diff --git a/frontend/app.js b/frontend/app.js
index 3dde6cf..be83f64 100755
--- a/frontend/app.js
+++ b/frontend/app.js
@@ -731,26 +731,39 @@ const Player = {
 
   // Shared by the 1s watchdog tick and the master 'playing' handler so both
   // paths get the same no-pop behavior.
+  //
+  // AUDIO IS THE CLOCK. Corrections are applied to the muted <video>, never
+  // to the playing <audio>: seeking or rate-shifting the silent element is
+  // invisible, while the same operation on the sounding element is exactly
+  // the "stutter" users hear. On a phone that can't sustain the video
+  // bitrate, the video rebuffers in a loop — under the old master-is-clock
+  // scheme every one of those cycles seeked the live audio (and backgrounding
+  // the app, which halts video decode and this timer, made playback smooth —
+  // the reported iPhone symptom).
   correctDrift() {
     if (this.mode !== 'dual' || !this.secondary || this.master.paused) return;
+    if (this.secondary.paused) return; // resume paths own this case
     const drift = this.secondary.currentTime - this.master.currentTime;
     const abs = Math.abs(drift);
     if (abs >= this.HARD_SYNC_THRESHOLD) {
-      this.secondary.currentTime = this.master.currentTime;
+      // Snap the muted video onto the audio clock (inaudible).
+      this._internalSeek = true;
+      this.master.currentTime = this.secondary.currentTime;
       this._resyncSpeed();
     } else if (abs >= this.SOFT_SYNC_THRESHOLD) {
-      // Audio ahead of video -> slow audio down; audio behind -> speed it up.
+      // Video behind audio -> speed the video up; ahead -> slow it down.
       const base = parseFloat(els.speed.value) || 1;
-      this.secondary.playbackRate = drift > 0 ? base - this.SLEW_RATE : base + this.SLEW_RATE;
+      this.master.playbackRate = drift > 0 ? base + this.SLEW_RATE : base - this.SLEW_RATE;
     } else {
       this._resyncSpeed();
     }
   },
-  // Restore the secondary's playbackRate to the user-selected speed once
-  // drift is within tolerance (or after a hard snap) so a slew correction
-  // never lingers and overshoots.
+  // Restore playbackRates to the user-selected speed once drift is within
+  // tolerance (or after a hard snap) so a slew correction never lingers and
+  // overshoots.
   _resyncSpeed() {
     const base = parseFloat(els.speed.value) || 1;
+    if (this.master && this.master.playbackRate !== base) this.master.playbackRate = base;
     if (this.secondary && this.secondary.playbackRate !== base) this.secondary.playbackRate = base;
   },
 
@@ -866,35 +879,52 @@ function wirePlayerEvents() {
   function bind(el) {
     el.addEventListener('play', () => { if (masterIs(el) && Player.secondary && Player.secondary.paused) { Player.secondary.currentTime = el.currentTime; Player.secondary.play().catch(() => {}); } updatePlayBtn(); });
     el.addEventListener('pause', () => { if (masterIs(el) && Player.secondary) { Player.clearBufferGrace(); Player.secondary.pause(); } updatePlayBtn(); });
-    el.addEventListener('seeking', () => { if (masterIs(el) && Player.secondary) Player.secondary.currentTime = el.currentTime; });
-    // A brief 'waiting' (video re-buffering under CPU/memory pressure) used to
-    // pause the synced audio immediately — every few-hundred-ms video stall
-    // cut audio output, which is heard as a stutter even though the audio
-    // pipeline itself was fine. Give the video a short grace window to
-    // recover on its own before touching the still-playing audio track; only
-    // pause it if the stall actually outlasts that window.
+    el.addEventListener('seeking', () => {
+      if (!masterIs(el) || !Player.secondary) return;
+      // Drift correction seeks the muted video onto the audio clock; mirroring
+      // that back onto the audio would re-create the audible snap it exists to
+      // avoid. Only user/programmatic seeks propagate to the audio.
+      if (Player._internalSeek) { Player._internalSeek = false; return; }
+      Player.secondary.currentTime = el.currentTime;
+    });
+    // Video re-buffering must NEVER interrupt the audio: the audio element is
+    // the playback clock (see correctDrift). Earlier versions paused the
+    // synced audio when a video stall outlasted a 250ms grace window and
+    // snapped its clock on recovery — on a phone that can't sustain the video
+    // bitrate that cycle repeats indefinitely and is heard as constant
+    // stuttering. Now a stalling video just shows the spinner and catches up
+    // to the audio clock (or gets snapped forward by the watchdog) when ready.
     el.addEventListener('waiting', () => {
+      if (masterIs(el)) showSpinner(true);
+    });
+    el.addEventListener('playing', () => {
       if (!masterIs(el)) return;
-      showSpinner(true);
-      if (Player.secondary && !Player.secondary.paused) {
-        Player.clearBufferGrace();
-        Player.bufferGraceTimer = setTimeout(() => {
-          Player.bufferGraceTimer = null;
-          if (Player.master.paused || Player.master.readyState < 3) {
-            if (Player.secondary) Player.secondary.pause();
-          }
-        }, 250);
+      showSpinner(false);
+      Player.clearBufferGrace();
+      if (Player.secondary && !el.paused && Player.secondary.paused) {
+        // Resume-only path (audio silently paused by iOS or a real stall):
+        // seeking a *paused* audio element is inaudible, so sync then play.
+        Player.secondary.currentTime = el.currentTime;
+        Player.secondary.play().catch(() => {});
+      } else if (Player.secondary && !el.paused) {
+        // Audio kept playing through the video stall — realign the video.
+        Player.correctDrift();
       }
     });
-    el.addEventListener('playing', () => { if (masterIs(el)) { showSpinner(false); Player.clearBufferGrace(); if (Player.secondary && !el.paused) { Player.secondary.currentTime = el.currentTime; Player.secondary.play().catch(() => {}); } } });
     el.addEventListener('canplay', () => { if (masterIs(el)) showSpinner(false); });
     el.addEventListener('timeupdate', () => {
       if (masterIs(el)) {
         updateProgress();
-        // Persist playback position every 10s
+        // Persist playback position every 10s. timeupdate fires ~4×/s, so
+        // gate on the 10s bucket actually changing — otherwise persist()
+        // (full JSON.stringify + synchronous localStorage write) ran ~4
+        // times back-to-back within each matching second, a periodic
+        // main-thread stall on phones.
         if (current && current.meta) {
           const t = Player.master.currentTime;
-          if (t > 5 && Math.floor(t) % 10 === 0) {
+          const bucket = Math.floor(t / 10);
+          if (t > 5 && bucket !== Player._lastPersistBucket) {
+            Player._lastPersistBucket = bucket;
             data.resumePositions[current.meta.id] = t;
             persist();
           }
@@ -2268,6 +2298,15 @@ function showModal(title, bodyNode, actions) {
 }
 function closeModal() { $('modal').classList.add('hidden'); }
 
+// Tapping the dimmed backdrop dismisses the modal (same as Cancel/Later).
+// Guarantees a modal can never permanently swallow every tap on the page —
+// the full-screen backdrop sits above the bottom nav, so a modal the user
+// doesn't notice (e.g. the update prompt popping under their thumb) used to
+// read as "all navigation buttons stopped working".
+$('modal').addEventListener('click', (e) => {
+  if (e.target === $('modal')) closeModal();
+});
+
 // ============================================================================
 // Portrait PWA detection & behavioral layer
 // Mirrors the CSS media query: (display-mode: standalone) and (orientation: portrait)
@@ -2346,6 +2385,20 @@ function setupViewportAnchorGuard() {
   // Exiting native video fullscreen is the most reliable reproducer of the
   // stray-scroll state; the scroll event alone doesn't always fire for it.
   els.video.addEventListener('webkitendfullscreen', () => setTimeout(reanchor, 50));
+  // iOS can offset the layout viewport WITHOUT firing a window scroll event
+  // (keyboard dismissal animations, rotation mid-playback, in-app browser
+  // chrome changes). visualViewport does report those; hook it when present.
+  if (window.visualViewport) {
+    window.visualViewport.addEventListener('scroll', () => setTimeout(reanchor, 50));
+    window.visualViewport.addEventListener('resize', () => setTimeout(reanchor, 50));
+  }
+  document.addEventListener('visibilitychange', () => {
+    if (document.visibilityState === 'visible') setTimeout(reanchor, 50);
+  });
+  // Last-resort safety net for offsets none of the events above report:
+  // a 2s tick that reads scrollY (cheap) and snaps back only when displaced,
+  // so "nav taps silently do nothing" can never persist longer than a beat.
+  setInterval(reanchor, 2000);
 }
 
 // ============================================================================