diff --git a/xmtp_mls/src/groups/mls_sync.rs b/xmtp_mls/src/groups/mls_sync.rs
index b1a60ec87..4550abfc3 100644
--- a/xmtp_mls/src/groups/mls_sync.rs
+++ b/xmtp_mls/src/groups/mls_sync.rs
@@ -967,7 +967,7 @@ where
             sender_installation_id,
             sender_inbox_id,
             delivery_status: DeliveryStatus::Published,
-            content_type: ContentType::from_string(&content_type.type_id),
+            content_type: content_type.type_id.into(),
             version_major: content_type.version_major as i32,
             version_minor: content_type.version_minor as i32,
             authority_id: content_type.authority_id.to_string(),
diff --git a/xmtp_mls/src/groups/mod.rs b/xmtp_mls/src/groups/mod.rs
index 1431925b5..3c1320f6c 100644
--- a/xmtp_mls/src/groups/mod.rs
+++ b/xmtp_mls/src/groups/mod.rs
@@ -328,6 +328,19 @@ impl Default for QueryableContentFields {
     }
 }
 
+impl From<EncodedContent> for QueryableContentFields {
+    fn from(content: EncodedContent) -> Self {
+        let content_type_id = content.r#type.unwrap_or_default();
+
+        QueryableContentFields {
+            content_type: content_type_id.type_id.into(),
+            version_major: content_type_id.version_major as i32,
+            version_minor: content_type_id.version_minor as i32,
+            authority_id: content_type_id.authority_id.to_string(),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 /// Represents a group, which can contain anywhere from 1 to MAX_GROUP_SIZE inboxes.
 ///
 /// This is a wrapper around OpenMLS's `MlsGroup` that handles our application-level configuration
@@ -727,32 +740,11 @@ impl<ScopedClient: ScopedGroupClient> MlsGroup<ScopedClient> {
 
     /// Helper function to extract queryable content fields from a message
     fn extract_queryable_content_fields(message: &[u8]) -> QueryableContentFields {
-        let default = QueryableContentFields {
-            content_type: ContentType::Unknown,
-            version_major: 0,
-            version_minor: 0,
-            authority_id: "unknown".to_string(),
-        };
-
         // Return early with default if decoding fails or type is missing
-        let content_type_id = match EncodedContent::decode(message)
-            .map_err(|e| tracing::debug!("Failed to decode message as EncodedContent: {}", e))
-            .ok()
-            .and_then(|content| content.r#type)
-        {
-            Some(type_id) => type_id,
-            None => {
-                tracing::debug!("Message content type is missing");
-                return default;
-            }
-        };
-
-        QueryableContentFields {
-            content_type: ContentType::from_string(&content_type_id.type_id),
-            version_major: content_type_id.version_major as i32,
-            version_minor: content_type_id.version_minor as i32,
-            authority_id: content_type_id.authority_id.to_string(),
-        }
+        EncodedContent::decode(message)
+            .inspect_err(|e| tracing::debug!("Failed to decode message as EncodedContent: {}", e))
+            .map(QueryableContentFields::from)
+            .unwrap_or_default()
     }
 
     /// Prepare a [`IntentKind::SendMessage`] intent, and [`StoredGroupMessage`] on this users XMTP [`Client`].
diff --git a/xmtp_mls/src/storage/encrypted_store/group_message.rs b/xmtp_mls/src/storage/encrypted_store/group_message.rs
index a452ecc3c..5c75c3a79 100644
--- a/xmtp_mls/src/storage/encrypted_store/group_message.rs
+++ b/xmtp_mls/src/storage/encrypted_store/group_message.rs
@@ -96,22 +96,26 @@ pub enum ContentType {
     GroupUpdated = 3,
 }
 
-impl ContentType {
-    pub fn from_string(type_id: &str) -> Self {
-        match type_id {
-            text::TextCodec::TYPE_ID => Self::Text,
-            membership_change::GroupMembershipChangeCodec::TYPE_ID => Self::GroupMembershipChange,
-            group_updated::GroupUpdatedCodec::TYPE_ID => Self::GroupUpdated,
-            _ => Self::Unknown,
-        }
-    }
-
-    pub fn to_string(&self) -> &'static str {
-        match self {
+impl std::fmt::Display for ContentType {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut std::fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> std::fmt::Result {
+        let as_string = match self {
             Self::Unknown => "unknown",
             Self::Text => text::TextCodec::TYPE_ID,
             Self::GroupMembershipChange => membership_change::GroupMembershipChangeCodec::TYPE_ID,
             Self::GroupUpdated => group_updated::GroupUpdatedCodec::TYPE_ID,
+        };
+
+        write!(f, "{}", as_string)
+    }
+}
+
+impl From<String> for ContentType {
+    fn from(type_id: String) -> Self {
+        match type_id.as_str() {
+            text::TextCodec::TYPE_ID => Self::Text,
+            membership_change::GroupMembershipChangeCodec::TYPE_ID => Self::GroupMembershipChange,
+            group_updated::GroupUpdatedCodec::TYPE_ID => Self::GroupUpdated,
+            _ => Self::Unknown,
         }
     }
 }