fix case-sensitive prefix

documentation/additional-features.md

@@ -183,7 +183,7 @@ An ML-based service that predicts expected delivery timeouts:
 - Applies a **1.5x safety margin** to raw predictions (the actual timeout issued is 1.5× the model's predicted delivery time)
 - Features with zero variance are automatically excluded from training
 - Blends per-contact statistics with ML predictions
-- Falls back to `3000 + 3000 × pathLength` ms when insufficient data
+- Falls back to `3000 + 3000 × pathLength` ms when insufficient data. Note: `pathLength` here refers to the stored hop count in the app's model/storage (number of hops), not the on-air encoded byte length.
 - Observations are persisted to storage via a 2-second debounced timer (observations within 2s of app termination may be lost)
 
 ---

documentation/chat-and-messaging.md

@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ When a direct message is sent:
 
 1. The app computes an expected ACK hash: `SHA256([timestamp][attempt][text][selfPubKey])[0:4]` — matching the firmware's hash calculation. If SMAZ compression is enabled, the compressed text (not the original) is hashed
 2. On device acknowledgment (`RESP_CODE_SENT`), the message transitions to "sent" and a timeout timer starts
-3. **Timeout duration**: Preferably from the ML timeout prediction service; otherwise calculated from LoRa airtime physics: `500 + (airtime × 6 + 250) × (pathLength + 1)` ms for direct paths, `500 + 16 × airtime` ms for flood (airtime is estimated from the radio's current spreading factor, bandwidth, and coding rate)
+3. **Timeout duration**: Preferably from the ML timeout prediction service; otherwise calculated from LoRa airtime physics: `500 + (airtime × 6 + 250) × (pathLength + 1)` ms for direct paths, `500 + 16 × airtime` ms for flood (airtime is estimated from the radio's current spreading factor, bandwidth, and coding rate). Note: in app code and storage `pathLength` refers to the stored hop count (number of hops) in the message/contact model — not the on-air encoded byte length — so the formula above uses the model hop count.
 4. On timeout, the message is retried with **exponential backoff**: `1000 × 2^retryCount` ms (1s, 2s, 4s, 8s, 16s...)
 5. **Max retries**: Configurable (default 5, range 2–10)
 6. After max retries, the message is marked "failed" — but a **30-second grace window** remains during which a late ACK can still resolve the message to "delivered"

documentation/routing-paths.md

@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ The connector reads a single-mode byte and clamps to `0..3`, so the supported ho
 Paths in messages and storage consist of:
 
 - **`pathLength`**: Encoded path length in bytes as carried by the frame/header. This is not the hop count when `pathHashByteWidth > 1`.
+  - Note: on-air headers carry `pathLength` as a byte count. However, in the app's data model and storage the `pathLength` field is stored as the decoded hop count (number of hops). When reading or writing model objects (contacts, messages, storage), treat `pathLength` as the hop count; when constructing frames use the encoded byte length.
 - **`pathBytes`**: Raw bytes of the path, grouped by `pathHashByteWidth`
 - **`hopCount`**: Derived display value computed from bytes and width: `(byteCount + hashByteWidth - 1) ~/ hashByteWidth`
 - **Example**: With `pathHashByteWidth=2`, a 3-hop path needs 6 bytes, so `pathLength = 6` and `hopCount = 3`:

lib/connector/meshcore_connector.dart

@@ -6385,10 +6385,12 @@ class MeshCoreConnector extends ChangeNotifier {
   }
 
   bool _contactKeyMatchesPrefix(String contactKeyHex, List<int> pubkeyPrefix) {
-    final prefixHex = pubkeyPrefix
-        .map((b) => b.toRadixString(16).padLeft(2, '0'))
+    // Normalize both sides to upper-case hex to avoid case-sensitive mismatches.
+    final normalizedPrefixHex = pubkeyPrefix
+        .map((b) => b.toRadixString(16).padLeft(2, '0').toUpperCase())
         .join();
-    return contactKeyHex.startsWith(prefixHex);
+    final normalizedContactKeyHex = contactKeyHex.toUpperCase();
+    return normalizedContactKeyHex.startsWith(normalizedPrefixHex);
   }
 
   void _handleAutoAddConfig(Uint8List frame) {