diff --git a/lib/shared/message-utils.js b/lib/shared/message-utils.js
index 35af58a25..491d7858d 100644
--- a/lib/shared/message-utils.js
+++ b/lib/shared/message-utils.js
@@ -1,392 +1,374 @@
 // @flow
 
 import invariant from 'invariant';
 import _maxBy from 'lodash/fp/maxBy';
 
 import { multimediaMessagePreview } from '../media/media-utils';
 import { userIDsToRelativeUserInfos } from '../selectors/user-selectors';
 import type { PlatformDetails } from '../types/device-types';
 import type { Media } from '../types/media-types';
 import {
   type MessageInfo,
   type RawMessageInfo,
   type RobotextMessageInfo,
   type PreviewableMessageInfo,
   type RawMultimediaMessageInfo,
   type MessageData,
   type MessageType,
   type MessageTruncationStatus,
   type MultimediaMessageData,
   type MessageStore,
   messageTypes,
   messageTruncationStatus,
+  type RawComposableMessageInfo,
 } from '../types/message-types';
-import type {
-  ImagesMessageData,
-  RawImagesMessageInfo,
-} from '../types/message/images';
-import type {
-  MediaMessageData,
-  RawMediaMessageInfo,
-} from '../types/message/media';
+import type { ImagesMessageData } from '../types/message/images';
+import type { MediaMessageData } from '../types/message/media';
 import { type ThreadInfo } from '../types/thread-types';
 import type { RelativeUserInfo, UserInfos } from '../types/user-types';
 import { codeBlockRegex } from './markdown';
 import { messageSpecs } from './messages/message-specs';
 import { stringForUser } from './user-utils';
 
 // Prefers localID
 function messageKey(messageInfo: MessageInfo | RawMessageInfo): string {
   if (messageInfo.localID) {
     return messageInfo.localID;
   }
   invariant(messageInfo.id, 'localID should exist if ID does not');
   return messageInfo.id;
 }
 
 // Prefers serverID
 function messageID(messageInfo: MessageInfo | RawMessageInfo): string {
   if (messageInfo.id) {
     return messageInfo.id;
   }
   invariant(messageInfo.localID, 'localID should exist if ID does not');
   return messageInfo.localID;
 }
 
 function robotextForUser(user: RelativeUserInfo): string {
   if (user.isViewer) {
     return 'you';
   } else if (user.username) {
     return `<${encodeURI(user.username)}|u${user.id}>`;
   } else {
     return 'anonymous';
   }
 }
 
 function robotextForUsers(users: RelativeUserInfo[]): string {
   if (users.length === 1) {
     return robotextForUser(users[0]);
   } else if (users.length === 2) {
     return `${robotextForUser(users[0])} and ${robotextForUser(users[1])}`;
   } else if (users.length === 3) {
     return (
       `${robotextForUser(users[0])}, ${robotextForUser(users[1])}, ` +
       `and ${robotextForUser(users[2])}`
     );
   } else {
     return (
       `${robotextForUser(users[0])}, ${robotextForUser(users[1])}, ` +
       `and ${users.length - 2} others`
     );
   }
 }
 
 function encodedThreadEntity(threadID: string, text: string): string {
   return `<${text}|t${threadID}>`;
 }
 
 function robotextForMessageInfo(
   messageInfo: RobotextMessageInfo,
   threadInfo: ThreadInfo,
 ): string {
   const creator = robotextForUser(messageInfo.creator);
   const messageSpec = messageSpecs[messageInfo.type];
   invariant(
     messageSpec.robotext,
     `we're not aware of messageType ${messageInfo.type}`,
   );
   return messageSpec.robotext(messageInfo, creator, {
     encodedThreadEntity,
     robotextForUsers,
     robotextForUser,
     threadInfo,
   });
 }
 
 function robotextToRawString(robotext: string): string {
   return decodeURI(robotext.replace(/<([^<>|]+)\|[^<>|]+>/g, '$1'));
 }
 
 function createMessageInfo(
   rawMessageInfo: RawMessageInfo,
   viewerID: ?string,
   userInfos: UserInfos,
   threadInfos: { [id: string]: ThreadInfo },
 ): ?MessageInfo {
   const creatorInfo = userInfos[rawMessageInfo.creatorID];
   if (!creatorInfo) {
     return null;
   }
   const creator = {
     id: rawMessageInfo.creatorID,
     username: creatorInfo.username,
     isViewer: rawMessageInfo.creatorID === viewerID,
   };
 
   const createRelativeUserInfos = (userIDs: $ReadOnlyArray<string>) =>
     userIDsToRelativeUserInfos(userIDs, viewerID, userInfos);
   const createMessageInfoFromRaw = (rawInfo: RawMessageInfo) =>
     createMessageInfo(rawInfo, viewerID, userInfos, threadInfos);
 
   const messageSpec = messageSpecs[rawMessageInfo.type];
 
   return messageSpec.createMessageInfo(rawMessageInfo, creator, {
     threadInfos,
     createMessageInfoFromRaw,
     createRelativeUserInfos,
   });
 }
 
 function sortMessageInfoList<T: MessageInfo | RawMessageInfo>(
   messageInfos: T[],
 ): T[] {
   return messageInfos.sort((a: T, b: T) => b.time - a.time);
 }
 
 function rawMessageInfoFromMessageData(
   messageData: MessageData,
   id: string,
 ): RawMessageInfo {
   const messageSpec = messageSpecs[messageData.type];
   invariant(
     messageSpec.rawMessageInfoFromMessageData,
     `we're not aware of messageType ${messageData.type}`,
   );
   return messageSpec.rawMessageInfoFromMessageData(messageData, id);
 }
 
 function mostRecentMessageTimestamp(
   messageInfos: RawMessageInfo[],
   previousTimestamp: number,
 ): number {
   if (messageInfos.length === 0) {
     return previousTimestamp;
   }
   return _maxBy('time')(messageInfos).time;
 }
 
 function messageTypeGeneratesNotifs(type: MessageType) {
   return messageSpecs[type].generatesNotifs;
 }
 
 function splitRobotext(robotext: string) {
   return robotext.split(/(<[^<>|]+\|[^<>|]+>)/g);
 }
 
 const robotextEntityRegex = /<([^<>|]+)\|([^<>|]+)>/;
 function parseRobotextEntity(robotextPart: string) {
   const entityParts = robotextPart.match(robotextEntityRegex);
   invariant(entityParts && entityParts[1], 'malformed robotext');
   const rawText = decodeURI(entityParts[1]);
   const entityType = entityParts[2].charAt(0);
   const id = entityParts[2].substr(1);
   return { rawText, entityType, id };
 }
 
 function usersInMessageInfos(
   messageInfos: $ReadOnlyArray<MessageInfo | RawMessageInfo>,
 ): string[] {
   const userIDs = new Set();
   for (let messageInfo of messageInfos) {
     if (messageInfo.creatorID) {
       userIDs.add(messageInfo.creatorID);
     } else if (messageInfo.creator) {
       userIDs.add(messageInfo.creator.id);
     }
   }
   return [...userIDs];
 }
 
 function combineTruncationStatuses(
   first: MessageTruncationStatus,
   second: ?MessageTruncationStatus,
 ): MessageTruncationStatus {
   if (
     first === messageTruncationStatus.EXHAUSTIVE ||
     second === messageTruncationStatus.EXHAUSTIVE
   ) {
     return messageTruncationStatus.EXHAUSTIVE;
   } else if (
     first === messageTruncationStatus.UNCHANGED &&
     second !== null &&
     second !== undefined
   ) {
     return second;
   } else {
     return first;
   }
 }
 
 function shimUnsupportedRawMessageInfos(
   rawMessageInfos: $ReadOnlyArray<RawMessageInfo>,
   platformDetails: ?PlatformDetails,
 ): RawMessageInfo[] {
   if (platformDetails && platformDetails.platform === 'web') {
     return [...rawMessageInfos];
   }
   return rawMessageInfos.map((rawMessageInfo) => {
     const { shimUnsupportedMessageInfo } = messageSpecs[rawMessageInfo.type];
     if (shimUnsupportedMessageInfo) {
       return shimUnsupportedMessageInfo(rawMessageInfo, platformDetails);
     }
     return rawMessageInfo;
   });
 }
 
 function messagePreviewText(
   messageInfo: PreviewableMessageInfo,
   threadInfo: ThreadInfo,
 ): string {
   if (
     messageInfo.type === messageTypes.IMAGES ||
     messageInfo.type === messageTypes.MULTIMEDIA
   ) {
     const creator = stringForUser(messageInfo.creator);
     const preview = multimediaMessagePreview(messageInfo);
     return `${creator} ${preview}`;
   }
   return robotextToRawString(robotextForMessageInfo(messageInfo, threadInfo));
 }
 
 type MediaMessageDataCreationInput = $ReadOnly<{
   threadID: string,
   creatorID: string,
   media: $ReadOnlyArray<Media>,
   localID?: ?string,
   time?: ?number,
   ...
 }>;
 function createMediaMessageData(
   input: MediaMessageDataCreationInput,
 ): MultimediaMessageData {
   let allMediaArePhotos = true;
   const photoMedia = [];
   for (let singleMedia of input.media) {
     if (singleMedia.type === 'video') {
       allMediaArePhotos = false;
       break;
     } else {
       photoMedia.push(singleMedia);
     }
   }
 
   const { localID, threadID, creatorID } = input;
   const time = input.time ? input.time : Date.now();
   let messageData;
   if (allMediaArePhotos) {
     messageData = ({
       type: messageTypes.IMAGES,
       threadID,
       creatorID,
       time,
       media: photoMedia,
     }: ImagesMessageData);
   } else {
     messageData = ({
       type: messageTypes.MULTIMEDIA,
       threadID,
       creatorID,
       time,
       media: input.media,
     }: MediaMessageData);
   }
   if (localID) {
     messageData.localID = localID;
   }
   return messageData;
 }
 
 type MediaMessageInfoCreationInput = $ReadOnly<{
   ...$Exact<MediaMessageDataCreationInput>,
   id?: ?string,
 }>;
 function createMediaMessageInfo(
   input: MediaMessageInfoCreationInput,
 ): RawMultimediaMessageInfo {
   const messageData = createMediaMessageData(input);
   const messageSpec = messageSpecs[messageData.type];
   return messageSpec.rawMessageInfoFromMessageData(messageData, input.id);
 }
 
+function stripLocalID(rawMessageInfo: RawComposableMessageInfo) {
+  const { localID, ...rest } = rawMessageInfo;
+  return rest;
+}
+
 function stripLocalIDs(
   input: $ReadOnlyArray<RawMessageInfo>,
 ): RawMessageInfo[] {
   const output = [];
-  for (let rawMessageInfo of input) {
-    if (
-      rawMessageInfo.localID === null ||
-      rawMessageInfo.localID === undefined
-    ) {
-      output.push(rawMessageInfo);
-      continue;
-    }
-    invariant(
-      rawMessageInfo.id,
-      'serverID should be set if localID is being stripped',
-    );
-    if (rawMessageInfo.type === messageTypes.TEXT) {
-      const { localID, ...rest } = rawMessageInfo;
-      output.push({ ...rest });
-    } else if (rawMessageInfo.type === messageTypes.IMAGES) {
-      const { localID, ...rest } = rawMessageInfo;
-      output.push(({ ...rest }: RawImagesMessageInfo));
-    } else if (rawMessageInfo.type === messageTypes.MULTIMEDIA) {
-      const { localID, ...rest } = rawMessageInfo;
-      output.push(({ ...rest }: RawMediaMessageInfo));
-    } else {
+  for (const rawMessageInfo of input) {
+    if (rawMessageInfo.localID) {
       invariant(
-        false,
-        `message ${rawMessageInfo.id} of type ${rawMessageInfo.type} ` +
-          `unexpectedly has localID`,
+        rawMessageInfo.id,
+        'serverID should be set if localID is being stripped',
       );
+      output.push(stripLocalID(rawMessageInfo));
+    } else {
+      output.push(rawMessageInfo);
     }
   }
   return output;
 }
 
 // Normally we call trim() to remove whitespace at the beginning and end of each
 // message. However, our Markdown parser supports a "codeBlock" format where the
 // user can indent each line to indicate a code block. If we match the
 // corresponding RegEx, we'll only trim whitespace off the end.
 function trimMessage(message: string) {
   message = message.replace(/^\n*/, '');
   return codeBlockRegex.exec(message) ? message.trimEnd() : message.trim();
 }
 
 function createMessageReply(message: string) {
   // add `>` to each line to include empty lines in the quote
   const quotedMessage = message.replace(/^/gm, '> ');
   return quotedMessage + '\n\n';
 }
 
 function getMostRecentNonLocalMessageID(
   threadInfo: ThreadInfo,
   messageStore: MessageStore,
 ): ?string {
   const thread = messageStore.threads[threadInfo.id];
   return thread?.messageIDs.find((id) => !id.startsWith('local'));
 }
 
 export {
   messageKey,
   messageID,
   robotextForMessageInfo,
   robotextToRawString,
   createMessageInfo,
   sortMessageInfoList,
   rawMessageInfoFromMessageData,
   mostRecentMessageTimestamp,
   messageTypeGeneratesNotifs,
   splitRobotext,
   parseRobotextEntity,
   usersInMessageInfos,
   combineTruncationStatuses,
   shimUnsupportedRawMessageInfos,
   messagePreviewText,
   createMediaMessageData,
   createMediaMessageInfo,
   stripLocalIDs,
   trimMessage,
   createMessageReply,
   getMostRecentNonLocalMessageID,
 };