diff --git a/Assistant/Threads/XMPPClient.hs b/Assistant/Threads/XMPPClient.hs
index 974cc83a04..d988b2f83c 100644
--- a/Assistant/Threads/XMPPClient.hs
+++ b/Assistant/Threads/XMPPClient.hs
@@ -119,18 +119,15 @@ decodeStanza fulljid s@(ReceivedPresence p)
 	| presenceFrom p == Just fulljid = [Ignorable p]
 	| not (null pushed) = impliedp $ GotNetMessage $ NotifyPush pushed
 	| isPresenceQuery p = impliedp $ GotNetMessage QueryPresence
-	| otherwise = [PresenceMessage p]
+	| otherwise = case decodePairingNotification p of
+		Nothing -> [PresenceMessage p]
+		Just pn -> impliedp $ GotNetMessage pn
   where
-	-- Some things are sent via presence, so imply a presence message,
-	-- along with their real value.
+	-- Things sent via presence imply a presence message,
+	-- along with their real meaning.
 	impliedp v = [PresenceMessage p, v]
 	pushed = concat $ catMaybes $ map decodePushNotification $
 		presencePayloads p
-decodeStanza _ s@(ReceivedIQ iq)
-	| iqType iq == IQError = [ProtocolError s]
-	| otherwise = case decodePairingNotification iq of
-		Nothing -> [Unknown s]
-		Just pn -> [GotNetMessage pn]
 decodeStanza _ s = [Unknown s]
 
 {- Waits for a NetMessager message to be sent, and relays it to XMPP. -}
@@ -141,9 +138,8 @@ relayNetMessage fulljid = convert <$> waitNetMessage
 	convert QueryPresence = putStanza $ presenceQuery
 	convert (PairingNotification stage t u) = case parseJID t of
 		Nothing -> noop
-		Just tojid -> do
-			liftIO $ print $ pairingNotification stage u tojid fulljid
-			putStanza $ pairingNotification stage u tojid fulljid
+		Just tojid -> putStanza $
+			pairingNotification stage u tojid fulljid
 
 {- Runs the client, handing restart events. -}
 restartableClient :: IO () -> Assistant ()
diff --git a/Assistant/WebApp/Configurators/Pairing.hs b/Assistant/WebApp/Configurators/Pairing.hs
index d88293d7e3..55eb59fe4d 100644
--- a/Assistant/WebApp/Configurators/Pairing.hs
+++ b/Assistant/WebApp/Configurators/Pairing.hs
@@ -89,13 +89,11 @@ getStartXMPPPairR bid = do
 		(Just []) -> redirect StartPairR
 		(Just clients@((Client exemplar):_)) -> do
 			let samejid = basejid ourjid == basejid exemplar
-			liftAssistant $ forM_ clients $ \(Client jid) ->
-				unless (jid == ourjid) $ do
-					u <- liftAnnex getUUID
-					sendNetMessage $ PairingNotification
-						PairReq (formatJID jid) u
+			let account = formatJID $ basejid exemplar
+			liftAssistant $ do
+				u <- liftAnnex getUUID
+				sendNetMessage $ PairingNotification PairReq account u
 			pairPage $ do
-				let account = formatJID $ basejid exemplar
 				let name = buddyName exemplar
 				$(widgetFile "configurators/pairing/xmpp/inprogress")
   where
diff --git a/Assistant/XMPP.hs b/Assistant/XMPP.hs
index 75b64a788b..59113a0b0b 100644
--- a/Assistant/XMPP.hs
+++ b/Assistant/XMPP.hs
@@ -45,9 +45,19 @@ queryAttr = Name (T.pack "query") Nothing Nothing
 pushAttr :: Name
 pushAttr = Name (T.pack "push") Nothing Nothing
 
+pairAttr :: Name
+pairAttr = Name (T.pack "pair") Nothing Nothing
+
 isAttr :: Name -> (Name, [Content]) -> Bool
 isAttr attr (k, _) = k == attr
 
+getAttr :: Element -> Name -> Maybe T.Text
+getAttr (Element _name attrs _nodes) name =
+	T.concat . map unpack . snd <$> headMaybe (filter (isAttr name) attrs)
+  where
+	unpack (ContentText t) = t
+	unpack (ContentEntity t) = t
+
 uuidSep :: T.Text
 uuidSep = T.pack ","
 
@@ -85,29 +95,29 @@ isPresenceQuery p = case filter isGitAnnexTag (presencePayloads p) of
 	[] -> False
 	((Element _name attrs _nodes):_) -> any (isAttr queryAttr) attrs
 
-{- A notification about a stage of pairing. Sent as an XMPP IQ.
- - The pairing info is sent using its id attribute; it also has a git-annex
- - tag to identify it as from us. -}
-pairingNotification :: PairStage -> UUID -> JID -> JID -> IQ
-pairingNotification pairstage u tojid fromjid = (emptyIQ IQGet)
-	{ iqTo = Just tojid
-	, iqFrom = Just fromjid
-	, iqID = Just $ T.unwords $ map T.pack
-		[ show pairstage
-		, fromUUID u
-		]
-	, iqPayload = Just gitAnnexSignature
+{- A notification about a stage of pairing, sent as directed presence
+ - to all clients of a jid. -}
+pairingNotification :: PairStage -> UUID -> JID -> JID -> Presence
+pairingNotification pairstage u tojid fromjid = (gitAnnexPresence elt)
+	{ presenceTo = Just $ JID (jidNode tojid) (jidDomain tojid) Nothing
+	, presenceFrom = Just fromjid
 	}
+	where
+		elt = Element gitAnnexTagName
+			[(pairAttr, [ContentText content])] []
+		content = T.unwords
+			[ T.pack $ show pairstage
+			, T.pack $ fromUUID u
+			]
 
-decodePairingNotification :: IQ -> Maybe NetMessage
-decodePairingNotification iq@(IQ { iqPayload = Just elt })
-	| isGitAnnexTag elt = parseid =<< words . T.unpack <$> iqID iq
-	| otherwise = Nothing
+decodePairingNotification :: Presence -> Maybe NetMessage
+decodePairingNotification p = case filter isGitAnnexTag (presencePayloads p) of
+	[] -> Nothing
+	(elt:_) -> parse =<< words . T.unpack <$> getAttr elt pairAttr
   where
-	parseid [stage, u] = 
+	parse [stage, u] = 
 		PairingNotification
 			<$> readish stage
-			<*> (formatJID <$> iqFrom iq)
+			<*> (formatJID <$> presenceFrom p)
 			<*> pure (toUUID u)
-	parseid _ = Nothing
-decodePairingNotification _ = Nothing
+	parse _ = Nothing
diff --git a/doc/design/assistant/xmpp.mdwn b/doc/design/assistant/xmpp.mdwn
index 6cfcbf56cd..9410b3e7c6 100644
--- a/doc/design/assistant/xmpp.mdwn
+++ b/doc/design/assistant/xmpp.mdwn
@@ -40,9 +40,9 @@ To indicate it's pushed changes to a git repo with a given UUID, a client uses:
 Multiple UUIDs can be listed when multiple clients were pushed. If the
 git repo does not have a git-annex UUID, an empty string is used.
 
-For pairing over XMPP, git-annex uses IQ messages, also containing a 
-git-annex tag. The id attribute of the iq tag contains the pairing
-information.
+For pairing, a directed presence message is sent, also using the git-annex tag:
+
+	<git-annex xmlns='git-annex' pairing="PairReq uuid" />
 
 ### security