val index = eventsList.indexOf(found)
                 itemToScrollTo.postValue(index)
                 searchInProgress.postValue(false)