Ya, I agree. Possibly you could make the border around them a soft white?

Really good, possibly a color variant, or having the names alternate between sender and receiver?

Ya, I cant change the colors either?

Great! If you could put something green (like a check) inside of the online/available circle it would make them PERFECT!

Great! If you could put something green (like a check) inside of the online/available circle it would make them PERFECT!