diff --git a/src/Identity.cpp b/src/Identity.cpp
index 51a01ae71d8..ab54929143d 100644
--- a/src/Identity.cpp
+++ b/src/Identity.cpp
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ void LocalIdentity::printTo(Stream& s) const {
   s.print("prv_key: "); Utils::printHex(s, prv_key, PRV_KEY_SIZE); s.println();
 }
 
-size_t LocalIdentity::writeTo(uint8_t* dest, size_t max_len) {
+size_t LocalIdentity::writeTo(uint8_t* dest, size_t max_len) const {
   if (max_len < PRV_KEY_SIZE) return 0;  // not big enough
 
   if (max_len < PRV_KEY_SIZE + PUB_KEY_SIZE) {  // only room for prv_key
diff --git a/src/Identity.h b/src/Identity.h
index 008f7b5bf63..7f2b1b8c885 100644
--- a/src/Identity.h
+++ b/src/Identity.h
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ class LocalIdentity : public Identity {
   bool readFrom(Stream& s);
   bool writeTo(Stream& s) const;
   void printTo(Stream& s) const;
-  size_t writeTo(uint8_t* dest, size_t max_len);
+  size_t writeTo(uint8_t* dest, size_t max_len) const;
   void readFrom(const uint8_t* src, size_t len);
 };
 
diff --git a/src/helpers/IdentityStore.cpp b/src/helpers/IdentityStore.cpp
index dc85d69cddc..42b84069e64 100644
--- a/src/helpers/IdentityStore.cpp
+++ b/src/helpers/IdentityStore.cpp
@@ -42,6 +42,56 @@ bool IdentityStore::load(const char *name, mesh::LocalIdentity& id, char display
   return loaded;
 }
 
+// Compares two identities over all 96 bytes. prv_key is private, so the
+// comparison runs over the buffer serialisation that LocalIdentity offers
+// publicly. Its layout does not have to match the file, it only has to be the
+// same on both sides.
+static bool sameIdentity(const mesh::LocalIdentity& a, const mesh::LocalIdentity& b) {
+  uint8_t ab[PRV_KEY_SIZE + PUB_KEY_SIZE];
+  uint8_t bb[PRV_KEY_SIZE + PUB_KEY_SIZE];
+  return a.writeTo(ab, sizeof(ab)) == sizeof(ab)
+      && b.writeTo(bb, sizeof(bb)) == sizeof(bb)
+      && memcmp(ab, bb, sizeof(ab)) == 0;
+}
+
+// A write that reports success is not proof that the medium took the data, so
+// both overloads read the file back after closing it. File::close() is void in
+// every platform branch of this file and drops the error it is handed, which
+// is where the gap is.
+//
+// Measured against the two filesystem stacks this file talks to, with the 96
+// bytes of an identity:
+//
+// littlefs, on nRF52 with prog_size 128 and on STM32 with prog_size 2048: a
+// full filesystem and a failing erase are reported by lfs_file_write() itself,
+// as LFS_ERR_NOSPC and LFS_ERR_IO. A failing program is not. The two writes
+// return 32 and 64 and the error turns up in lfs_file_close(), whose result
+// Adafruit_LittleFS' void close() drops.
+//
+// ESP32: nothing reaches the caller at write time at all. The core opens files
+// fully buffered, setvbuf(_IOFBF, 4096) in libraries/FS/src/vfs_api.cpp, and
+// VFSFileImpl::write() is fwrite(), so the 96 bytes stay in that buffer until
+// close() calls fclose() and throws its result away. On a full filesystem
+// fwrite() returns 32 and then 64 and fclose() returns -1. Both ESP32
+// filesystems are affected, LittleFSImpl and SPIFFSImpl derive from VFSImpl.
+//
+// A read back that cannot be done at all counts as a failed save. That is
+// deliberate: an identity nobody can read is of no use to the next boot.
+bool IdentityStore::verifySaved(const char *name, const mesh::LocalIdentity& id) {
+  mesh::LocalIdentity stored;
+  if (!load(name, stored)) return false;   // file gone, empty or too short
+  return sameIdentity(id, stored);
+}
+
+bool IdentityStore::verifySaved(const char *name, const mesh::LocalIdentity& id, const uint8_t expected_name[32]) {
+  mesh::LocalIdentity stored;
+  char stored_name[32];
+  memset(stored_name, 0, sizeof(stored_name));   // load() fills at most 32 bytes
+  if (!load(name, stored, stored_name, (int) sizeof(stored_name))) return false;
+  if (!sameIdentity(id, stored)) return false;
+  return memcmp(stored_name, expected_name, sizeof(stored_name)) == 0;
+}
+
 bool IdentityStore::save(const char *name, const mesh::LocalIdentity& id) {
   char filename[40];
   sprintf(filename, "%s/%s.id", _dir, name);
@@ -58,7 +108,11 @@ bool IdentityStore::save(const char *name, const mesh::LocalIdentity& id) {
     bool success = id.writeTo(file);
     file.close();
     MESH_DEBUG_PRINTLN("IdentityStore::save() write - %s", success ? "OK" : "Err");
-    return true;
+    if (success && !verifySaved(name, id)) {
+      MESH_DEBUG_PRINTLN("IdentityStore::save() verify - Err");
+      success = false;
+    }
+    return success;
   }
   MESH_DEBUG_PRINTLN("IdentityStore::save() failed");
   return false;
@@ -77,17 +131,23 @@ bool IdentityStore::save(const char *name, const mesh::LocalIdentity& id, const
   File file = _fs->open(filename, "w", true);
 #endif
   if (file) {
-    id.writeTo(file);
+    bool success = id.writeTo(file);
 
     uint8_t tmp[32];
     memset(tmp, 0, sizeof(tmp));
     int n = strlen(display_name);
     if (n > sizeof(tmp)-1) n = sizeof(tmp)-1;
     memcpy(tmp, display_name, n);
-    file.write(tmp, sizeof(tmp));
+    success = success && (file.write(tmp, sizeof(tmp)) == sizeof(tmp));
 
     file.close();
-    return true;
+    MESH_DEBUG_PRINTLN("IdentityStore::save() write - %s", success ? "OK" : "Err");
+    if (success && !verifySaved(name, id, tmp)) {
+      MESH_DEBUG_PRINTLN("IdentityStore::save() verify - Err");
+      success = false;
+    }
+    return success;
   }
+  MESH_DEBUG_PRINTLN("IdentityStore::save() failed");
   return false;
 }
diff --git a/src/helpers/IdentityStore.h b/src/helpers/IdentityStore.h
index d0d7ee457ef..29d404f8c69 100644
--- a/src/helpers/IdentityStore.h
+++ b/src/helpers/IdentityStore.h
@@ -23,4 +23,11 @@ class IdentityStore {
   bool load(const char *name, mesh::LocalIdentity& id, char display_name[], int max_name_sz);
   bool save(const char *name, const mesh::LocalIdentity& id);
   bool save(const char *name, const mesh::LocalIdentity& id, const char display_name[]);
+
+private:
+  // Reads back what save() just wrote and compares it. The comment above the
+  // definition in IdentityStore.cpp says why the return value of write() is
+  // not enough on its own.
+  bool verifySaved(const char *name, const mesh::LocalIdentity& id);
+  bool verifySaved(const char *name, const mesh::LocalIdentity& id, const uint8_t expected_name[32]);
 };