diff --git a/src/lib/__tests__/push-background-task.test.ts b/src/lib/__tests__/push-background-task.test.ts
index f2cc64a1..7f9e384b 100644
--- a/src/lib/__tests__/push-background-task.test.ts
+++ b/src/lib/__tests__/push-background-task.test.ts
@@ -544,11 +544,33 @@ describe('pushBackgroundTask keeps the push subscription alive', () => {
     expect(server.calls).toContain('PushSubscription/set');
   });
 
-  it('leaves alone a subscription with time left, one that lapsed, one of unknown expiry and one push was turned off for', async () => {
+  it('asks the server when the recorded expiry has passed or is unknown, which may be stale', async () => {
     for (const setup of [
-      () => recorded(6.5 * DAY),
       () => recorded(-DAY),
       () => AsyncStorage.removeItem(`push:subscriptionExpires:v1:${LOCAL}`),
+    ]) {
+      // The server's copy runs out in two days: extended.
+      Object.assign(server, { expires: new Date(Date.now() + 2 * DAY).toISOString(), calls: [] });
+      await AsyncStorage.multiRemove([`push:notifiedIds:v1:${LOCAL}`, `push:lastNotifiedEmailId:v2:${LOCAL}`]);
+      await setup();
+      await push();
+      expect(server.calls).toEqual(['Email/get', 'PushSubscription/get', 'PushSubscription/set', 'PushSubscription/get']);
+      expect(await AsyncStorage.getItem(`push:subscriptionExpires:v1:${LOCAL}`)).toBe(server.expires);
+
+      // The server's copy has a week left: recorded, not written.
+      const serverExpires = new Date(Date.now() + 6.5 * DAY).toISOString();
+      Object.assign(server, { expires: serverExpires, calls: [] });
+      await AsyncStorage.multiRemove([`push:notifiedIds:v1:${LOCAL}`, `push:lastNotifiedEmailId:v2:${LOCAL}`]);
+      await setup();
+      await push();
+      expect(server.calls).toEqual(['Email/get', 'PushSubscription/get']);
+      expect(await AsyncStorage.getItem(`push:subscriptionExpires:v1:${LOCAL}`)).toBe(serverExpires);
+    }
+  });
+
+  it('leaves alone a subscription with time left and one push was turned off for', async () => {
+    for (const setup of [
+      () => recorded(6.5 * DAY),
       async () => {
         await recorded(2 * DAY);
         await AsyncStorage.setItem(`push:optedOut:v1:${LOCAL}`, '1');
diff --git a/src/lib/__tests__/push-notifications.test.ts b/src/lib/__tests__/push-notifications.test.ts
index 54acc715..917ea8ee 100644
--- a/src/lib/__tests__/push-notifications.test.ts
+++ b/src/lib/__tests__/push-notifications.test.ts
@@ -1439,6 +1439,19 @@ describe('resyncPushNotifications', () => {
     expect(await AsyncStorage.getItem(EXPIRES_KEY)).toBe(expires);
   });
 
+  it('records the expiry the server settled on after a refresh, not the one before it', async () => {
+    const before = inDays(1);
+    const after = inDays(7);
+    await AsyncStorage.setItem(SUB_KEY, 'existing');
+    listMock.mockResolvedValueOnce([{ id: 'existing', deviceClientId: OUR_DCID, expires: before, types: ['EmailDelivery'] }]);
+    listMock.mockResolvedValueOnce([{ id: 'existing', deviceClientId: OUR_DCID, expires: after, types: ['EmailDelivery'] }]);
+
+    await resyncPushNotifications({ relayBaseUrl: RELAY });
+
+    expect(updateMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(await AsyncStorage.getItem(EXPIRES_KEY)).toBe(after);
+  });
+
   it('leaves an account alone after the user turned push off for it', async () => {
     await AsyncStorage.setItem(SUB_KEY, 'existing');
     await AsyncStorage.setItem('push:accountIds:v1', JSON.stringify([ACCOUNT_ID]));
diff --git a/src/lib/push-background-task.ts b/src/lib/push-background-task.ts
index 026b608d..985a76e0 100644
--- a/src/lib/push-background-task.ts
+++ b/src/lib/push-background-task.ts
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ import {
   migrateLegacyPushKeys,
   notifiedIdsKey,
   pushSubscriptionDueForExtension,
+  pushSubscriptionNeedsExtension,
   readPushAccountIds,
   readPushJmapAccountIds,
   recordPushSubscriptionExpires,
@@ -481,6 +482,11 @@ async function extendPushSubscription(accountId: string, session: DetachedSessio
     '0',
   );
   if (!current || (current.deviceClientId && due.deviceClientId && current.deviceClientId !== due.deviceClientId)) return;
+  // The recorded expiry was stale: the server's copy has time left.
+  if (current.expires && !pushSubscriptionNeedsExtension(current.expires)) {
+    await recordPushSubscriptionExpires(accountId, current.expires);
+    return;
+  }
   const responses = await jmapPost(session, [
     ['PushSubscription/set', { update: { [due.id]: { expires: wantedPushSubscriptionExpires() } } }, '0'],
     // The update's answer doesn't say what the server settled on.
diff --git a/src/lib/push-notifications.ts b/src/lib/push-notifications.ts
index e0758ffa..0e024f1b 100644
--- a/src/lib/push-notifications.ts
+++ b/src/lib/push-notifications.ts
@@ -1331,6 +1331,11 @@ async function setupPushNotificationsInner(
           throw subscriptionError(err, relayBaseUrl);
         }
         if (refreshed) {
+          // The update's answer doesn't say what the server settled on, and
+          // the expiry recorded above is from before it. Left there, it would
+          // read as lapsed days before the server's copy is, which turns the
+          // background extension off for an account without new mail.
+          if (refreshed.updated) await recordServerExpiry(accountId, match.id, deviceClientId);
           await rememberRefusedEmailPushAccounts(accountId, refusedBefore, emailPush, refreshed.emailPush);
           await addPushAccountId(accountId);
           await writePushJmapAccountId(accountId, jmapAccountId);
@@ -1470,9 +1475,9 @@ async function addPushAccountId(accountId: string): Promise<void> {
 // update with a SetError, also with the mail types alone (the subscription is
 // gone, or no narrower map is accepted), which the caller answers with a
 // replacement; otherwise the emailPush map the update installed (null when it
-// left the filter alone). Every other failure - the network, a timeout, rate
-// limiting, a refused method call - says nothing about the subscription and
-// is thrown.
+// left the filter alone) and whether it wrote anything. Every other failure -
+// the network, a timeout, rate limiting, a refused method call - says nothing
+// about the subscription and is thrown.
 async function refreshSubscriptionExpires(
   sub: {
     id: string;
@@ -1483,7 +1488,7 @@ async function refreshSubscriptionExpires(
   // null when the server has no emailPush support - leave the property alone.
   desiredEmailPush: Record<string, EmailPushConfig> | null,
   types: readonly string[],
-): Promise<false | { emailPush: Record<string, EmailPushConfig> | null }> {
+): Promise<false | { emailPush: Record<string, EmailPushConfig> | null; updated: boolean }> {
   const typesNeedUpdate = !sameTypes(sub.types, types);
   const emailPushNeedsUpdate =
     desiredEmailPush !== null && !sameEmailPush(sub.emailPush, desiredEmailPush);
@@ -1492,7 +1497,7 @@ async function refreshSubscriptionExpires(
     const thresholdMs = SUBSCRIPTION_REFRESH_THRESHOLD_DAYS * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000;
     if (Number.isFinite(remainingMs) && remainingMs > thresholdMs) {
       // Plenty of life left - skip the update round-trip.
-      return { emailPush: null };
+      return { emailPush: null, updated: false };
     }
   }
   try {
@@ -1505,7 +1510,7 @@ async function refreshSubscriptionExpires(
         emailPushNeedsUpdate ? desiredEmailPush : null,
         (filter) => updatePushSubscription(sub.id, filter ? { ...patch, emailPush: filter } : patch),
       );
-      return { emailPush };
+      return { emailPush, updated: true };
     });
   } catch (err) {
     if (isJMAPSetError(err)) return false;
@@ -1513,6 +1518,22 @@ async function refreshSubscriptionExpires(
   }
 }
 
+/**
+ * Record the expiry the server holds for the account's subscription, read
+ * back after an update. Best effort: without an answer the recorded one
+ * stays, and the background extension asks the server itself.
+ */
+async function recordServerExpiry(accountId: string, subscriptionId: string, deviceClientId: string): Promise<void> {
+  try {
+    const current = (await listPushSubscriptions()).find(
+      (s) => s.id === subscriptionId && (!s.deviceClientId || s.deviceClientId === deviceClientId),
+    );
+    if (current?.expires) await AsyncStorage.setItem(subscriptionExpiresKey(accountId), current.expires);
+  } catch {
+    // The next run reads it again.
+  }
+}
+
 async function deregisterFromRelay(
   relayBaseUrl: string,
   deviceClientId: string,
@@ -1573,12 +1594,21 @@ export async function forgetPushSubscriptionExpiry(accountId: string): Promise<v
 // at most about once a day: once less than this much of it is left.
 const BACKGROUND_EXTEND_BELOW_MS = 6 * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000;
 
+/** Whether a subscription expiring then is due for a background extension. */
+export function pushSubscriptionNeedsExtension(expires: string | null | undefined): boolean {
+  const at = Date.parse(expires ?? '');
+  return !Number.isFinite(at) || at - Date.now() < BACKGROUND_EXTEND_BELOW_MS;
+}
+
 /**
- * The account's subscription when a background push should extend it: it is
- * recorded with a known expiry that has not passed yet (a lapsed one is the
- * launch-time resync's to re-create) and is less than six days away. Carries
- * this device's client id, so the caller can make sure a server that reused
- * the id hands back our own subscription.
+ * The account's subscription when a background push may have to extend it:
+ * it is recorded, and its recorded expiry is less than six days away, has
+ * passed or is unknown. Only the first is certain: the record can be older
+ * than the server's copy (a refresh whose answer never came back), so the
+ * caller reads the server's expiry before it extends anything. A push arriving
+ * at all says some subscription still delivers. Carries this device's client
+ * id, so the caller can make sure a server that reused the id hands back our
+ * own subscription.
  */
 export async function pushSubscriptionDueForExtension(
   accountId: string,
@@ -1586,10 +1616,7 @@ export async function pushSubscriptionDueForExtension(
   if (await AsyncStorage.getItem(optedOutKey(accountId))) return null;
   const id = await AsyncStorage.getItem(subscriptionIdKey(accountId));
   if (!id) return null;
-  const expires = Date.parse((await AsyncStorage.getItem(subscriptionExpiresKey(accountId))) ?? '');
-  if (!Number.isFinite(expires)) return null;
-  const left = expires - Date.now();
-  if (left <= 0 || left >= BACKGROUND_EXTEND_BELOW_MS) return null;
+  if (!pushSubscriptionNeedsExtension(await AsyncStorage.getItem(subscriptionExpiresKey(accountId)))) return null;
   return { id, deviceClientId: await AsyncStorage.getItem(deviceClientIdKey(accountId)) };
 }