diff --git a/app/src/main/java/org/thoughtcrime/securesms/onboarding/loadaccount/LoadAccountViewModel.kt b/app/src/main/java/org/thoughtcrime/securesms/onboarding/loadaccount/LoadAccountViewModel.kt
index 63e089e29b..66cb3e006f 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/org/thoughtcrime/securesms/onboarding/loadaccount/LoadAccountViewModel.kt
+++ b/app/src/main/java/org/thoughtcrime/securesms/onboarding/loadaccount/LoadAccountViewModel.kt
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ internal class LinkDeviceViewModel @Inject constructor(
     fun onContinue() {
         viewModelScope.launch {
             try {
-                codec.decodeAsByteArray(state.value.recoveryPhrase).let(::onSuccess)
+                codec.sanitizeAndDecodeAsByteArray(state.value.recoveryPhrase).let(::onSuccess)
             } catch (e: Exception) {
                 onFailure(e)
             }
diff --git a/libsession-util/src/test/java/org/session/libsignal/crypto/MnemonicCodecTest.kt b/libsession-util/src/test/java/org/session/libsignal/crypto/MnemonicCodecTest.kt
index ec9006a04b..f7b7a5382b 100644
--- a/libsession-util/src/test/java/org/session/libsignal/crypto/MnemonicCodecTest.kt
+++ b/libsession-util/src/test/java/org/session/libsignal/crypto/MnemonicCodecTest.kt
@@ -76,6 +76,20 @@ class MnemonicCodecTest {
         assertEquals("0f2ccde528622876b8f16e14db97dafc", result)
     }
 
+    @Test
+    fun `sanitizeAndDecodeAsByteArray with mnemonic with unnecessary spaces`() {
+        val result = codec.sanitizeAndDecodeAsByteArray("   fuming  nearby kennel husband dejected pepper  jaded because dads goggles tufts tomorrow dejected    ").let(Hex::toStringCondensed)
+
+        assertEquals("0f2ccde528622876b8f16e14db97dafc", result)
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `sanitizeAndDecodeAsByteArray with mnemonic with special characters`() {
+        val result = codec.sanitizeAndDecodeAsByteArray("...fuming  nearby.kennel.husband . dejected pepper  jaded because dads goggles tufts tomorrow dejected@").let(Hex::toStringCondensed)
+
+        assertEquals("0f2ccde528622876b8f16e14db97dafc", result)
+    }
+
     @Test
     fun `decodeMnemonicOrHexAsByteArray with hex`() {
         val result = codec.decodeMnemonicOrHexAsByteArray("0f2ccde528622876b8f16e14db97dafc").let(Hex::toStringCondensed)
diff --git a/libsignal/src/main/java/org/session/libsignal/crypto/MnemonicCodec.kt b/libsignal/src/main/java/org/session/libsignal/crypto/MnemonicCodec.kt
index 7644a023e2..a2ce5e5c53 100644
--- a/libsignal/src/main/java/org/session/libsignal/crypto/MnemonicCodec.kt
+++ b/libsignal/src/main/java/org/session/libsignal/crypto/MnemonicCodec.kt
@@ -114,8 +114,15 @@ class MnemonicCodec(private val loadFileContents: (String) -> String) {
         }.joinToString(separator = "") { it }
     }
 
+    fun sanitizeAndDecodeAsByteArray(mnemonic: String): ByteArray = sanitizeRecoveryPhrase(mnemonic).let(::decode).let(Hex::fromStringCondensed)
     fun decodeAsByteArray(mnemonic: String): ByteArray = decode(mnemonic = mnemonic).let(Hex::fromStringCondensed)
 
+    private fun sanitizeRecoveryPhrase(rawMnemonic: String): String = rawMnemonic
+        .replace("[^\\w]+".toRegex(), " ") // replace any sequence of non-word characters with a space
+        .trim() // remove leading and trailing whitespace (which may have been from prior special chars)
+        .split("\\s+".toRegex()) // split on the now properly positioned spaces
+        .joinToString(" ") // reassemble
+
     fun decodeMnemonicOrHexAsByteArray(mnemonicOrHex: String): ByteArray = try {
         decode(mnemonic = mnemonicOrHex).let(Hex::fromStringCondensed)
     } catch (decodeException: Exception) {