diff --git a/frontend/src/components/VideoCard.tsx b/frontend/src/components/VideoCard.tsx
index 5aa4a335..16ff7429 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/VideoCard.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/components/VideoCard.tsx
@@ -295,7 +295,7 @@ function Thumb({
           </span>
         )}
         {/* Hover overlay: Play everywhere; Continue + Restart once the video is in progress. Mouse-only:
-          reveal on hover AND on keyboard focus-within (else a Tab-focused button is invisible), and
+          reveal on hover AND on keyboard focus (else a Tab-focused button is invisible), and
           `reveal-hover` drops it entirely on touch — the card tap already plays/resumes there, so a
           permanent dark scrim over every mobile thumbnail (and an invisible tap target) is not wanted. */}
         {onOpen && (
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/mediaPicture.contract.test.ts b/frontend/src/components/mediaPicture.contract.test.ts
index 27f52094..3b587c69 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/mediaPicture.contract.test.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/components/mediaPicture.contract.test.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
+import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";
 import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
 
 import videoCard from "./VideoCard.tsx?raw";
+import { HOVER_REVEAL, HOVER_YIELD } from "./ui/reveal";
 
 import {
   MEDIA_BAR,
@@ -38,3 +40,28 @@ describe("a media picture", () => {
       expect(layer).not.toMatch(/pic:pb-\d/);
   });
 });
+
+const indexCss = readFileSync(new URL("../index.css", import.meta.url), "utf8");
+
+// Back from a channel page hands the card its focus again, after a mouse trip: with `focus-within`
+// its hover row stayed up under no pointer until a reload (owner). The chrome answers the pointer and
+// KEYBOARD focus only (`:focus-visible` on the card or inside it); jsdom cannot evaluate either, so
+// the classes are the contract, and the global `.reveal` rule says the same.
+describe("a card's hover chrome", () => {
+  it.each([
+    ["the hover row", HOVER_REVEAL],
+    ["what yields to it", HOVER_YIELD],
+    ["the Play layer", MEDIA_HOVER_LAYER],
+    ["the Continue + Restart layer", MEDIA_RESUME_LAYER],
+  ])("shows on keyboard focus, never on a focus handed back: %s", (_, cls) => {
+    const parts = cls.split(" ");
+    expect(parts.some((c) => c.startsWith("group-focus-within:"))).toBe(false);
+    expect(parts.some((c) => c.startsWith("group-focus-visible:"))).toBe(true);
+    expect(parts.some((c) => c.startsWith("group-has-focus-visible:"))).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it("is the same in the global .reveal rule", () => {
+    expect(indexCss).not.toMatch(/\.group:focus-within \.reveal/);
+    expect(indexCss).toMatch(/\.group:has\(:focus-visible\) \.reveal/);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/ui/mediaCardStyles.ts b/frontend/src/components/ui/mediaCardStyles.ts
index 45a74001..302fe842 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/ui/mediaCardStyles.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/components/ui/mediaCardStyles.ts
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ export const MEDIA_PICTURE_CONTAINER = "@container/pic has-[.media-bar]:[--bar-r
  *  (measured). The cut is in rem, so it moves with the text size too: a picture under 14rem wide.
  *  Only where a row is there to clear (`--bar-room`, MEDIA_PICTURE_CONTAINER). */
 export const MEDIA_HOVER_LAYER =
-  "reveal-hover absolute inset-0 flex items-center justify-center gap-2 bg-black/45 opacity-0 transition-opacity group-hover:opacity-100 group-focus-within:opacity-100 @max-[14rem]/pic:pb-(--bar-room)";
+  "reveal-hover absolute inset-0 flex items-center justify-center gap-2 bg-black/45 opacity-0 transition-opacity group-hover:opacity-100 group-focus-visible:opacity-100 group-has-focus-visible:opacity-100 @max-[14rem]/pic:pb-(--bar-room)";
 
 /** The layer that holds a started title's Continue + Restart pair over the picture: a sibling of the
  *  picture's button, never inside it (C5). Narrow, it leaves the hover row its band as the Play does. */
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/ui/reveal.ts b/frontend/src/components/ui/reveal.ts
index e960f114..7ae7c1c0 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/ui/reveal.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/components/ui/reveal.ts
@@ -1,8 +1,12 @@
-// A card's hover chrome: shown when the card is hovered or holds keyboard focus on a mouse,
+// A card's hover chrome: shown when the card is hovered or holds KEYBOARD focus on a mouse,
 // removed on touch (`.reveal-hover`, index.css), where the card offers the same actions through its
 // "…" beside the title. One string, so the video card and the Plex cards reveal the same way.
+// Keyboard focus is `:focus-visible` on the card or inside it, not any focus: Back from a channel
+// page hands the card its focus back, and with `:focus-within` the row stayed up under no pointer
+// until a reload (owner).
 export const HOVER_REVEAL =
-  "reveal-hover opacity-0 group-hover:opacity-100 group-focus-within:opacity-100 transition-opacity";
+  "reveal-hover opacity-0 group-hover:opacity-100 group-focus-visible:opacity-100 group-has-focus-visible:opacity-100 transition-opacity";
 
 /** What sits under that chrome at rest (a duration, a watched pill) steps aside while it shows. */
-export const HOVER_YIELD = "transition-opacity group-hover:opacity-0 group-focus-within:opacity-0";
+export const HOVER_YIELD =
+  "transition-opacity group-hover:opacity-0 group-focus-visible:opacity-0 group-has-focus-visible:opacity-0";
diff --git a/frontend/src/index.css b/frontend/src/index.css
index d6adc705..44b1b26a 100644
--- a/frontend/src/index.css
+++ b/frontend/src/index.css
@@ -787,7 +787,8 @@ body {
    `opacity-0 group-hover:opacity-100`: fine on a mouse (the enclosing `.group` reveals it on hover),
    but on a touch device — which never hovers — it is invisible AND still tappable. So the reveal is
    gated on `@media (hover: hover)`: only a hover-capable pointer hides it until the group is hovered
-   or focused (keyboard too, via `:focus-within`); a touch device keeps the default opacity:1 and the
+   or keyboard-focused (`:focus-visible` on it or inside it — not any focus: a card handed its focus
+   back after a mouse trip kept its row up); a touch device keeps the default opacity:1 and the
    control is always shown. Requires a `.group` ancestor (Tailwind's group marker). */
 @media (hover: hover) {
   .reveal {
@@ -795,7 +796,8 @@ body {
     transition: opacity 150ms ease;
   }
   .group:hover .reveal,
-  .group:focus-within .reveal,
+  .group:focus-visible .reveal,
+  .group:has(:focus-visible) .reveal,
   .reveal:focus-visible {
     opacity: 1;
   }
@@ -810,7 +812,7 @@ body {
 @media (hover: none) {
   /* Sibling of `.reveal` for a MOUSE-ONLY hover-reveal: unlike `.reveal` (shown at rest on touch),
      a `.reveal-hover` control is removed entirely on a device that can't hover, so it is never an
-     invisible tap/Tab target. Pair it with the site's own `opacity-0 group-hover:… group-focus-within:…`
+     invisible tap/Tab target. Pair it with the site's own `opacity-0 group-hover:… group-focus-visible:…`
      (which still governs the hover + keyboard case). For a full-card/edge affordance whose action is
      already reachable on touch another way — a card's hover row (its "…" beside the title opens the
      same actions: `ui/reveal.ts`), VideoCard's play overlay (tapping the card plays/resumes)