diff --git a/docs/DESIGN.md b/docs/DESIGN.md
index 4a05fd31..097821a5 100644
--- a/docs/DESIGN.md
+++ b/docs/DESIGN.md
@@ -711,3 +711,4 @@ of a full-width panel and nothing on the right.
 | 2026-10-04 | E32 `field` focus skips a mode switch | A form opens on its first field; a control above it that is not a field (the composer's Edit / Preview) is passed over by marking the field `data-initial-focus` | The first text field everywhere | That moved the focus in the download dialog off its profile choice and in the upload dialog off its drop zone; the mark changes only the form that needs it |
 | 2026-10-04 | E35 Lint for z-levels and edged labels | Both rules stay; the two eslint selectors (`Z_RAW`, `EDGED_LABEL`) that refused them go | Keep the selectors | 0 hits since the E28 sweep that fixed the sites: a check that never fires costs a probe test and a snapshot each, and the UI review holds both rules |
 | 2026-10-06 | `player` focus | A dialog that is a player opens focused on its panel (the YouTube player's rule, now `Modal`'s too); on the media element itself, Space and the arrows stay the element's own | `close`, or the media element | On the ✕ Space closed the player; on the element the browser's own controls acted on the same key as the player's (one Space played and paused, measured in Chrome) |
+| 2026-10-08 | Captions on touch | A `Tooltip` opens for a mouse and a key's focus only, never for a finger | A caption on tap; a long-press caption | On an iPad the tap that showed the caption was taken as a hover and lost its click (every rail button took two taps), and no finger sends the mouseleave that hides it; the rail's labels setting names the buttons on touch |
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/ui/Tooltip.layer.dom.test.tsx b/frontend/src/components/ui/Tooltip.layer.dom.test.tsx
index 17660911..9846b5b6 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/ui/Tooltip.layer.dom.test.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/components/ui/Tooltip.layer.dom.test.tsx
@@ -64,3 +64,41 @@ describe("an open tooltip", () => {
     await waitFor(() => expect(screen.queryByRole("tooltip")).toBeNull());
   });
 });
+
+// On an iPad a tap's synthetic mouseenter showed the caption; WebKit then took the tap as a hover and
+// swallowed its click (every rail button needed two taps), and with no mouseleave the caption stayed.
+describe("a tooltip under a finger", () => {
+  class PointerEventStub extends MouseEvent {
+    pointerType: string;
+    constructor(type: string, init: PointerEventInit = {}) {
+      super(type, init);
+      this.pointerType = init.pointerType ?? "";
+    }
+  }
+  const hover = (trigger: HTMLElement, pointerType: string) =>
+    act(() => {
+      trigger.dispatchEvent(new PointerEventStub("pointerdown", { bubbles: true, pointerType }));
+      trigger.dispatchEvent(new PointerEventStub("pointerenter", { pointerType }));
+      fireEvent.mouseEnter(trigger);
+      fireEvent.mouseMove(trigger);
+    });
+  const mount = () => {
+    render(
+      <Tooltip hint="A hint" always>
+        <button>icon</button>
+      </Tooltip>,
+    );
+    return screen.getByText("icon").parentElement as HTMLElement;
+  };
+
+  it("does not open from a tap", async () => {
+    hover(mount(), "touch");
+    await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, 50));
+    expect(screen.queryByRole("tooltip")).toBeNull();
+  });
+
+  it("still opens under a mouse", async () => {
+    hover(mount(), "mouse");
+    expect(await screen.findByRole("tooltip")).toBeTruthy();
+  });
+});
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/ui/Tooltip.tsx b/frontend/src/components/ui/Tooltip.tsx
index a383ea25..6ce58ff6 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/ui/Tooltip.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/components/ui/Tooltip.tsx
@@ -37,6 +37,8 @@ export default function Tooltip({
     // Show/hide on contact by default (as the pre-platform tooltip did); `openDelay` adds a
     // rest-before-show for labels that shouldn't flash on a fast sweep across an icon row.
     hoverDelay: { open: openDelay, close: 0 },
+    // A caption is for a mouse (and a key's focus). Opened by a tap it cost touch the tap itself.
+    mouseHoverOnly: true,
   });
   const { setReference } = pop.refs;
 
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/ui/anchoredPopoverHooks.ts b/frontend/src/components/ui/anchoredPopoverHooks.ts
index a00c55e7..0ac6a6c6 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/ui/anchoredPopoverHooks.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/components/ui/anchoredPopoverHooks.ts
@@ -62,6 +62,11 @@ export interface AnchoredPopoverOptions {
    *  preview (ui/MediaPreview): a keyboard walk down a grid would otherwise pop a panel at every stop,
    *  and a tap is the card's play. */
   pointerOnly?: boolean;
+  /** Hover mode only: never opened by a finger, still by a mouse and a key's focus. A caption over a
+   *  control (ui/Tooltip): on an iPad the tap's synthetic mouseenter showed it, WebKit then took that
+   *  first tap as a hover and swallowed its click (every rail button needed two taps), and with no
+   *  mouseleave from a finger the caption stayed up. */
+  mouseHoverOnly?: boolean;
   /** Index of the item that is currently CHOSEN, for a single-choice menu/listbox. Opening then
    *  lands the roving focus on it instead of the first item — the behaviour a "pick one of these
    *  modes" menu needs. Leave unset for action menus and multi-select toggle lists. */
@@ -166,7 +171,7 @@ export function useAnchoredPopover(opts: AnchoredPopoverOptions) {
     move: false,
     // A hover-card is a pointer affordance either way; a hover-ALSO menu must ignore touch, or the
     // synthetic mouseenter a tap emits would race the click toggle (open, then immediately shut).
-    mouseOnly: !isHover || !!opts.pointerOnly,
+    mouseOnly: !isHover || !!opts.pointerOnly || !!opts.mouseHoverOnly,
     // A submenu wants a shorter intent delay than a hover card: the pointer is already inside a
     // menu, so the "did they mean it" question is mostly answered.
     delay: opts.hoverDelay ?? (isHover ? { open: 120, close: 140 } : { open: 90, close: 120 }),