diff --git a/src/chat/distantchat.cc b/src/chat/distantchat.cc
index 27b2dd40e..141883fa0 100644
--- a/src/chat/distantchat.cc
+++ b/src/chat/distantchat.cc
@@ -254,15 +254,8 @@ void DistantChatService::receiveData( const RsGxsTunnelId& tunnel_id, unsigned c
 
 void DistantChatService::markDistantChatAsClosed(const DistantChatPeerId& dcpid)
 {
-	mGxsTunnels->closeExistingTunnel(
-	            RsGxsTunnelId(dcpid), DISTANT_CHAT_GXS_TUNNEL_SERVICE_ID );
-    
-    RS_STACK_MUTEX(mDistantChatMtx) ;
-    
-    std::map<DistantChatPeerId,DistantChatContact>::iterator it = mDistantChatContacts.find(dcpid) ;
-    
-    if(it != mDistantChatContacts.end())
-        mDistantChatContacts.erase(it) ;
+    // Same work, whether the close comes from the remote end or from us.
+    closeDistantChatConnexion(dcpid) ;
 }
 
 bool DistantChatService::initiateDistantChatConnexion(
@@ -327,11 +320,34 @@ bool DistantChatService::getDistantChatStatus(const DistantChatPeerId& tunnel_id
 
 bool DistantChatService::closeDistantChatConnexion(const DistantChatPeerId &tunnel_id)
 {
-    mGxsTunnels->closeExistingTunnel(RsGxsTunnelId(tunnel_id), DISTANT_CHAT_GXS_TUNNEL_SERVICE_ID) ;
-    
-    // also remove contact. Or do we wait for the notification?
-    
-    return true ;
+    // The contact has to go with the tunnel. Leaving it behind kept the
+    // conversation alive on our side: handleRecvDataItem() only drops incoming
+    // items for tunnels it finds no contact for, so a peer that keeps writing
+    // re-digs the tunnel and the chat we just left comes back. That is what
+    // markDistantChatAsClosed() does when the *remote* end closes, and closing
+    // it ourselves has to mean the same thing.
+
+    bool tunnel_closed = mGxsTunnels->closeExistingTunnel(
+                RsGxsTunnelId(tunnel_id), DISTANT_CHAT_GXS_TUNNEL_SERVICE_ID );
+
+    bool contact_removed = false;
+    {
+        RS_STACK_MUTEX(mDistantChatMtx) ;
+
+        auto it = mDistantChatContacts.find(tunnel_id) ;
+
+        if(it != mDistantChatContacts.end())
+        {
+            mDistantChatContacts.erase(it) ;
+            contact_removed = true ;
+        }
+    }
+
+    // Answering true whatever happened made every client -- the chat window,
+    // the web UI, any JSON API caller -- report a conversation as closed when
+    // nothing had been closed at all, the tunnel having died on its own before.
+
+    return tunnel_closed || contact_removed ;
 }
 
 uint32_t DistantChatService::getDistantChatPermissionFlags()