diff --git a/app/androidApp/src/main/kotlin/com/example/aiapp/ImportScreen.kt b/app/androidApp/src/main/kotlin/com/example/aiapp/ImportScreen.kt
index af9297a..9f4fc7f 100644
--- a/app/androidApp/src/main/kotlin/com/example/aiapp/ImportScreen.kt
+++ b/app/androidApp/src/main/kotlin/com/example/aiapp/ImportScreen.kt
@@ -323,8 +323,18 @@ fun ImportScreen(settings: ServerSettings, reloadToken: Int, onImported: (Sessio
                             }
                         }
                     }
-                } catch (_: ApiException) {
+                } catch (e: kotlinx.coroutines.CancellationException) {
+                    // The screen leaving, not a failure -- and swallowing it would leave this
+                    // loop reconnecting to a stream nobody is watching.
+                    throw e
+                } catch (_: Exception) {
                     // Retried below; the listing is the truth in the meantime.
+                    //
+                    // Any failure, not only an [ApiException]. A stream is an optimisation over
+                    // the listing here, so nothing it can do is worth taking the app down for --
+                    // and catching only the failure that was expected means an unexpected one
+                    // reaches the top of the app and closes it, from a screen that is merely
+                    // loading a list.
                 } finally {
                     stream.close()
                 }
diff --git a/app/androidApp/src/main/kotlin/com/example/aiapp/SessionScreen.kt b/app/androidApp/src/main/kotlin/com/example/aiapp/SessionScreen.kt
index ce673f8..e523c0d 100644
--- a/app/androidApp/src/main/kotlin/com/example/aiapp/SessionScreen.kt
+++ b/app/androidApp/src/main/kotlin/com/example/aiapp/SessionScreen.kt
@@ -718,8 +718,15 @@ fun SessionScreen(settings: ServerSettings, summary: SessionSummary, onBack: ()
                                 apply(entry)
                             }
                         }
-                    } catch (e: ApiException) {
-                        streamError = e.message
+                    } catch (e: kotlinx.coroutines.CancellationException) {
+                        // Leaving the screen or going below STARTED. Not a failure, and
+                        // swallowing it would leave this loop reconnecting forever.
+                        throw e
+                    } catch (e: Exception) {
+                        // Any failure, not only an [ApiException]: the stream reconnects from its
+                        // cursor, so there is nothing a failure here can cost that is worth
+                        // closing the app over. Reported on the screen either way.
+                        streamError = e.message ?: e::class.simpleName
                     } finally {
                         stream.close()
                     }
diff --git a/app/androidApp/src/main/kotlin/com/example/aiapp/Sse.kt b/app/androidApp/src/main/kotlin/com/example/aiapp/Sse.kt
index 1e1897f..bbfbd16 100644
--- a/app/androidApp/src/main/kotlin/com/example/aiapp/Sse.kt
+++ b/app/androidApp/src/main/kotlin/com/example/aiapp/Sse.kt
@@ -47,9 +47,16 @@ class Sse(private val settings: ServerSettings) {
      * recovered from, indefinitely.
      */
     fun run(path: String, onOpen: () -> Unit, onFrame: (name: String?, data: String) -> Unit) {
-        val connection = URL("${settings.baseUrl}$path").openConnection() as HttpURLConnection
-        this.connection = connection
+        // Opening is inside the try, not before it. Everything this method can fail at owes the
+        // caller the same kind of failure -- both callers retry an [ApiException] and let anything
+        // else reach the top of the app -- and a connection that could not even be constructed
+        // used to escape as a raw `IOException` from a line no `catch` covered.
+        var connection: HttpURLConnection? = null
         try {
+            connection =
+                (URL("${settings.baseUrl}$path").openConnection() as HttpURLConnection).also {
+                    this.connection = it
+                }
             connection.applyPinnedTls()
             connection.connectTimeout = CONNECT_TIMEOUT_MS
             // No read timeout: between events there is nothing to read for as long as the thing
@@ -90,7 +97,7 @@ class Sse(private val settings: ServerSettings) {
                 )
             }
         } finally {
-            connection.disconnect()
+            connection?.disconnect()
             this.connection = null
         }
     }