diff --git a/mobile/src/session/mobile-native-chat-pending-baseline.test.ts b/mobile/src/session/mobile-native-chat-pending-baseline.test.ts
index f421cbd388c..8ec1671b0a1 100644
--- a/mobile/src/session/mobile-native-chat-pending-baseline.test.ts
+++ b/mobile/src/session/mobile-native-chat-pending-baseline.test.ts
@@ -100,16 +100,29 @@ describe('rebaseMobileNativeChatPendingBaselines', () => {
     })
   })
 
-  // An image echo counts image turns AFTER its tail, so moving the tail onto this
-  // read would discard an echo the read already carries.
-  it('keeps a caption-less image echo on its captured tail', () => {
-    const images = { ...unresolved('p1', ''), images: ['file:///a.png'] }
+  // An image echo counts image turns AFTER its tail, so moving a real tail onto
+  // this read would discard an echo the read already carries.
+  it('keeps a caption-less image echo on the tail it actually captured', () => {
+    const images = {
+      ...unresolved('p1', ''),
+      baselineTailMessageId: 'm1',
+      images: ['file:///a.png']
+    }
+    const rebased = rebaseMobileNativeChatPendingBaselines(history, [images])
+    expect(rebased[0]?.baselineTailMessageId).toBe('m1')
+    expect(rebased[0]?.expectedOccurrence).toBe(1)
+    expect(rebased[0]?.baselineResolved).toBe(true)
+  })
+
+  // A null tail counts from the top of the transcript, so an image turn already
+  // in this read would claim the send and take the user's fresh photo with it.
+  it('pins a caption-less image echo that captured no tail at all', () => {
     const rebased = rebaseMobileNativeChatPendingBaselines(history, [
-      images,
+      { ...unresolved('p1', ''), images: ['file:///a.png'] },
       { ...unresolved('p2', '', 2), images: ['file:///b.png'] }
     ])
+    expect(rebased.map((item) => item.baselineTailMessageId)).toEqual(['m2', 'm2'])
     expect(rebased.map((item) => item.expectedOccurrence)).toEqual([1, 2])
-    expect(rebased.map((item) => item.baselineTailMessageId)).toEqual([null, null])
     expect(rebased.every((item) => item.baselineResolved)).toBe(true)
   })
 })
diff --git a/mobile/src/session/mobile-native-chat-pending-baseline.ts b/mobile/src/session/mobile-native-chat-pending-baseline.ts
index 995e3a6a650..99d7cc2134d 100644
--- a/mobile/src/session/mobile-native-chat-pending-baseline.ts
+++ b/mobile/src/session/mobile-native-chat-pending-baseline.ts
@@ -21,9 +21,11 @@ import type { MobileNativeChatPendingMessage } from './mobile-native-chat-pendin
  * anything the transcript can supply, which strands the bubble for the rest of
  * the session and stops its whole run from ever gluing.
  *
- * A caption-less image echo keeps its captured tail: it reconciles by counting
- * image turns AFTER that tail, so pinning the tail past this read would throw
- * away an echo the read already carries.
+ * A caption-less image echo keeps a captured tail it actually has: it reconciles
+ * by counting image turns AFTER that tail, so moving the tail onto this read
+ * would throw away an echo the read already carries. A null tail is not such a
+ * boundary — it counts from the top of the transcript, so an old image turn can
+ * claim the send and bind the user's fresh photo to it. Those get pinned too.
  */
 export function rebaseMobileNativeChatPendingBaselines(
   messages: readonly NativeChatMessage[],
@@ -37,7 +39,8 @@ export function rebaseMobileNativeChatPendingBaselines(
     if (item.baselineResolved) {
       return item
     }
-    return item.images?.length || normalizeReconcileText(item.text) === ''
+    const countsAfterItsOwnTail = item.images?.length || normalizeReconcileText(item.text) === ''
+    return countsAfterItsOwnTail && item.baselineTailMessageId !== null
       ? { ...item, baselineResolved: true }
       : { ...item, baselineResolved: true, baselineTailMessageId }
   })
diff --git a/mobile/src/session/use-mobile-native-chat-drafts-glued-pending.test.ts b/mobile/src/session/use-mobile-native-chat-drafts-glued-pending.test.ts
index 3079691adb2..2b89164ac06 100644
--- a/mobile/src/session/use-mobile-native-chat-drafts-glued-pending.test.ts
+++ b/mobile/src/session/use-mobile-native-chat-drafts-glued-pending.test.ts
@@ -229,9 +229,11 @@ describe('useMobileNativeChatDrafts glued pending sends', () => {
     // The read that resolves a hydration-time send can already contain that
     // send's own echo — a re-subscribe returns whatever exists now — and nothing
     // local tells that echo from an identical older prompt. Claiming the row is
-    // the safe direction: being wrong costs one round trip of invisibility,
-    // while holding costs a queued bubble that never clears and a run that can
-    // never glue again.
+    // the lesser evil, not a free one: normally the real echo lands a round trip
+    // later, but a send that never landed and was claimed by an older identical
+    // row stops being tracked at all — worst for short repeats ("yes", "1").
+    // Holding instead costs a queued bubble that never clears AND a run that can
+    // never glue again, for the rest of the session.
     it('retires a hydration-time send whose echo arrives with the read', async () => {
       await mount([], true)
       act(() => send('run the tests'))
diff --git a/mobile/src/session/use-mobile-native-chat-drafts-launch-draft.test.ts b/mobile/src/session/use-mobile-native-chat-drafts-launch-draft.test.ts
index 665d3ac1f2f..0c8d3bf674a 100644
--- a/mobile/src/session/use-mobile-native-chat-drafts-launch-draft.test.ts
+++ b/mobile/src/session/use-mobile-native-chat-drafts-launch-draft.test.ts
@@ -36,7 +36,8 @@ describe('useMobileNativeChatDrafts launch draft', () => {
     launchDraft = null,
     launchDraftCreatedAt = null,
     chatActive = true,
-    transcriptLoading = false
+    transcriptLoading = false,
+    transcriptSettled = !transcriptLoading
   }: {
     tabId: string
     sessionId?: string | null
@@ -45,6 +46,7 @@ describe('useMobileNativeChatDrafts launch draft', () => {
     launchDraftCreatedAt?: number | null
     chatActive?: boolean
     transcriptLoading?: boolean
+    transcriptSettled?: boolean
   }): null {
     state = useMobileNativeChatDrafts({
       hostId: 'host',
@@ -55,7 +57,8 @@ describe('useMobileNativeChatDrafts launch draft', () => {
       launchDraft,
       launchDraftCreatedAt,
       chatActive,
-      transcriptLoading
+      transcriptLoading,
+      transcriptSettled
     })
     return null
   }
diff --git a/mobile/src/session/use-mobile-native-chat-drafts.test.ts b/mobile/src/session/use-mobile-native-chat-drafts.test.ts
index daf451e53f9..2a5ff2d54c6 100644
--- a/mobile/src/session/use-mobile-native-chat-drafts.test.ts
+++ b/mobile/src/session/use-mobile-native-chat-drafts.test.ts
@@ -42,7 +42,8 @@ describe('useMobileNativeChatDrafts', () => {
     messages = [],
     launchDraft = null,
     chatActive = true,
-    transcriptLoading = false
+    transcriptLoading = false,
+    transcriptSettled = !transcriptLoading
   }: {
     tabId: string
     sessionId?: string | null
@@ -50,6 +51,7 @@ describe('useMobileNativeChatDrafts', () => {
     launchDraft?: string | null
     chatActive?: boolean
     transcriptLoading?: boolean
+    transcriptSettled?: boolean
   }): null {
     state = useMobileNativeChatDrafts({
       hostId: 'host',
@@ -59,7 +61,8 @@ describe('useMobileNativeChatDrafts', () => {
       messages,
       launchDraft,
       chatActive,
-      transcriptLoading
+      transcriptLoading,
+      transcriptSettled
     })
     return null
   }
diff --git a/mobile/src/session/use-mobile-native-chat-drafts.ts b/mobile/src/session/use-mobile-native-chat-drafts.ts
index 64cdf7cdc99..e11df733987 100644
--- a/mobile/src/session/use-mobile-native-chat-drafts.ts
+++ b/mobile/src/session/use-mobile-native-chat-drafts.ts
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ export function useMobileNativeChatDrafts(args: {
   /** `messages` is this session's own settled history — so an empty one really
    *  is an empty conversation, not a read that failed or never ran. Only then
    *  does a send's captured tail describe a real boundary. */
-  transcriptSettled?: boolean
+  transcriptSettled: boolean
 }): {
   composerText: string
   setComposerText: Dispatch<SetStateAction<string>>
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ export function useMobileNativeChatDrafts(args: {
     launchDraftCreatedAt,
     chatActive = true,
     transcriptLoading,
-    transcriptSettled = !transcriptLoading
+    transcriptSettled
   } = args
   const draftKey = mobileNativeChatScopeKey(hostId, worktreeId, tabId)
   const pendingKey = draftKey && sessionId ? `${draftKey}\0${sessionId}` : null