diff --git a/src/app/layout.tsx b/src/app/layout.tsx
index 8ce442359..57e112094 100644
--- a/src/app/layout.tsx
+++ b/src/app/layout.tsx
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ import { MonitoringBootstrap } from "@/components/monitoring/bootstrap";
 import { WebVitalsReporter } from "@/components/monitoring/web-vitals-reporter";
 import { resolveInitialLocale } from "@/lib/i18n/resolve-initial-locale";
 import { isKeyMismatch } from "@/lib/boot/key-mismatch-state";
-import { THEME_COLOR } from "@/lib/pwa/theme-color";
+import { THEME_BOOT_SCRIPT, THEME_COLOR } from "@/lib/pwa/theme-color";
 import { KeyMismatchPage } from "./key-mismatch-page";
 
 const inter = Inter({
@@ -80,9 +80,6 @@ export const viewport: Viewport = {
   ],
 };
 
-// Inline script to apply theme before first paint (prevents FOUC)
-const themeScript = `(function(){try{var t=localStorage.getItem("healthlog-theme");var c=(t==="light"||t==="dark")?t:(t==="system"?(window.matchMedia("(prefers-color-scheme:dark)").matches?"dark":"light"):"dark");document.documentElement.classList.add(c)}catch(e){document.documentElement.classList.add("dark")}})()`;
-
 export default async function RootLayout({
   children,
 }: Readonly<{
@@ -101,7 +98,9 @@ export default async function RootLayout({
         <script
           suppressHydrationWarning
           nonce={nonce}
-          dangerouslySetInnerHTML={{ __html: themeScript }}
+          // Applies the theme (and its status-bar colour) before
+          // first paint, so neither flashes the wrong theme.
+          dangerouslySetInnerHTML={{ __html: THEME_BOOT_SCRIPT }}
         />
         {/*
           Locale-catalog boot script (generated into public/i18n/ by
diff --git a/src/lib/pwa/__tests__/theme-color.test.ts b/src/lib/pwa/__tests__/theme-color.test.ts
index 28eddac9b..7d2a846a8 100644
--- a/src/lib/pwa/__tests__/theme-color.test.ts
+++ b/src/lib/pwa/__tests__/theme-color.test.ts
@@ -3,7 +3,11 @@ import { resolve } from "node:path";
 
 import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
 
-import { applyThemeColor, THEME_COLOR } from "@/lib/pwa/theme-color";
+import {
+  applyThemeColor,
+  THEME_BOOT_SCRIPT,
+  THEME_COLOR,
+} from "@/lib/pwa/theme-color";
 
 function fakeMeta(content: string) {
   const attrs = new Map<string, string>([["content", content]]);
@@ -46,3 +50,50 @@ describe("applyThemeColor", () => {
     );
   });
 });
+
+describe("THEME_BOOT_SCRIPT", () => {
+  function boot(stored: string | null, systemDark: boolean) {
+    const metas = [fakeMeta(THEME_COLOR.light), fakeMeta(THEME_COLOR.dark)];
+    const classes = new Set<string>();
+    const listeners = new Map<string, () => void>();
+    const document = {
+      documentElement: { classList: { add: (c: string) => classes.add(c) } },
+      querySelectorAll: () => metas,
+      addEventListener: (type: string, fn: () => void) =>
+        listeners.set(type, fn),
+    };
+    const window = {
+      matchMedia: () => ({ matches: systemDark }),
+    };
+    const localStorage = { getItem: () => stored };
+    new Function("window", "document", "localStorage", THEME_BOOT_SCRIPT)(
+      window,
+      document,
+      localStorage,
+    );
+    return { metas, classes, listeners };
+  }
+
+  it("paints the status bar in the app's theme before hydration", () => {
+    // A light system, the app in its dark default: the light-keyed tag is
+    // the one the browser applies, so it must carry the dark colour already.
+    const { metas, classes } = boot(null, false);
+    expect([...classes]).toEqual(["dark"]);
+    for (const meta of metas) {
+      expect(meta.attrs.get("content")).toBe(THEME_COLOR.dark);
+    }
+  });
+
+  it("follows a stored light choice on a dark system", () => {
+    const { metas, classes } = boot("light", true);
+    expect([...classes]).toEqual(["light"]);
+    for (const meta of metas) {
+      expect(meta.attrs.get("content")).toBe(THEME_COLOR.light);
+    }
+  });
+
+  it("repeats the rewrite once the document is parsed", () => {
+    const { listeners } = boot("system", true);
+    expect(listeners.has("DOMContentLoaded")).toBe(true);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/lib/pwa/theme-color.ts b/src/lib/pwa/theme-color.ts
index 1284c852c..3e8ca8eda 100644
--- a/src/lib/pwa/theme-color.ts
+++ b/src/lib/pwa/theme-color.ts
@@ -28,3 +28,14 @@ export function applyThemeColor(
     meta.setAttribute("content", THEME_COLOR[resolved]);
   }
 }
+
+/**
+ * The inline boot script the root layout runs before first paint. It stamps
+ * the theme class (no flash of the wrong theme) and rewrites the theme-color
+ * tags to that theme, which until now waited for hydration: a phone in light
+ * mode running the app in dark mode showed a light status bar until React
+ * caught up. The tags may stream in after the script, so it repeats the
+ * rewrite once the document is parsed. Built from constants only — the
+ * layout's one `dangerouslySetInnerHTML` stays file-literal content.
+ */
+export const THEME_BOOT_SCRIPT = `(function(){var c="dark";try{var t=localStorage.getItem("healthlog-theme");c=(t==="light"||t==="dark")?t:(t==="system"?(window.matchMedia("(prefers-color-scheme:dark)").matches?"dark":"light"):"dark")}catch(e){}document.documentElement.classList.add(c);var k=c==="light"?${JSON.stringify(THEME_COLOR.light)}:${JSON.stringify(THEME_COLOR.dark)};function m(){var a=document.querySelectorAll('meta[name="theme-color"]');for(var i=0;i<a.length;i++)a[i].setAttribute("content",k)}m();document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",m)})()`;