diff --git a/lib/pangea/choreographer/controllers/choreographer.dart b/lib/pangea/choreographer/controllers/choreographer.dart
index 973a89747..9ccb197ee 100644
--- a/lib/pangea/choreographer/controllers/choreographer.dart
+++ b/lib/pangea/choreographer/controllers/choreographer.dart
@@ -406,8 +406,7 @@ class Choreographer {
 
   PangeaTextController get textController => _textController;
 
-  Future<String?> get accessToken =>
-      pangeaController.userController.accessToken;
+  Future<String> get accessToken => pangeaController.userController.accessToken;
 
   clear() {
     choreoMode = ChoreoMode.igc;
diff --git a/lib/pangea/choreographer/widgets/it_feedback_card.dart b/lib/pangea/choreographer/widgets/it_feedback_card.dart
index 840843ed5..4285f4dca 100644
--- a/lib/pangea/choreographer/widgets/it_feedback_card.dart
+++ b/lib/pangea/choreographer/widgets/it_feedback_card.dart
@@ -73,15 +73,7 @@ class ITFeedbackCardController extends State<ITFeedbackCard> {
       isTranslating = true;
     });
 
-    final String? accessToken = await controller.userController.accessToken;
-    if (accessToken == null) {
-      ErrorHandler.logError(
-        m: "Cannot translate feedback because accessToken is null",
-      );
-      error = "Cannot translate feedback because accessToken is null";
-      return;
-    }
-
+    final String accessToken = await controller.userController.accessToken;
     FullTextTranslationRepo.translate(
       accessToken: accessToken,
       request: FullTextTranslationRequestModel(
diff --git a/lib/pangea/controllers/contextual_definition_controller.dart b/lib/pangea/controllers/contextual_definition_controller.dart
index ecc08a234..68e075d97 100644
--- a/lib/pangea/controllers/contextual_definition_controller.dart
+++ b/lib/pangea/controllers/contextual_definition_controller.dart
@@ -50,13 +50,6 @@ class ContextualDefinitionController {
   ) async {
     try {
       final accessToken = await _pangeaController.userController.accessToken;
-      if (accessToken == null) {
-        ErrorHandler.logError(
-          e: "null accessToken in contextual definition controller",
-          s: StackTrace.current,
-        );
-        return null;
-      }
       final ContextualDefinitionResponseModel res =
           await _ContextualDefinitionRepo.define(
         accessToken,
diff --git a/lib/pangea/controllers/it_feedback_controller.dart b/lib/pangea/controllers/it_feedback_controller.dart
index c2cd96cad..74aee21de 100644
--- a/lib/pangea/controllers/it_feedback_controller.dart
+++ b/lib/pangea/controllers/it_feedback_controller.dart
@@ -51,15 +51,8 @@ class ITFeedbackController {
     ITFeedbackRequestModel request,
   ) async {
     try {
-      final String? accessToken =
+      final String accessToken =
           await _pangeaController.userController.accessToken;
-      if (accessToken == null) {
-        ErrorHandler.logError(
-          e: "null accessToken in it feedback controller",
-          s: StackTrace.current,
-        );
-        return null;
-      }
       final ITFeedbackResponseModel res = await _ITFeedbackRepo.get(
         accessToken,
         request,
diff --git a/lib/pangea/controllers/language_detection_controller.dart b/lib/pangea/controllers/language_detection_controller.dart
index 5ba0f8879..ecbdea47d 100644
--- a/lib/pangea/controllers/language_detection_controller.dart
+++ b/lib/pangea/controllers/language_detection_controller.dart
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ import 'package:fluffychat/pangea/constants/language_constants.dart';
 import 'package:fluffychat/pangea/controllers/pangea_controller.dart';
 import 'package:fluffychat/pangea/models/language_detection_model.dart';
 import 'package:fluffychat/pangea/network/urls.dart';
-import 'package:fluffychat/pangea/utils/error_handler.dart';
 import 'package:http/http.dart' as http;
 
 import '../network/requests.dart';
@@ -145,15 +144,8 @@ class LanguageDetectionController {
     if (_cache.containsKey(params)) {
       return _cache[params]!.data;
     } else {
-      final String? accessToken =
+      final String accessToken =
           await _pangeaController.userController.accessToken;
-      if (accessToken == null) {
-        ErrorHandler.logError(
-          e: "null accessToken in language detection controller",
-          s: StackTrace.current,
-        );
-        return null;
-      }
       final Future<LanguageDetectionResponse> response = _fetchResponse(
         accessToken,
         params,
diff --git a/lib/pangea/controllers/message_data_controller.dart b/lib/pangea/controllers/message_data_controller.dart
index 7ad3a748f..aa0c77b9d 100644
--- a/lib/pangea/controllers/message_data_controller.dart
+++ b/lib/pangea/controllers/message_data_controller.dart
@@ -43,15 +43,6 @@ class MessageDataController extends BaseController {
     TokensRequestModel req,
   ) async {
     final accessToken = await _pangeaController.userController.accessToken;
-
-    if (accessToken == null) {
-      ErrorHandler.logError(
-        e: "null accessToken in _getTokens",
-        s: StackTrace.current,
-      );
-      return null;
-    }
-
     final TokensResponseModel igcTextData =
         await TokensRepo.tokenize(accessToken, req);
 
@@ -201,15 +192,8 @@ class MessageDataController extends BaseController {
     );
 
     try {
-      final String? accessToken =
+      final String accessToken =
           await _pangeaController.userController.accessToken;
-      if (accessToken == null) {
-        ErrorHandler.logError(
-          e: "null accessToken in _getPangeaRepresentation",
-          s: StackTrace.current,
-        );
-        return null;
-      }
 
       final FullTextTranslationResponseModel res =
           await FullTextTranslationRepo.translate(
diff --git a/lib/pangea/controllers/speech_to_text_controller.dart b/lib/pangea/controllers/speech_to_text_controller.dart
index 3daeada07..1b151aca0 100644
--- a/lib/pangea/controllers/speech_to_text_controller.dart
+++ b/lib/pangea/controllers/speech_to_text_controller.dart
@@ -52,15 +52,8 @@ class SpeechToTextController {
     if (_cache.containsKey(cacheKey)) {
       return _cache[cacheKey]!.data;
     } else {
-      final String? accessToken =
+      final String accessToken =
           await _pangeaController.userController.accessToken;
-      if (accessToken == null) {
-        ErrorHandler.logError(
-          e: 'null accessToken in speech to text controller',
-          s: StackTrace.current,
-        );
-        return null;
-      }
 
       final Future<SpeechToTextModel> response = _fetchResponse(
         accessToken: accessToken,
diff --git a/lib/pangea/controllers/text_to_speech_controller.dart b/lib/pangea/controllers/text_to_speech_controller.dart
index b00fa23a4..25b888e05 100644
--- a/lib/pangea/controllers/text_to_speech_controller.dart
+++ b/lib/pangea/controllers/text_to_speech_controller.dart
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ import 'package:fluffychat/pangea/config/environment.dart';
 import 'package:fluffychat/pangea/constants/model_keys.dart';
 import 'package:fluffychat/pangea/controllers/pangea_controller.dart';
 import 'package:fluffychat/pangea/network/urls.dart';
-import 'package:fluffychat/pangea/utils/error_handler.dart';
 import 'package:http/http.dart';
 
 import '../network/requests.dart';
@@ -100,15 +99,8 @@ class TextToSpeechController {
     if (_cache.containsKey(params)) {
       return _cache[params]!.data;
     } else {
-      final String? accessToken =
+      final String accessToken =
           await _pangeaController.userController.accessToken;
-      if (accessToken == null) {
-        ErrorHandler.logError(
-          e: "null accessToken in text to speech controller",
-          s: StackTrace.current,
-        );
-        return null;
-      }
       final Future<TextToSpeechResponse> response = _fetchResponse(
         accessToken,
         params,
diff --git a/lib/pangea/controllers/user_controller.dart b/lib/pangea/controllers/user_controller.dart
index 541371e34..a4fd08c4d 100644
--- a/lib/pangea/controllers/user_controller.dart
+++ b/lib/pangea/controllers/user_controller.dart
@@ -222,8 +222,6 @@ class UserController extends BaseController {
   /// The [interests] parameter is a list of new interests for the user.
   /// The [speaks] parameter is a list of new languages the user speaks.
   /// The [publicProfile] parameter indicates whether the user's profile should be public or not.
-  ///
-  /// Throws an error if [userModel] or [accessToken] is null.
   Future<void> updateUserProfile({
     String? dateOfBirth,
     String? targetLanguage,
@@ -233,10 +231,9 @@ class UserController extends BaseController {
     List<String>? speaks,
     bool? publicProfile,
   }) async {
-    final String? accessToken = await this.accessToken;
-    if (userModel == null || accessToken == null) {
+    if (userModel == null) {
       ErrorHandler.logError(
-        e: "calling updateUserProfile with userModel == null or accessToken == null",
+        e: "calling updateUserProfile with userModel == null",
       );
       return;
     }
@@ -267,11 +264,11 @@ class UserController extends BaseController {
 
     final Profile updatedUserProfile = await PUserRepo.updateUserProfile(
       Profile.fromJson(profileJson),
-      accessToken,
+      await accessToken,
     );
 
     PUserModel(
-      access: accessToken,
+      access: await accessToken,
       refresh: userModel!.refresh,
       profile: updatedUserProfile,
     ).save(_pangeaController);
@@ -295,19 +292,17 @@ class UserController extends BaseController {
   ///
   /// If the locally stored user model is null or the access token has
   /// expired, it fetches the user model.
-  /// If the user model is still null after fetching, an error is logged.
+  /// If the user model is still null after fetching, an error thrown.
   ///
   /// Returns the access token as a string, or null if the user model is null.
-  Future<String?> get accessToken async {
+  Future<String> get accessToken async {
     final PUserModel? useThisOne =
         needNewJWT ? await fetchUserModel() : userModel;
 
     if (useThisOne == null) {
-      ErrorHandler.logError(
-        e: "trying to get accessToken with userModel = null",
-      );
+      throw ("Trying to get accessToken with null userModel");
     }
-    return useThisOne?.access;
+    return useThisOne.access;
   }
 
   /// Returns the full name of the user.
diff --git a/lib/pangea/controllers/word_net_controller.dart b/lib/pangea/controllers/word_net_controller.dart
index 43d1a66b0..18c3290a9 100644
--- a/lib/pangea/controllers/word_net_controller.dart
+++ b/lib/pangea/controllers/word_net_controller.dart
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 import 'package:collection/collection.dart';
 import 'package:fluffychat/pangea/constants/language_constants.dart';
 import 'package:fluffychat/pangea/repo/word_repo.dart';
-import 'package:fluffychat/pangea/utils/error_handler.dart';
 import 'package:http/http.dart' as http;
 
 import '../models/word_data_model.dart';
@@ -54,16 +53,8 @@ class WordController extends BaseController {
 
     if (local != null) return local;
 
-    final String? accessToken =
+    final String accessToken =
         await _pangeaController.userController.accessToken;
-    if (accessToken == null) {
-      ErrorHandler.logError(
-        e: "null accessToken in word controller",
-        s: StackTrace.current,
-      );
-      return null;
-    }
-
     final WordData remote = await WordRepo.getWordNetData(
       accessToken: accessToken,
       fullText: fullText,
diff --git a/lib/pangea/pages/find_partner/find_partner.dart b/lib/pangea/pages/find_partner/find_partner.dart
index 44274a608..46eb365ae 100644
--- a/lib/pangea/pages/find_partner/find_partner.dart
+++ b/lib/pangea/pages/find_partner/find_partner.dart
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import 'package:fluffychat/pangea/models/language_model.dart';
 import 'package:fluffychat/pangea/models/user_model.dart';
 import 'package:fluffychat/pangea/utils/error_handler.dart';
 import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
+import 'package:flutter_gen/gen_l10n/l10n.dart';
 
 import '../../../widgets/matrix.dart';
 import '../../controllers/pangea_controller.dart';
@@ -39,6 +40,7 @@ class FindPartnerController extends State<FindPartner> {
   final List<Profile> _userProfilesCache = [];
 
   final scrollController = ScrollController();
+  String? error;
 
   @override
   void initState() {
@@ -67,6 +69,17 @@ class FindPartnerController extends State<FindPartner> {
 
   @override
   Widget build(BuildContext context) {
+    if (error != null && error!.isNotEmpty) {
+      return Center(
+        child: Column(
+          mainAxisAlignment: MainAxisAlignment.center,
+          children: [
+            Text(L10n.of(context)!.oopsSomethingWentWrong),
+            Text(L10n.of(context)!.errorPleaseRefresh),
+          ],
+        ),
+      );
+    }
     return FindPartnerView(this);
   }
 
@@ -92,26 +105,25 @@ class FindPartnerController extends State<FindPartner> {
     if (loading || nextUrl == null) return;
     setState(() => loading = true);
 
-    final String? accessToken =
-        await pangeaController.userController.accessToken;
-    if (accessToken == null) {
-      ErrorHandler.logError(
-        e: "null accessToken in find partner controller",
-        s: StackTrace.current,
+    UserProfileSearchResponse response;
+    try {
+      final String accessToken =
+          await pangeaController.userController.accessToken;
+      response = await PUserRepo.searchUserProfiles(
+        accessToken: accessToken,
+        targetLanguage: targetLanguageSearch.langCode,
+        sourceLanguage: sourceLanguageSearch.langCode,
+        country: countrySearch,
+        limit: 15,
+        pageNumber: nextPage.toString(),
       );
+    } catch (err, s) {
+      error = err.toString();
+      setState(() => loading = false);
+      ErrorHandler.logError(e: err, s: s);
       return;
     }
 
-    final UserProfileSearchResponse response =
-        await PUserRepo.searchUserProfiles(
-      accessToken: accessToken,
-      targetLanguage: targetLanguageSearch.langCode,
-      sourceLanguage: sourceLanguageSearch.langCode,
-      country: countrySearch,
-      limit: 15,
-      pageNumber: nextPage.toString(),
-    );
-
     nextUrl = response.next;
     nextPage++;
 
diff --git a/lib/pangea/repo/span_data_repo.dart b/lib/pangea/repo/span_data_repo.dart
index 3c2eb2ab3..cc5c0640a 100644
--- a/lib/pangea/repo/span_data_repo.dart
+++ b/lib/pangea/repo/span_data_repo.dart
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ import '../network/urls.dart';
 
 class SpanDataRepo {
   static Future<SpanDetailsRepoReqAndRes> getSpanDetails(
-    String? accessToken, {
+    String accessToken, {
     required SpanDetailsRepoReqAndRes request,
   }) async {
     final Requests req = Requests(
diff --git a/lib/pangea/repo/topic_data_repo.dart b/lib/pangea/repo/topic_data_repo.dart
index 9a5def03f..7a4ce049f 100644
--- a/lib/pangea/repo/topic_data_repo.dart
+++ b/lib/pangea/repo/topic_data_repo.dart
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 import 'dart:convert';
 
 import 'package:flutter/services.dart';
-
 import 'package:http/http.dart';
 
 import '../config/environment.dart';
@@ -12,7 +11,7 @@ import '../network/urls.dart';
 /// accepts ChatTopic and calls an API for a list of Lemma
 class TopicDataRepo {
   static Future<ChatTopic> generate(
-    String? accessToken, {
+    String accessToken, {
     required TopicDataRequest request,
   }) async {
     final Requests req = Requests(
diff --git a/lib/pangea/widgets/chat/message_audio_card.dart b/lib/pangea/widgets/chat/message_audio_card.dart
index 5c1f8e67b..cfae4282a 100644
--- a/lib/pangea/widgets/chat/message_audio_card.dart
+++ b/lib/pangea/widgets/chat/message_audio_card.dart
@@ -46,7 +46,6 @@ class MessageAudioCardState extends State<MessageAudioCard> {
           await widget.messageEvent.getMatrixAudioFile(langCode, context);
       if (mounted) setState(() => _isLoading = false);
     } catch (e, _) {
-      debugPrint(StackTrace.current.toString());
       if (!mounted) return;
       setState(() => _isLoading = false);
       ScaffoldMessenger.of(context).showSnackBar(
diff --git a/lib/pangea/widgets/chat/message_translation_card.dart b/lib/pangea/widgets/chat/message_translation_card.dart
index 9ee15faf7..fd80df134 100644
--- a/lib/pangea/widgets/chat/message_translation_card.dart
+++ b/lib/pangea/widgets/chat/message_translation_card.dart
@@ -58,17 +58,9 @@ class MessageTranslationCardState extends State<MessageTranslationCard> {
     }
 
     oldSelectedText = widget.selection.selectedText;
-    final String? accessToken =
+    final String accessToken =
         await MatrixState.pangeaController.userController.accessToken;
 
-    if (accessToken == null) {
-      ErrorHandler.logError(
-        e: "null accessToken in translateSelection",
-        s: StackTrace.current,
-      );
-      return;
-    }
-
     final resp = await FullTextTranslationRepo.translate(
       accessToken: accessToken,
       request: FullTextTranslationRequestModel(