diff --git a/src/renderer/src/components/terminal-pane/MobileDriverOverlay.tsx b/src/renderer/src/components/terminal-pane/MobileDriverOverlay.tsx
index 6b8c5e807..669251b50 100644
--- a/src/renderer/src/components/terminal-pane/MobileDriverOverlay.tsx
+++ b/src/renderer/src/components/terminal-pane/MobileDriverOverlay.tsx
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import { useEffect, useId, useRef, useState, type ReactElement } from 'react'
 import { Button } from '@/components/ui/button'
 import { cn } from '@/lib/utils'
 import type { DriverState } from '@/lib/pane-manager/mobile-driver-state'
+import { shouldFocusMobileDriverAction } from './mobile-driver-overlay-focus'
 
 type Props = {
   driver: DriverState
@@ -127,8 +128,22 @@ function LoudOverlay({
 }: LoudOverlayProps): ReactElement {
   const titleId = useId()
   const bodyId = useId()
+  const rootRef = useRef<HTMLDivElement>(null)
+  const actionRef = useRef<HTMLButtonElement>(null)
+  // Why: focus the recovery action on mount only when the user isn't already
+  // typing into another input (composer, command palette, settings field).
+  // Unconditional autoFocus yanks focus on every overlay mount, so a phone
+  // taking the floor while the desktop user is typing elsewhere would route
+  // the next Space/Enter into Take back / Restore. See PR #1899 follow-up.
+  useEffect(() => {
+    const paneScope = rootRef.current?.parentElement
+    if (shouldFocusMobileDriverAction(document.activeElement, document.body, paneScope)) {
+      actionRef.current?.focus()
+    }
+  }, [])
   return (
     <div
+      ref={rootRef}
       role="dialog"
       aria-live="assertive"
       aria-labelledby={titleId}
@@ -160,14 +175,14 @@ function LoudOverlay({
               Collapse
             </Button>
           )}
-          {/* autoFocus lands keyboard users on the recovery action when the pane-local lock appears. */}
+          {/* Focus is moved to this button only when no user input is active; see effect above. */}
           <Button
+            ref={actionRef}
             type="button"
             variant="default"
             size="sm"
             onClick={onAction}
             disabled={actionPending}
-            autoFocus
           >
             {actionLabel}
           </Button>
diff --git a/src/renderer/src/components/terminal-pane/mobile-driver-overlay-focus.test.ts b/src/renderer/src/components/terminal-pane/mobile-driver-overlay-focus.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e17841856
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/renderer/src/components/terminal-pane/mobile-driver-overlay-focus.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
+import { shouldFocusMobileDriverAction } from './mobile-driver-overlay-focus'
+
+function focusLike(args: {
+  tagName?: string
+  xterm?: boolean
+  contentEditable?: boolean
+  editableAncestor?: boolean
+  selfMatchesEditable?: boolean
+}): {
+  tagName?: string
+  isContentEditable: boolean
+  classList: { contains: (token: string) => boolean }
+  closest: (selector: string) => unknown
+  contains: (node: unknown) => boolean
+} {
+  const element = {
+    tagName: args.tagName,
+    isContentEditable: args.contentEditable === true,
+    classList: {
+      contains: (token: string) => args.xterm === true && token === 'xterm-helper-textarea'
+    },
+    closest: (selector: string) =>
+      (args.editableAncestor === true || args.selfMatchesEditable === true) &&
+      selector === 'input, textarea, select, [contenteditable=""], [contenteditable="true"]'
+        ? {}
+        : null,
+    contains: (node: unknown) => node === element
+  }
+
+  return element
+}
+
+function scopeContaining(node: unknown): { contains: (candidate: unknown) => boolean } {
+  return {
+    contains: (candidate: unknown) => candidate === node
+  }
+}
+
+describe('shouldFocusMobileDriverAction', () => {
+  it('focuses the recovery action when focus is neutral', () => {
+    const body = focusLike({})
+
+    expect(shouldFocusMobileDriverAction(null, body)).toBe(true)
+    expect(shouldFocusMobileDriverAction(body, body)).toBe(true)
+  })
+
+  it('preserves focus for real editable app controls', () => {
+    expect(
+      shouldFocusMobileDriverAction(focusLike({ tagName: 'INPUT', selfMatchesEditable: true }))
+    ).toBe(false)
+    expect(
+      shouldFocusMobileDriverAction(focusLike({ tagName: 'TEXTAREA', selfMatchesEditable: true }))
+    ).toBe(false)
+    expect(
+      shouldFocusMobileDriverAction(focusLike({ tagName: 'SELECT', selfMatchesEditable: true }))
+    ).toBe(false)
+    expect(shouldFocusMobileDriverAction(focusLike({ editableAncestor: true }))).toBe(false)
+    expect(shouldFocusMobileDriverAction(focusLike({ contentEditable: true }))).toBe(false)
+  })
+
+  it('still focuses the recovery action for xterm helper textareas', () => {
+    const xterm = focusLike({ tagName: 'TEXTAREA', xterm: true })
+
+    expect(shouldFocusMobileDriverAction(xterm, undefined, scopeContaining(xterm))).toBe(true)
+  })
+
+  it('preserves focus for xterm helper textareas outside the overlay pane', () => {
+    const xterm = focusLike({ tagName: 'TEXTAREA', xterm: true })
+
+    expect(shouldFocusMobileDriverAction(xterm, undefined, scopeContaining({}))).toBe(false)
+    expect(shouldFocusMobileDriverAction(xterm)).toBe(false)
+  })
+
+  it('preserves browser guest focus represented by Electron webviews', () => {
+    expect(shouldFocusMobileDriverAction(focusLike({ tagName: 'WEBVIEW' }))).toBe(false)
+  })
+})
diff --git a/src/renderer/src/components/terminal-pane/mobile-driver-overlay-focus.ts b/src/renderer/src/components/terminal-pane/mobile-driver-overlay-focus.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..589ee5e86
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/renderer/src/components/terminal-pane/mobile-driver-overlay-focus.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+type FocusLike = {
+  tagName?: string
+  isContentEditable?: boolean
+  classList?: { contains?: (token: string) => boolean }
+  closest?: (selector: string) => unknown
+  contains?: (node: unknown) => boolean
+}
+
+function isFocusLike(value: unknown): value is FocusLike {
+  return typeof value === 'object' && value !== null
+}
+
+export function shouldFocusMobileDriverAction(
+  active: unknown,
+  body?: unknown,
+  focusScope?: unknown
+): boolean {
+  if (!isFocusLike(active) || active === body) {
+    return true
+  }
+
+  // Why: xterm owns keyboard input through a hidden textarea. When mobile takes
+  // that terminal over, focus should move to the recovery action, not stay in
+  // the now-paused terminal input. Scope this to the pane that owns the overlay
+  // so another active terminal pane keeps keyboard focus.
+  if (active.classList?.contains?.('xterm-helper-textarea')) {
+    return isFocusLike(focusScope) && focusScope.contains?.(active) === true
+  }
+
+  // Why: focused Electron webviews represent guest-page keyboard focus; they
+  // are not editable DOM controls in the host document, but stealing focus from
+  // them still interrupts the user's typing in the page.
+  if (active.tagName === 'WEBVIEW') {
+    return false
+  }
+
+  if (active.isContentEditable === true) {
+    return false
+  }
+
+  return !active.closest?.(
+    'input, textarea, select, [contenteditable=""], [contenteditable="true"]'
+  )
+}