diff --git a/src/lib/analytics/__tests__/source-priority.test.ts b/src/lib/analytics/__tests__/source-priority.test.ts
index 400153096..f886505e2 100644
--- a/src/lib/analytics/__tests__/source-priority.test.ts
+++ b/src/lib/analytics/__tests__/source-priority.test.ts
@@ -515,3 +515,112 @@ describe("pickCanonicalSourceRows — v1.4.25 W8c two-axis device-type picker",
     expect(out.canonicalRows[0].source).toBe("WITHINGS");
   });
 });
+
+/**
+ * v1.38.x — what the EXTERNAL source does to a contested day.
+ *
+ * `EXTERNAL` is on no priority ladder, deliberately: the `steps` and `spo2`
+ * defaults already sit at `metricSourceLadder`'s `.max(8)`, so a ninth entry
+ * would come back from `GET /api/auth/me/source-priority`, be PUT back whole
+ * by the settings page, and 422 — breaking ladder saves for everyone.
+ *
+ * That omission is not inert. It decides a real behaviour, and one that
+ * CHANGED when ingested rows stopped being labelled `MANUAL`: before, a typed
+ * reading and a bridged one were the same source and both survived a day; now
+ * `MANUAL` ranks, `EXTERNAL` does not, and the bridged row leaves the
+ * canonical set for that day. Seven call sites consume this picker (daily
+ * totals, the health score, the doctor report, correlations, mood crosstabs,
+ * PR detection), so the effect is user-visible and is written up in the
+ * changelog.
+ *
+ * Pinned here because it is emergent from a rank ladder rather than stated
+ * anywhere in code: put `EXTERNAL` on a ladder and the first case below goes
+ * red, which is the review anybody adding it deserves.
+ */
+describe("pickCanonicalSourceRows — the unranked EXTERNAL source", () => {
+  const day = "2026-09-02";
+
+  function weightRow(
+    source: "MANUAL" | "EXTERNAL",
+    value: number,
+    hour: string,
+  ) {
+    return {
+      measuredAt: new Date(`${day}T${hour}:00Z`),
+      source,
+      deviceType: null,
+      type: "WEIGHT" as const,
+      value,
+    };
+  }
+
+  it("keeps the typed reading and drops the bridged one on a contested day", () => {
+    // The behaviour change itself. `MANUAL` is on the weight ladder and
+    // `EXTERNAL` is not, so the day resolves to the reading the person
+    // entered — a hand correction still wins where one number is needed.
+    const out = pickCanonicalSourceRows(
+      [
+        weightRow("EXTERNAL", 82.4, "06:30"),
+        weightRow("MANUAL", 81.9, "08:00"),
+      ],
+      "weight",
+      null,
+      isoDayKey,
+    );
+    expect(out.canonicalRows).toHaveLength(1);
+    expect(out.canonicalRows[0].source).toBe("MANUAL");
+    expect(out.canonicalRows[0].value).toBe(81.9);
+    expect(out.pickedByDay.get(day)).toBe("MANUAL");
+  });
+
+  it("keeps a bridged-only day, since nothing on the ladder is present", () => {
+    // The `!picked` pass-through. Without this arm an account that ONLY ever
+    // pushes readings would go dark on every surface listed above, which
+    // would be a far worse regression than the one above is a change.
+    const out = pickCanonicalSourceRows(
+      [
+        weightRow("EXTERNAL", 82.4, "06:30"),
+        weightRow("EXTERNAL", 82.1, "20:00"),
+      ],
+      "weight",
+      null,
+      isoDayKey,
+    );
+    expect(out.canonicalRows).toHaveLength(2);
+    expect(out.canonicalRows.every((r) => r.source === "EXTERNAL")).toBe(true);
+    // No ladder source won, so the day names no pick.
+    expect(out.pickedByDay.has(day)).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it("kept both when the bridged row was still labelled MANUAL", () => {
+    // The pre-change shape, asserted so the diff between old and new
+    // behaviour lives in the suite rather than only in the changelog. Two
+    // `MANUAL` rows are indistinguishable to the picker and both survive —
+    // which for a cumulative metric is the double-count the new labelling
+    // removes.
+    const out = pickCanonicalSourceRows(
+      [weightRow("MANUAL", 82.4, "06:30"), weightRow("MANUAL", 81.9, "08:00")],
+      "weight",
+      null,
+      isoDayKey,
+    );
+    expect(out.canonicalRows).toHaveLength(2);
+  });
+
+  it("lets a user who ranks EXTERNAL themselves have it win", () => {
+    // Not reachable from the settings UI today (the ladder cap keeps it off
+    // the page), but the picker resolves whatever ladder it is handed, and a
+    // stored ladder naming it must be honoured rather than ignored.
+    const out = pickCanonicalSourceRows(
+      [
+        weightRow("EXTERNAL", 82.4, "06:30"),
+        weightRow("MANUAL", 81.9, "08:00"),
+      ],
+      "weight",
+      { metricPriority: { weight: ["EXTERNAL", "MANUAL"] } },
+      isoDayKey,
+    );
+    expect(out.canonicalRows).toHaveLength(1);
+    expect(out.canonicalRows[0].source).toBe("EXTERNAL");
+  });
+});