diff --git a/amethyst/src/main/java/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/service/uploads/blossom/BlossomSyncForegroundService.kt b/amethyst/src/main/java/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/service/uploads/blossom/BlossomSyncForegroundService.kt
index 37bfb93b5c..0414ff950c 100644
--- a/amethyst/src/main/java/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/service/uploads/blossom/BlossomSyncForegroundService.kt
+++ b/amethyst/src/main/java/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/service/uploads/blossom/BlossomSyncForegroundService.kt
@@ -46,16 +46,6 @@ class BlossomSyncForegroundService : FlowProgressForegroundService<BlossomSyncSt
     override val cancelAction = ACTION_CANCEL
     override val cancelLabelRes = R.string.blossom_sync_cancel
 
-    override fun onCreate() {
-        super.onCreate()
-        running = true
-    }
-
-    override fun onDestroy() {
-        running = false
-        super.onDestroy()
-    }
-
     override fun state() = Amethyst.instance.blossomMirrorQueue.state
 
     override fun isActive(value: BlossomSyncState?) = value?.running == true
@@ -81,12 +71,13 @@ class BlossomSyncForegroundService : FlowProgressForegroundService<BlossomSyncSt
         private const val NOTIFICATION_ID = 0x424C4F // "BLO"
         private const val ACTION_CANCEL = "com.vitorpamplona.amethyst.blossom.SYNC_CANCEL"
 
-        @Volatile
-        private var running = false
-
-        /** Started when a sweep begins (from the foreground); stops itself when it finishes. */
+        /**
+         * Started when a sweep begins (from the foreground); stops itself when it finishes.
+         * No `running` de-dup: a sweep starts this exactly once (via [BlossomMirrorQueue.onActive]),
+         * and a redundant start would just route to a cheap onStartCommand — whereas a stale
+         * "already running" flag could leave a fresh sweep with no foreground protection.
+         */
         fun start(context: Context) {
-            if (running) return
             FlowProgressForegroundService.start(context, BlossomSyncForegroundService::class.java, TAG)
         }
     }
diff --git a/amethyst/src/main/java/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/ui/actions/mediaServers/BlossomBlobManagerViewModel.kt b/amethyst/src/main/java/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/ui/actions/mediaServers/BlossomBlobManagerViewModel.kt
index 1b3c9a9915..d5abfefec0 100644
--- a/amethyst/src/main/java/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/ui/actions/mediaServers/BlossomBlobManagerViewModel.kt
+++ b/amethyst/src/main/java/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/ui/actions/mediaServers/BlossomBlobManagerViewModel.kt
@@ -40,13 +40,18 @@ import com.vitorpamplona.quartz.nipB7Blossom.BlossomServerUrl
 import com.vitorpamplona.quartz.nipB7Blossom.BlossomUploadResult
 import com.vitorpamplona.quartz.utils.Log
 import kotlinx.coroutines.Dispatchers
+import kotlinx.coroutines.Job
 import kotlinx.coroutines.async
 import kotlinx.coroutines.awaitAll
 import kotlinx.coroutines.coroutineScope
 import kotlinx.coroutines.flow.MutableStateFlow
 import kotlinx.coroutines.flow.asStateFlow
+import kotlinx.coroutines.flow.update
 import kotlinx.coroutines.launch
+import kotlinx.coroutines.sync.Semaphore
+import kotlinx.coroutines.sync.withPermit
 import kotlinx.coroutines.withContext
+import kotlin.coroutines.cancellation.CancellationException
 
 /** Whether one of the user's servers holds a blob, or an operation on it is in flight. */
 enum class PresenceState {
@@ -147,19 +152,27 @@ class BlossomBlobManagerViewModel : ViewModel() {
         account.blossomServers.flow.value
             .distinct()
 
+    private var refreshJob: Job? = null
+
     fun refresh() {
-        viewModelScope.launch(Dispatchers.IO) {
-            _isLoading.value = true
-            _error.value = null
-            try {
-                loadMatrix()
-            } catch (e: Exception) {
-                Log.w("BlossomBlobManager", "Failed to load blob list", e)
-                _error.value = e.message?.ifBlank { null } ?: e.javaClass.simpleName
-            } finally {
-                _isLoading.value = false
+        // Cancel any in-flight load so two quick refreshes can't interleave their writes
+        // or fight over _isLoading.
+        refreshJob?.cancel()
+        refreshJob =
+            viewModelScope.launch(Dispatchers.IO) {
+                _isLoading.value = true
+                _error.value = null
+                try {
+                    loadMatrix()
+                } catch (e: CancellationException) {
+                    throw e
+                } catch (e: Exception) {
+                    Log.w("BlossomBlobManager", "Failed to load blob list", e)
+                    _error.value = e.message?.ifBlank { null } ?: e.javaClass.simpleName
+                } finally {
+                    _isLoading.value = false
+                }
             }
-        }
     }
 
     private suspend fun loadMatrix() {
@@ -225,15 +238,18 @@ class BlossomBlobManagerViewModel : ViewModel() {
         _blobs.value = rows()
         _isLoading.value = false
 
-        // Phase 2 — HEAD-probe ONLY the non-list servers, for the known hashes, in parallel.
+        // Phase 2 — HEAD-probe ONLY the non-list servers, for the known hashes. Bounded so a
+        // user with hundreds of blobs on a non-/list server doesn't spawn hundreds of probes
+        // at once; OkHttp still caps per-host, this caps the coroutine/allocation breadth.
         val nonListServers = servers.filter { it !in listCapable }
         if (nonListServers.isNotEmpty() && allHashes.isNotEmpty()) {
+            val limiter = Semaphore(MAX_HEAD_PROBES)
             val head =
                 coroutineScope {
                     nonListServers
                         .flatMap { server ->
                             allHashes.map { hash ->
-                                async { (server to hash) to clientFor(server).has(hash, server) }
+                                async { limiter.withPermit { (server to hash) to clientFor(server).has(hash, server) } }
                             }
                         }.awaitAll()
                 }.toMap()
@@ -248,14 +264,18 @@ class BlossomBlobManagerViewModel : ViewModel() {
         server: String,
         state: PresenceState,
     ) {
-        _blobs.value =
-            _blobs.value.map { row ->
+        // Atomic read-modify-write: the app-level sync results collector (Main) and the
+        // per-row delete/mirror actions (IO) both mutate _blobs concurrently, so a plain
+        // `_blobs.value = _blobs.value.map{}` would lose updates.
+        _blobs.update { list ->
+            list.map { row ->
                 if (row.hash != hash) {
                     row
                 } else {
                     row.copy(servers = row.servers.map { if (it.server == server) it.copy(state = state) else it })
                 }
             }
+        }
     }
 
     /** BUD-02 delete: remove [hash] from a single [server]; the pill spins then goes grey. */
@@ -275,9 +295,7 @@ class BlossomBlobManagerViewModel : ViewModel() {
                 }
             setServerState(hash, server, if (ok) PresenceState.MISSING else PresenceState.PRESENT)
             // Drop the row entirely once it's gone from every server.
-            if (currentRow(hash)?.hasPresent == false) {
-                _blobs.value = _blobs.value.filter { it.hash != hash }
-            }
+            _blobs.update { list -> if (list.firstOrNull { it.hash == hash }?.hasPresent == false) list.filter { it.hash != hash } else list }
         }
     }
 
@@ -322,14 +340,15 @@ class BlossomBlobManagerViewModel : ViewModel() {
                 .map { BlossomMirrorQueue.Task(it.hash, it.url!!, it.size, it.missingServers) }
         if (tasks.isEmpty()) return
 
-        _blobs.value =
-            _blobs.value.map { row ->
+        _blobs.update { list ->
+            list.map { row ->
                 if (!row.hasMissing) {
                     row
                 } else {
                     row.copy(servers = row.servers.map { if (it.state == PresenceState.MISSING) it.copy(state = PresenceState.PENDING) else it })
                 }
             }
+        }
         Amethyst.instance.blossomMirrorQueue.start(account, tasks)
     }
 
@@ -400,4 +419,9 @@ class BlossomBlobManagerViewModel : ViewModel() {
         val size: Long?,
         val type: String?,
     )
+
+    companion object {
+        /** Cap on concurrent HEAD probes during the /list backfill. */
+        private const val MAX_HEAD_PROBES = 8
+    }
 }
diff --git a/amethyst/src/main/java/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/ui/actions/mediaServers/DisplayBlossomSyncProgress.kt b/amethyst/src/main/java/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/ui/actions/mediaServers/DisplayBlossomSyncProgress.kt
index 0ec725109d..8a9ad2a000 100644
--- a/amethyst/src/main/java/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/ui/actions/mediaServers/DisplayBlossomSyncProgress.kt
+++ b/amethyst/src/main/java/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/ui/actions/mediaServers/DisplayBlossomSyncProgress.kt
@@ -41,7 +41,11 @@ import androidx.compose.material3.MaterialTheme
 import androidx.compose.material3.Surface
 import androidx.compose.material3.Text
 import androidx.compose.runtime.Composable
+import androidx.compose.runtime.LaunchedEffect
 import androidx.compose.runtime.getValue
+import androidx.compose.runtime.mutableStateOf
+import androidx.compose.runtime.remember
+import androidx.compose.runtime.setValue
 import androidx.compose.ui.Alignment
 import androidx.compose.ui.Modifier
 import androidx.compose.ui.text.style.TextOverflow
@@ -51,6 +55,7 @@ import com.vitorpamplona.amethyst.Amethyst
 import com.vitorpamplona.amethyst.R
 import com.vitorpamplona.amethyst.commons.icons.symbols.Icon
 import com.vitorpamplona.amethyst.commons.icons.symbols.MaterialSymbols
+import com.vitorpamplona.amethyst.service.uploads.blossom.BlossomSyncState
 import com.vitorpamplona.amethyst.ui.stringRes
 import com.vitorpamplona.amethyst.ui.theme.allGoodColor
 import com.vitorpamplona.amethyst.ui.theme.grayText
@@ -65,6 +70,11 @@ fun DisplayBlossomSyncProgress() {
     val queue = Amethyst.instance.blossomMirrorQueue
     val state by queue.state.collectAsStateWithLifecycle()
 
+    // Retain the last non-null value so the slide-out exit still has content to draw when
+    // state clears to null on cancel/dismiss.
+    var lastShown by remember { mutableStateOf<BlossomSyncState?>(null) }
+    LaunchedEffect(state) { state?.let { lastShown = it } }
+
     Box(modifier = Modifier.fillMaxSize(), contentAlignment = Alignment.BottomCenter) {
         AnimatedVisibility(
             visible = state != null,
@@ -76,7 +86,7 @@ fun DisplayBlossomSyncProgress() {
                     .padding(start = 12.dp, end = 12.dp, bottom = 116.dp)
                     .widthIn(max = 560.dp),
         ) {
-            val s = state ?: return@AnimatedVisibility
+            val s = lastShown ?: return@AnimatedVisibility
             Surface(
                 shape = RoundedCornerShape(18.dp),
                 color = MaterialTheme.colorScheme.surfaceContainer,
diff --git a/cli/src/main/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/cli/commands/BlossomCommands.kt b/cli/src/main/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/cli/commands/BlossomCommands.kt
index d550b087b4..67b78a4749 100644
--- a/cli/src/main/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/cli/commands/BlossomCommands.kt
+++ b/cli/src/main/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/cli/commands/BlossomCommands.kt
@@ -116,7 +116,12 @@ object BlossomCommands {
         val args = Args(rest)
         val server = args.flag("server") ?: return Output.error("bad_args", "blossom mirror requires --server URL")
         val sourceUrl = args.positional(0, "source-url")
-        val hash = sourceUrl.substringAfterLast('/').substringBefore('.')
+        val hash =
+            sourceUrl
+                .substringBefore('?')
+                .substringBefore('#')
+                .substringAfterLast('/')
+                .substringBefore('.')
         if (hash.length != 64 || hash.any { it !in "0123456789abcdef" }) {
             return Output.error("bad_args", "could not extract a sha256 from the source url '$sourceUrl'")
         }
diff --git a/commons/src/jvmAndroid/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/commons/service/upload/BlossomClient.kt b/commons/src/jvmAndroid/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/commons/service/upload/BlossomClient.kt
index 4bafe94247..f8fe9246b8 100644
--- a/commons/src/jvmAndroid/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/commons/service/upload/BlossomClient.kt
+++ b/commons/src/jvmAndroid/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/commons/service/upload/BlossomClient.kt
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ import okhttp3.Response
 import okio.BufferedSink
 import okio.source
 import java.io.File
+import kotlin.coroutines.cancellation.CancellationException
 
 /**
  * Thrown when a Blossom server answers with `402 Payment Required` (BUD-07). The
@@ -198,6 +199,8 @@ open class BlossomClient(
                     .build()
             try {
                 okHttpClient.newCall(request).execute().use { it.isSuccessful }
+            } catch (e: CancellationException) {
+                throw e
             } catch (_: Exception) {
                 false
             }