diff --git a/INSTALL.md b/INSTALL.md
index b5b2d5f11..3cb777597 100644
--- a/INSTALL.md
+++ b/INSTALL.md
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ make install
 Copy the dll "OpenAL32.dll" located at "C:\qTox\libs\openal-build\install\bin" to "C:\qTox\libs\lib". Finally, copy the directory "AL" located at "C:\qTox\libs\openal-build\install\include" to "C:\qTox\libs\include". Unlike OpenCV you don't need to patch any files. Feel free to delete the directories "openal-soft-x.y.z" and "openal-build", but you don't need to.
 
 ##Linux
-Most of the dependencies should be available through your package manger.
+Most of the dependencies should be available through your package manger. You may either follow the directions below, or simply run `./simple_make.sh` after cloning, which will attempt to automatically download dependencies followed by compilation.
 
 ###Cloning the Repository
 In order to clone the qTox repository you need Git.
@@ -156,11 +156,76 @@ cd /home/user/qTox
 ./bootstrap.sh # use -h or --help for more information
 ```
 
-##Building packages
+After all the dependencies are thus reeady to go, compiling should be as simple as 
+```bash
+qmake
+make
+```
 
-qTox now has the experimental and probably-dodgy ability to package itself (in .deb
+###Building packages
+
+Alternately, qTox now has the experimental and probably-dodgy ability to package itself (in .deb
 form natively, and .rpm form with <a href="http://joeyh.name/code/alien/">alien</a>).
 
 After installing the required dependencies, run `bootstrap.sh` and then run the
 `buildPackages.sh` script, found in the tools folder. It will automatically get the
 packages necessary for building .debs, so be prepared to type your password for sudo.
+
+##OS X
+
+###OSX Easy Install
+
+Since https://github.com/ReDetection/homebrew-qtox you can easily install qtox with homebrew 
+```bash
+brew install --HEAD ReDetection/qtox/qtox
+```
+
+###OSX Full Install Guide
+
+This guide is intended for people who wish to use an existing or new ProjectTox-Core installation separate to the bundled installation with qTox, if you do not wish to use a separate installation you can skip to the section titled 'Final Steps'.
+
+Installation on OSX, isn't quite straight forward, here is a quick guide on how to install;
+
+Note that qTox now requires OpenCV and OpenAL for video and audio.
+
+The first thing you need to do is install ProjectTox-Core with a/v support. Refer to the INSTALL guide in the PrjectTox-Core github repo.
+
+Next you need to download QtTools (http://qt-project.org/downloads), at the time of writing this is at version .3.0.
+Make sure you deselect all the unnecessary components from the 5.3 checkbox (iOS/Android libs) otherwise you will end up with a very large download.
+
+Once that is installed you will most likely need to set the path for qmake. To do this, open up terminal and paste in the following;
+
+```bash
+export PATH=/location/to/qmake/binary:$PATH
+```
+
+For myself, the qmake binary was located in /Users/mouseym/Qt/5.3/clang_64/bin/.
+
+This is not a permanent change, it will revert when you close the terminal window, to add it permanently you will need to add echo the above line to your .profile/.bash_profile.
+
+Once this is installed, do the following;
+
+```bash
+git clone https://github.com/tux3/qTox
+cd toxgui
+qmake
+```
+
+Now, we need to create a symlink to /usr/local/lib/ and /usr/local/include/
+```
+mkdir -p $HOME/qTox/libs
+sudo ln -s /usr/local/lib $HOME/qTox/libs/lib
+sudo ln -s /usr/local/include  $HOME/qTox/libs/include
+```
+####Final Steps
+
+The final step is to run 
+```bash
+make
+``` 
+in the qTox directory, or if you are using the bundled tox core installation, you can use 
+```bash
+./bootstrap.sh
+make
+```
+Assuming all went well you should now have a qTox.app file within the directory. Double click and it should open!
diff --git a/core.cpp b/core.cpp
index 5e96e1a29..9b7f7913c 100644
--- a/core.cpp
+++ b/core.cpp
@@ -218,9 +218,7 @@ void Core::start()
         buffer.open(QIODevice::WriteOnly);
         pic.save(&buffer, "PNG");
         buffer.close();
-        if (tox_set_avatar(tox, TOX_AVATAR_FORMAT_PNG, (uint8_t*)data.constData(), data.size()) != 0)
-            qWarning() << "Core:start: Error setting avatar, size:"<<data.size();
-        emit selfAvatarChanged(pic);
+        setAvatar(TOX_AVATAR_FORMAT_PNG, data);
     }
     else
         qDebug() << "Core: Error loading self avatar";
@@ -791,8 +789,9 @@ void Core::setAvatar(uint8_t format, const QByteArray& data)
     pic.loadFromData(data);
     Settings::getInstance().saveAvatar(pic, getSelfId().toString());
     emit selfAvatarChanged(pic);
-
+    
     // Broadcast our new avatar!
+    // according to tox.h, we need not broadcast this ourselves, but initial testing indicated elsewise
     const uint32_t friendCount = tox_count_friendlist(tox);;
     for (unsigned i=0; i<friendCount; i++)
         tox_send_avatar_info(tox, i);
diff --git a/settings.cpp b/settings.cpp
index 0748cd0ff..3e9f33426 100644
--- a/settings.cpp
+++ b/settings.cpp
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@
 #include <QList>
 
 const QString Settings::FILENAME = "settings.ini";
-const QString Settings::AVATAR_FILENAME = "avatar.dat";
 bool Settings::makeToxPortable{false};
 
 Settings::Settings() :
@@ -260,15 +259,30 @@ QString Settings::getSettingsDirPath()
 
 QPixmap Settings::getSavedAvatar(const QString &ownerId)
 {
-    QString filePath = QDir(getSettingsDirPath()).filePath("avatar_"+ownerId);
+    QDir dir(getSettingsDirPath());
+    QString filePath = dir.filePath("avatars/"+ownerId.left(64)+".png");
+    QFileInfo info(filePath);
     QPixmap pic;
-    pic.load(filePath);
+    if (!info.exists())
+    {
+        QString filePath = dir.filePath("avatar_"+ownerId.left(64));
+        if (!QFileInfo(filePath).exists()) // try without truncation, for old self avatars
+            filePath = dir.filePath("avatar_"+ownerId);
+        pic.load(filePath);
+        saveAvatar(pic, ownerId);
+        QFile::remove(filePath);
+    }
+    else
+        pic.load(filePath);
     return pic;
 }
 
 void Settings::saveAvatar(QPixmap& pic, const QString& ownerId)
 {
-    QString filePath = QDir(getSettingsDirPath()).filePath("avatar_"+ownerId);
+    QDir dir(getSettingsDirPath());
+    dir.mkdir("avatars/"); // remove this in a week or two hopefully
+    // ignore nospam (good idea, and also the addFriend funcs which call getAvatar don't have it)
+    QString filePath = dir.filePath("avatars/"+ownerId.left(64)+".png");
     pic.save(filePath, "png");
 }
 
diff --git a/settings.h b/settings.h
index 882a31f0f..b796211cb 100644
--- a/settings.h
+++ b/settings.h
@@ -142,7 +142,6 @@ private:
     Settings& operator=(const Settings&) = delete;
 
     static const QString FILENAME;
-    static const QString AVATAR_FILENAME;
 
     bool loaded;
 
diff --git a/widget/widget.cpp b/widget/widget.cpp
index a8f2ab683..af1d33034 100644
--- a/widget/widget.cpp
+++ b/widget/widget.cpp
@@ -444,7 +444,7 @@ void Widget::setStatusMessage(const QString &statusMessage)
 
 void Widget::addFriend(int friendId, const QString &userId)
 {
-    qDebug() << "Widget: Adding friend with id "+userId;
+    qDebug() << "Widget: Adding friend with id" << userId;
     Friend* newfriend = FriendList::addFriend(friendId, userId);
     QLayout* layout = contactListWidget->getFriendLayout(Status::Offline);
     layout->addWidget(newfriend->widget);
@@ -480,6 +480,7 @@ void Widget::addFriend(int friendId, const QString &userId)
     QPixmap avatar = Settings::getInstance().getSavedAvatar(userId);
     if (!avatar.isNull())
     {
+        qWarning() << "Widget: loadded avatar for id" << userId;
         newfriend->chatForm->onAvatarChange(friendId, avatar);
         newfriend->widget->onAvatarChange(friendId, avatar);
     }