diff --git a/frontend/src/components/MessageList.tsx b/frontend/src/components/MessageList.tsx
index e9b8fe0..52cde48 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/MessageList.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/components/MessageList.tsx
@@ -16,7 +16,12 @@ import {
   formatTime,
   parseSenderFromText,
 } from '../utils/messageParser';
-import { giphyUrlForId, parseGif, parseReaction } from '../utils/meshcoreOpenPayloads';
+import {
+  giphyUrlForId,
+  parseGif,
+  parseReaction,
+  splitReplyMention,
+} from '../utils/meshcoreOpenPayloads';
 import { useRichPayloads } from '../contexts/RichPayloadContext';
 import { formatHopCounts, type SenderInfo } from '../utils/pathUtils';
 import { getDirectContactRoute } from '../utils/pathUtils';
@@ -89,20 +94,49 @@ function ReactionPayload({ emoji }: { emoji: string }) {
   );
 }
 
-// Recognize a whole-message MeshCore Open payload and render it. Returns null
-// when the content is not a recognized payload, so the caller renders normally.
-function renderMeshcoreOpenPayload(content: string): ReactNode | null {
-  const gifId = parseGif(content);
+// Render a bare payload body (no reply prefix) into its rich node, or null.
+function renderPayloadBody(body: string): ReactNode | null {
+  const gifId = parseGif(body);
   if (gifId) {
-    return <GifPayload gifId={gifId} rawText={content} />;
+    return <GifPayload gifId={gifId} rawText={body} />;
   }
-  const reaction = parseReaction(content);
+  const reaction = parseReaction(body);
   if (reaction) {
     return <ReactionPayload emoji={reaction.emoji} />;
   }
   return null;
 }
 
+// Recognize a MeshCore Open payload and render it. Handles both a whole-message
+// payload ("g:<id>") and a reply-prefixed one ("@[Name] g:<id>") — the form
+// meshcore-open sends when a GIF/reaction is a reply, which otherwise renders as
+// raw text (issue #291). Returns null when the content is not a recognized
+// payload, so the caller renders normally.
+function renderMeshcoreOpenPayload(
+  content: string,
+  radioName?: string,
+  onChannelReferenceClick?: (channelName: string) => void
+): ReactNode | null {
+  const whole = renderPayloadBody(content);
+  if (whole) return whole;
+
+  const split = splitReplyMention(content);
+  if (split) {
+    const body = renderPayloadBody(split.body);
+    if (body) {
+      // Preserve the reply mention (rendered as a normal @[Name] mention) so the
+      // GIF/reaction still reads as a reply to that person.
+      return (
+        <span className="inline-flex flex-wrap items-center gap-1.5">
+          {renderTextWithMentions(split.mention, radioName, onChannelReferenceClick)}
+          {body}
+        </span>
+      );
+    }
+  }
+  return null;
+}
+
 // URL regex for linkifying plain text
 const URL_PATTERN =
   /https?:\/\/(www\.)?[-a-zA-Z0-9@:%._+~#=]{1,256}\.[a-zA-Z0-9()]{1,6}\b([-a-zA-Z0-9()@:%_+.~#?&//=]*)/g;
@@ -1079,7 +1113,8 @@ export function MessageList({
                     </div>
                   )}
                   <div className="break-words whitespace-pre-wrap">
-                    {(renderRichPayloads && renderMeshcoreOpenPayload(content)) ||
+                    {(renderRichPayloads &&
+                      renderMeshcoreOpenPayload(content, radioName, onChannelReferenceClick)) ||
                       content.split('\n').map((line, i, arr) => (
                         <span key={i}>
                           {renderTextWithMentions(line, radioName, onChannelReferenceClick)}
diff --git a/frontend/src/test/meshcoreOpenPayloads.test.ts b/frontend/src/test/meshcoreOpenPayloads.test.ts
index 49be78d..94831d5 100644
--- a/frontend/src/test/meshcoreOpenPayloads.test.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/test/meshcoreOpenPayloads.test.ts
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import {
   giphyUrlForId,
   parseGif,
   parseReaction,
+  splitReplyMention,
 } from '../utils/meshcoreOpenPayloads';
 
 describe('parseGif', () => {
@@ -79,3 +80,41 @@ describe('parseReaction', () => {
     }
   });
 });
+
+describe('splitReplyMention', () => {
+  it('splits a reply-prefixed gif into mention + body (issue #291)', () => {
+    // meshcore-open sends GIF replies as "@[senderName] g:<id>".
+    expect(splitReplyMention('@[Alice] g:abc123')).toEqual({
+      mention: '@[Alice]',
+      body: 'g:abc123',
+    });
+  });
+
+  it('the split body parses as a gif while the whole string does not', () => {
+    const whole = '@[Alice] g:abc123';
+    expect(parseGif(whole)).toBeNull(); // anchored regex rejects the prefix
+    const split = splitReplyMention(whole);
+    expect(split && parseGif(split.body)).toBe('abc123');
+  });
+
+  it('splits a reply-prefixed reaction', () => {
+    expect(splitReplyMention('@[Bob] r:1a2b:00')).toEqual({
+      mention: '@[Bob]',
+      body: 'r:1a2b:00',
+    });
+  });
+
+  it('trims surrounding whitespace and preserves names with spaces', () => {
+    expect(splitReplyMention('  @[Node One]   g:xy  ')).toEqual({
+      mention: '@[Node One]',
+      body: 'g:xy',
+    });
+  });
+
+  it('returns null without a leading reply mention', () => {
+    expect(splitReplyMention('g:abc123')).toBeNull();
+    expect(splitReplyMention('hello world')).toBeNull();
+    expect(splitReplyMention('@[Alice]')).toBeNull(); // mention only, no body
+    expect(splitReplyMention('text @[Alice] g:abc')).toBeNull(); // not a leading mention
+  });
+});
diff --git a/frontend/src/utils/meshcoreOpenPayloads.ts b/frontend/src/utils/meshcoreOpenPayloads.ts
index 5adacfc..d108b11 100644
--- a/frontend/src/utils/meshcoreOpenPayloads.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/utils/meshcoreOpenPayloads.ts
@@ -111,3 +111,29 @@ export function parseReaction(text: string): ParsedReaction | null {
   }
   return { emoji: REACTION_EMOJIS[index], targetHash: match[1] };
 }
+
+// --- Reply-mention prefix (@[senderName] <payload>) ---
+
+// meshcore-open prefixes replies with "@[senderName] " before the message body
+// (see meshcore-open channels.md / BLE_PROTOCOL.md). Its own display code strips
+// that prefix before parsing rich payloads, so a GIF/reaction reply arrives on
+// the wire as "@[Name] g:<id>". parseGif/parseReaction stay strict (whole-body
+// only); this splits the reply prefix off so the remainder can be parsed.
+const REPLY_MENTION_PREFIX = /^(@\[[^\]]+\])\s+([\s\S]+)$/;
+
+export interface SplitReplyMention {
+  /** The leading "@[Name]" reply-mention token. */
+  mention: string;
+  /** The message remainder after the reply-mention prefix. */
+  body: string;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Split a leading meshcore-open reply mention ("@[Name] ") off the text, or
+ * return null when there is no such prefix.
+ */
+export function splitReplyMention(text: string): SplitReplyMention | null {
+  const match = REPLY_MENTION_PREFIX.exec(text.trim());
+  if (!match) return null;
+  return { mention: match[1], body: match[2] };
+}