diff --git a/tests/mobile/cdp.mjs b/tests/mobile/cdp.mjs
index c9cb0ec..913cfc5 100644
--- a/tests/mobile/cdp.mjs
+++ b/tests/mobile/cdp.mjs
@@ -97,12 +97,13 @@ export async function attachPhone(port) {
     /* The devtools socket is registered by the WebView, not by the process, so
        there is a window after a launch where the app is up, focused and has a
        pid, and the socket does not exist yet. On a loaded machine that window
-       has been as long as ten seconds — a walk that attached once and gave up
-       read it as "is SoulStream on screen?" when it plainly was. Try for a
-       while, re-reading the pid each time in case the app restarted under us. */
+       has been longer than CDP.attach’s own forty seconds of patience — and the walk
+       then reported "is SoulStream on screen?" about an app that plainly was. Each
+       attempt below already waits 40s; three of them is the ceiling, re-reading the
+       pid each time in case the app restarted underneath us. */
     let pid = "";
     let last = null;
-    for (let attempt = 0; attempt < 6; attempt++) {
+    for (let attempt = 0; attempt < 3; attempt++) {
         pid = adb("shell", "pidof", "com.soulstream.app").toString().trim();
         if (pid) {
             adb("forward", "--remove-all");
diff --git a/tests/mobile/smoke.mjs b/tests/mobile/smoke.mjs
index 4937ac6..0c0a69c 100644
--- a/tests/mobile/smoke.mjs
+++ b/tests/mobile/smoke.mjs
@@ -2290,6 +2290,23 @@ async function main() {
         steps = PHONE_STEPS; expect = PHONE_EXPECT; prefix = "phone-";
         still = phoneStill;
         console.log("attached to the phone's WebView (pid " + pid + ")");
+        /* A walk follows a fresh install, so the app is always cold here: the
+           shell mounts, the library loads, Soulseek logs in and the share
+           index is built. Attaching only proves the WebView answers — it says
+           nothing about the app being up. Starting anyway means the first
+           steps run against a half-mounted page and get reported as broken
+           features, which is exactly how an hour went once. Wait for the
+           handle the walk actually drives. */
+        const upFrom = Date.now();
+        let up = false;
+        while (Date.now() - upFrom < 90_000) {
+            try {
+                if (await cdp.evaluate(`!!(window.__ss && document.querySelector('.app'))`) === true) { up = true; break; }
+            } catch { /* a page mid-navigation answers nothing; ask again */ }
+            await sleep(1000);
+        }
+        if (!up) throw new Error("the app never came up on the phone (no __ss and no .app after 90s)");
+        console.log("the app is up (" + ((Date.now() - upFrom) / 1000).toFixed(1) + "s after attaching)");
     } else {
         if (!CHROME) throw new Error("Chrome not found");
         console.log("building dist-smoke/ …");