diff --git a/apps/fxblox-web/src/components/setup/WalletSigner.tsx b/apps/fxblox-web/src/components/setup/WalletSigner.tsx
index 4bbef2b..9e5e101 100644
--- a/apps/fxblox-web/src/components/setup/WalletSigner.tsx
+++ b/apps/fxblox-web/src/components/setup/WalletSigner.tsx
@@ -26,12 +26,15 @@
  * ## And the wallet can still hang, for a reason that is not ours
  *
  * A later report: MetaMask on Android wedges on its splash screen on the first hop after connecting, every
- * time, and recovers only once it is force-quit and reopened. Asked to retry WITHOUT force-quitting — the same
- * URL, from a real tap, so user activation cannot be the difference — the user reports it hangs just the same.
- * A cold wallet works; a warm one does not, whatever this page does. So the fault is inside the wallet, and the
- * only levers here are (a) not repeating a hop that has already been shown not to work — see `openWallet` — and
- * (b) telling the user what happened the moment they come back, rather than on a timer that runs out while they
- * are still staring at the wallet.
+ * time, and recovers only once it is force-quit and reopened. Two things were then tried on the phone. A retry
+ * from a real tap, same URL — hangs. A retry sending the bare `metamask://` instead of the request link, so the
+ * wallet is asked only to come to the front — hangs too. A cold wallet works; a warm one does not, whatever
+ * this page sends it.
+ *
+ * So the wallet deadlocks on being resumed by a deep link, and there is no URL that avoids it. Nothing here can
+ * fix that. What is left is to be quick and honest about it: tell the user the moment they come back, rather
+ * than on a timer that runs out while they are still staring at the wallet, and name the one step that
+ * actually works instead of offering a retry that does not.
  *
  * `signChainCode()` stays byte-identical to mobile: the signature seeds the DID secret key, so a changed byte
  * means web and mobile derive different identities from the same password and wallet.
@@ -122,12 +125,10 @@ export default function WalletSigner({
   const [phase, setPhase] = useState<SignerPhase>('idle');
   const [showNudge, setShowNudge] = useState(false);
   const [showStuckHint, setShowStuckHint] = useState(false);
-  // Have we sent them into the wallet for THIS request, and did they come back with it still unanswered?
-  // Mirrored into refs for the stable tap handler below.
+  // Have we sent them into the wallet for THIS request (a ref: the stable tap handler below writes it), and
+  // did they come back with it still unanswered?
   const wentToWalletRef = useRef(false);
   const [walletShowedNothing, setWalletShowedNothing] = useState(false);
-  const walletShowedNothingRef = useRef(false);
-  walletShowedNothingRef.current = walletShowedNothing;
   // Set once the request is on the relay: the deep link that opens the wallet ON this request, rather than on
   // its home screen. Mirrored into a ref for the stable tap handler below.
   const [requestLink, setRequestLink] = useState<string | null>(null);
@@ -311,31 +312,22 @@ export default function WalletSigner({
    * Scheme-aware — see `hopToWallet` in walletRedirect.ts for why an https universal link must not go through
    * `assign`.
    *
-   * ## Why a second attempt drops the request id
-   *
-   * `…/wc?requestId=` is the right link the first time: it is what makes the wallet surface THIS prompt rather
-   * than its home screen. But once the user has been there and come back empty-handed, sending the same link
-   * again is sending them back into the thing that just failed.
+   * ## What this cannot do, and does not pretend to
    *
-   * The field report is MetaMask on Android sitting on its splash screen, every time, on the first hop after
-   * the connect — and recovering only after the wallet is force-quit and reopened. A cold wallet works; a warm
-   * one does not. The likeliest reading is that `…/wc?requestId=` puts MetaMask into the route that WAITS for
-   * that request to arrive over its OWN relay socket — the socket Android suspended while it sat in the
-   * background — and that wait is the full-screen "splash" the user is stuck on. Nothing on a web page can
-   * reach into another app and reconnect its socket.
+   * A previous version dropped the request id on a second attempt, on the theory that `…/wc?requestId=` was
+   * what wedged MetaMask — that it put the wallet into a route waiting for a request to arrive over its own
+   * Android-suspended socket, and that a bare `metamask://` would merely resume the app instead.
    *
-   * What a page CAN do is stop asking for the part that hangs. The bare scheme requests nothing but the app
-   * itself, so a wallet that did receive the request shows it (a session request is modal wherever you are),
-   * and a wallet that did not at least comes up usable instead of wedged. It is strictly a fallback: this only
-   * runs after the request-scoped link has already been tried and produced nothing.
+   * Tested on the reporter's phone, that is wrong. A warm MetaMask sits on its splash screen for the bare
+   * scheme exactly as it does for the request link. The wallet deadlocks on being resumed by a deep link at
+   * all, and no URL a web page can produce avoids it; only force-quitting and reopening clears it.
    *
-   * `walletStuckHint` has to name this one FIRST, before the force-quit. A user who kills the wallet on the
-   * way past never reaches this branch — a cold wallet handles `…/wc?requestId=` perfectly well — so a hint
-   * that led with "close it from your recent apps" would route every user around the cheaper fix.
+   * So the link never changes. Always the request-scoped one, which is the correct link for the case that does
+   * work — a cold wallet, where it surfaces THIS prompt rather than the home screen. The recovery is a thing
+   * the user has to do, and `walletStuckHint` says so plainly rather than offering a retry that will not help.
    */
   const openWallet = useCallback(() => {
-    const bare = connectedWalletLink(latest.current.wallet.provider);
-    const link = (walletShowedNothingRef.current ? bare : null) ?? requestLinkRef.current ?? bare;
+    const link = requestLinkRef.current ?? connectedWalletLink(latest.current.wallet.provider);
     if (!link) return;
     console.log('[sign] opening the wallet by hand:', link);
     wentToWalletRef.current = true;
diff --git a/apps/fxblox-web/src/i18n/locales/en/setup.json b/apps/fxblox-web/src/i18n/locales/en/setup.json
index 3adfe3d..33aa49a 100644
--- a/apps/fxblox-web/src/i18n/locales/en/setup.json
+++ b/apps/fxblox-web/src/i18n/locales/en/setup.json
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@
       "signaturePortalHint": "Sign at fxblox.fx.land, then paste the signature below together with the wallet address you signed with.",
       "walletConnectedTapSign": "Wallet connected. Tap below to approve the signature — this opens your wallet again.",
       "approveInWallet": "Approve the request in your wallet…",
-      "walletStuckHint": "Wallet opened but stuck on its splash screen? Tap Open wallet to approve again first — the second try opens it a different way. If it is still stuck, close the wallet completely from your recent apps and tap once more. Your request is still waiting either way.",
+      "walletStuckHint": "Wallet opened but stuck on its splash screen? Close it completely from your recent apps, then tap Open wallet to approve again. That is the only thing that clears it — tapping again without closing the wallet first will not. Your request stays valid, so nothing is lost.",
       "openWalletToApprove": "Open wallet to approve"
     },
     "connectToBlox": {
diff --git a/apps/fxblox-web/src/i18n/locales/zh/setup.json b/apps/fxblox-web/src/i18n/locales/zh/setup.json
index 7ba63fd..dfda3c8 100644
--- a/apps/fxblox-web/src/i18n/locales/zh/setup.json
+++ b/apps/fxblox-web/src/i18n/locales/zh/setup.json
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@
       "signaturePortalHint": "请在 fxblox.fx.land 完成签名，然后将签名与用于签名的钱包地址一起粘贴到下方。",
       "walletConnectedTapSign": "钱包已连接。点击下方按钮进行签名 — 这会再次打开您的钱包。",
       "approveInWallet": "请在您的钱包中确认此请求…",
-      "walletStuckHint": "钱包已打开但停在启动画面？请先再次点击“打开钱包进行签名” — 第二次会以另一种方式打开钱包。如果仍然卡住，请从最近任务中彻底关闭钱包，然后再点击一次。无论哪种情况，您的签名请求都仍在等待。",
+      "walletStuckHint": "钱包已打开但停在启动画面？请从最近任务中彻底关闭钱包，然后再次点击“打开钱包进行签名”。只有这样才能解决 — 不先关闭钱包而直接再次点击是没有用的。您的签名请求仍然有效，不会丢失。",
       "openWalletToApprove": "打开钱包进行签名"
     },
     "connectToBlox": {
diff --git a/apps/fxblox-web/src/screens/InitialSetup/__tests__/LinkPassword.test.tsx b/apps/fxblox-web/src/screens/InitialSetup/__tests__/LinkPassword.test.tsx
index 626dd3d..a0bfaab 100644
--- a/apps/fxblox-web/src/screens/InitialSetup/__tests__/LinkPassword.test.tsx
+++ b/apps/fxblox-web/src/screens/InitialSetup/__tests__/LinkPassword.test.tsx
@@ -389,16 +389,17 @@ describe('LinkPassword', () => {
     expect(linking.assign).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
   });
 
-  it('wallet path: coming back with the request unanswered says so at once, and drops the request id', async () => {
+  it('wallet path: coming back with the request unanswered says so at once, and keeps the request id', async () => {
     // The field report: MetaMask on Android wedges on its splash screen on the first hop after connecting,
-    // every time, and only a force-quit clears it. Retried from a real tap, same URL, it hangs the same way —
-    // so the fault is inside the wallet, not in how the page navigates.
+    // every time, and only a force-quit clears it. Retried from a real tap it hangs the same way, and so does
+    // a retry that sends the bare scheme instead of the request link — so the wallet deadlocks on being
+    // resumed by a deep link at all, and no URL this page can produce avoids it.
     //
-    // Two things follow, and this covers both. Returning to this page with the request still out is proof the
-    // wallet showed nothing, so the recovery hint belongs on screen NOW rather than when a 12s timer that ran
-    // while the user was inside the wallet finally expires. And the next tap must not repeat the link that
-    // just failed: `…/wc?requestId=` is what puts the wallet into the route that waits for a request it never
-    // received, so the retry asks only for the app.
+    // What is left is speed and honesty. Returning to this page with the request still out is proof the wallet
+    // showed nothing, so the recovery hint belongs on screen NOW rather than when a 12s timer that ran while
+    // the user was inside the wallet finally expires. The link itself does not change: the request-scoped one
+    // is correct for the case that does work — a cold wallet, where it surfaces this prompt rather than the
+    // home screen.
     const user = userEvent.setup();
     vi.mocked(linking.assign).mockClear();
     const listeners = new Set<(payload: unknown) => void>();
@@ -440,7 +441,7 @@ describe('LinkPassword', () => {
 
       vi.mocked(linking.assign).mockClear();
       await user.click(screen.getByTestId('open-wallet'));
-      expect(linking.assign).toHaveBeenCalledWith('metamask://');
+      expect(linking.assign).toHaveBeenCalledWith('metamask://wc?requestId=42&sessionTopic=topic-1');
 
       // The request was never abandoned: a signature approved after all this still lands.
       await act(async () => {