diff --git a/mobile/src/transport/mobile-relay-pairing-recovery.test.ts b/mobile/src/transport/mobile-relay-pairing-recovery.test.ts
index 41d531898..96d71b376 100644
--- a/mobile/src/transport/mobile-relay-pairing-recovery.test.ts
+++ b/mobile/src/transport/mobile-relay-pairing-recovery.test.ts
@@ -220,4 +220,53 @@ describe('mobile relay pairing recovery', () => {
     expect(saved.metadata.authorizationMode).toBe('authenticated-direct')
     expect(deps.updateJournal).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2)
   })
+  // Why: a journal stranded by a relay outage used to block every later pairing
+  // with "recovery pending" forever, because recovery only ever deferred.
+  it('abandons a journal once its invite expired and no credential can reconcile', async () => {
+    const saved = journal()
+    const unreachable = client(async () => {
+      throw new Error('relay unreachable')
+    })
+    const deps = {
+      ...dependencies({ journal: saved, connectRelay: vi.fn(() => unreachable) }),
+      now: () => saved.metadata.relay.inviteExpiresAt + 10 * 60 * 1000 + 1
+    }
+
+    await expect(recoverMobileRelayPairing(deps)).resolves.toBe('abandoned')
+    expect(deps.clearJournal).toHaveBeenCalledWith(saved.metadata.journalId)
+  })
+
+  it('keeps a just-expired journal so a brief outage cannot discard it', async () => {
+    const saved = journal()
+    const unreachable = client(async () => {
+      throw new Error('relay unreachable')
+    })
+    const deps = {
+      ...dependencies({ journal: saved, connectRelay: vi.fn(() => unreachable) }),
+      now: () => saved.metadata.relay.inviteExpiresAt + 1
+    }
+
+    await expect(recoverMobileRelayPairing(deps)).resolves.toBe('deferred')
+    expect(deps.clearJournal).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
+  })
+
+  // Why: a committed install whose local persistence failed is the one case the
+  // journal must survive — it is the only record left to retry the write from.
+  it('keeps a journal when the server committed but the local write failed', async () => {
+    const saved = journal()
+    const directInstalled = installed(saved, 'authenticated-direct')
+    const committed = client(async () =>
+      response(endpoints(saved, { state: 'committed', result: directInstalled }))
+    )
+    const deps = {
+      ...dependencies({ journal: saved, connectRelay: vi.fn(() => committed) }),
+      now: () => saved.metadata.relay.inviteExpiresAt + 10 * 60 * 1000 + 1,
+      writeCredentialBundle: vi.fn(async () => {
+        throw new Error('keychain unavailable')
+      })
+    }
+
+    await expect(recoverMobileRelayPairing(deps)).resolves.toBe('deferred')
+    expect(deps.clearJournal).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
+  })
 })
diff --git a/mobile/src/transport/mobile-relay-pairing-recovery.ts b/mobile/src/transport/mobile-relay-pairing-recovery.ts
index 0d5ba7e5e..26dc08620 100644
--- a/mobile/src/transport/mobile-relay-pairing-recovery.ts
+++ b/mobile/src/transport/mobile-relay-pairing-recovery.ts
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ import {
 import { createRecoveringPairingRelayCandidate } from './pairing-relay-candidate'
 import type { HostProfile, RpcResponse } from './types'
 
-export type MobileRelayPairingRecoveryResult = 'none' | 'recovered' | 'deferred'
+export type MobileRelayPairingRecoveryResult = 'none' | 'recovered' | 'deferred' | 'abandoned'
 
 type RecoveryDependencies = {
   loadJournal: typeof loadMobileRelayPairingJournal
@@ -57,6 +57,10 @@ const defaultDependencies: RecoveryDependencies = {
   platform: Platform.OS
 }
 
+// One full invite lifetime past expiry, so a momentary outage never discards a
+// journal that a later launch could still reconcile.
+const ABANDON_GRACE_MS = 10 * 60 * 1000
+
 let recoveryPromise: Promise<MobileRelayPairingRecoveryResult> | null = null
 
 export function recoverMobileRelayPairing(
@@ -96,6 +100,10 @@ async function runRecovery(
   }
 
   const credentials = recoveryCredentials(journal, bundle, dependencies.now())
+  // Why: publishCommitted runs inside the catch below, so a failed local write
+  // of an authoritatively committed install must not look like "nothing to
+  // reconcile" — that journal is the only record left to retry the write from.
+  let observedCommitted = false
   for (const credential of credentials) {
     let client: PairingCandidateClient | null = null
     try {
@@ -113,6 +121,7 @@ async function runRecovery(
             })
       const endpoints = await getRecoveryStatus(client, journal, credential.kind)
       if (endpoints.installStatus?.state === 'committed') {
+        observedCommitted = true
         await publishCommitted(journal, endpoints, dependencies)
         return 'recovered'
       }
@@ -128,6 +137,7 @@ async function runRecovery(
         )
         const reconciled = await getRecoveryStatus(client, journal, 'invite')
         assertCommitted(reconciled, installed)
+        observedCommitted = true
         await publishCommitted(journal, reconciled, dependencies)
         return 'recovered'
       }
@@ -138,6 +148,19 @@ async function runRecovery(
       client?.close()
     }
   }
+  // Why: past invite expiry no credential can still establish what happened, so
+  // retaining the journal cannot reconcile anything — it only fails every later
+  // pairing with "recovery pending" forever. Re-pairing mints a fresh device and
+  // any uncommitted server-side install expires on its own. The extra invite
+  // lifetime of slack keeps a brief relay outage from discarding a journal whose
+  // resume credential would have reconciled it on the next launch.
+  if (
+    !observedCommitted &&
+    journal.metadata.relay.inviteExpiresAt + ABANDON_GRACE_MS <= dependencies.now()
+  ) {
+    await dependencies.clearJournal(journal.metadata.journalId).catch(() => {})
+    return 'abandoned'
+  }
   return 'deferred'
 }