diff --git a/amethyst/src/main/java/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/service/playback/HlsVerifyLog.kt b/amethyst/src/main/java/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/service/playback/HlsVerifyLog.kt
deleted file mode 100644
index 9f89e66b1c..0000000000
--- a/amethyst/src/main/java/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/service/playback/HlsVerifyLog.kt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,44 +0,0 @@
-/*
- * Copyright (c) 2025 Vitor Pamplona
- *
- * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of
- * this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in
- * the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use,
- * copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the
- * Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so,
- * subject to the following conditions:
- *
- * The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
- * copies or substantial portions of the Software.
- *
- * THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
- * IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS
- * FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR
- * COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN
- * AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION
- * WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
- */
-package com.vitorpamplona.amethyst.service.playback
-
-/**
- * TEMPORARY — delete this file and its three call sites before merging.
- * `grep -rn HlsVerify` finds all of them; reverting the commit that added it does the same job.
- *
- * [PLAYBACK_DIAG_TAG] logs at DEBUG, and `Amethyst.onCreate` sets
- * `Log.minLevel = if (BuildConfig.DEBUG) DEBUG else ERROR` — so nothing on that tag survives in a
- * benchmark or release build. On-device verification of the HLS work therefore has to log at ERROR
- * to be visible at all.
- *
- * Deliberately placed only on the paths that unit tests *cannot* reach:
- * - `isHlsMediaItem` and the factory choice — needs `android.net.Uri`, which stubs to null under
- *   `unitTests.isReturnDefaultValues`.
- * - `LowLatencyStrippingParser.parse` — needs a `Uri` for the same reason.
- * - `HlsLivenessRecorder.maybeRecord` — needs a `Player`.
- *
- * The pure predicates underneath (`stripLowLatencyTags`, `isHlsMedia`, `shouldBypassCache`,
- * `livenessVerdictToRecord`) already have unit tests, which are the durable regression guard. This
- * tag is only for confirming the wiring on a real device.
- *
- * Capture with: `adb logcat -s HlsVerify:E`
- */
-const val HLS_VERIFY_TAG = "HlsVerify"
diff --git a/amethyst/src/main/java/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/service/playback/playerPool/CustomMediaSourceFactory.kt b/amethyst/src/main/java/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/service/playback/playerPool/CustomMediaSourceFactory.kt
index bfabbd885d..d9ec09d6e9 100644
--- a/amethyst/src/main/java/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/service/playback/playerPool/CustomMediaSourceFactory.kt
+++ b/amethyst/src/main/java/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/service/playback/playerPool/CustomMediaSourceFactory.kt
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@ import androidx.media3.exoplayer.hls.HlsMediaSource
 import androidx.media3.exoplayer.source.DefaultMediaSourceFactory
 import androidx.media3.exoplayer.source.MediaSource
 import androidx.media3.exoplayer.upstream.LoadErrorHandlingPolicy
-import com.vitorpamplona.amethyst.service.playback.HLS_VERIFY_TAG
 import com.vitorpamplona.amethyst.service.playback.PLAYBACK_DIAG_TAG
 import com.vitorpamplona.amethyst.service.playback.composable.mediaitem.MediaItemCache
 import com.vitorpamplona.amethyst.service.playback.diskCache.HlsLivenessCache
@@ -166,11 +165,6 @@ class CustomMediaSourceFactory(
 
         // Logs the routing inputs directly rather than a re-derived label, so it can't drift from
         // shouldBypassCache.
-        // TEMPORARY HlsVerify — see HlsVerifyLog.kt. Remove before merge.
-        Log.e(HLS_VERIFY_TAG) {
-            "ROUTE hls=$hls bypassCache=$bypassCache flaggedLive=$flaggedLive knownOnDemand=$knownOnDemand " +
-                "mime=${mediaItem.localConfiguration?.mimeType} -> ${source::class.java.simpleName} id=$id"
-        }
         Log.d(PLAYBACK_DIAG_TAG) {
             "SOURCE ${if (bypassCache) "BYPASS" else "CACHE"} flaggedLive=$flaggedLive hls=$hls knownOnDemand=$knownOnDemand " +
                 "mime=${mediaItem.localConfiguration?.mimeType} -> ${source::class.java.simpleName} id=$id"
diff --git a/amethyst/src/main/java/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/service/playback/playerPool/HlsLivenessRecorder.kt b/amethyst/src/main/java/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/service/playback/playerPool/HlsLivenessRecorder.kt
index 7ff88465db..9b95564fed 100644
--- a/amethyst/src/main/java/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/service/playback/playerPool/HlsLivenessRecorder.kt
+++ b/amethyst/src/main/java/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/service/playback/playerPool/HlsLivenessRecorder.kt
@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@ package com.vitorpamplona.amethyst.service.playback.playerPool
 import androidx.media3.common.C
 import androidx.media3.common.Player
 import androidx.media3.common.Timeline
-import com.vitorpamplona.amethyst.service.playback.HLS_VERIFY_TAG
 import com.vitorpamplona.amethyst.service.playback.PLAYBACK_DIAG_TAG
 import com.vitorpamplona.amethyst.service.playback.diskCache.HlsLivenessCache
 import com.vitorpamplona.quartz.utils.Log
@@ -106,8 +105,6 @@ class HlsLivenessRecorder(
         // refresh of a live stream, and the verdict is stable once learned, so re-putting the same
         // value would take a ConcurrentHashMap bin lock on every callback for nothing.
         if (known != toRecord) {
-            // TEMPORARY HlsVerify — see HlsVerifyLog.kt. Remove before merge.
-            Log.e(HLS_VERIFY_TAG) { "LIVENESS ${if (toRecord) "LIVE" else "ON-DEMAND"} learned for $url" }
             Log.d(PLAYBACK_DIAG_TAG) { "LIVENESS ${if (toRecord) "LIVE" else "ON-DEMAND"} learned for $url" }
             HlsLivenessCache.record(url, toRecord)
         }
diff --git a/amethyst/src/main/java/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/service/playback/playerPool/LowLatencyHlsStripper.kt b/amethyst/src/main/java/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/service/playback/playerPool/LowLatencyHlsStripper.kt
index 50d61e1af1..45ee84bc05 100644
--- a/amethyst/src/main/java/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/service/playback/playerPool/LowLatencyHlsStripper.kt
+++ b/amethyst/src/main/java/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/service/playback/playerPool/LowLatencyHlsStripper.kt
@@ -28,8 +28,6 @@ import androidx.media3.exoplayer.hls.playlist.HlsMultivariantPlaylist
 import androidx.media3.exoplayer.hls.playlist.HlsPlaylist
 import androidx.media3.exoplayer.hls.playlist.HlsPlaylistParserFactory
 import androidx.media3.exoplayer.upstream.ParsingLoadable
-import com.vitorpamplona.amethyst.service.playback.HLS_VERIFY_TAG
-import com.vitorpamplona.quartz.utils.Log
 import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream
 import java.io.InputStream
 
@@ -106,19 +104,7 @@ internal class LowLatencyStrippingParser(
     override fun parse(
         uri: Uri,
         inputStream: InputStream,
-    ): HlsPlaylist {
-        val original = inputStream.readBytes()
-        val stripped = stripLowLatencyTags(original)
-        // TEMPORARY HlsVerify — see HlsVerifyLog.kt. Remove before merge.
-        Log.e(HLS_VERIFY_TAG) {
-            if (stripped === original) {
-                "PARSE no LL tags (${original.size}B) $uri"
-            } else {
-                "PARSE STRIPPED ${original.size - stripped.size}B of ${original.size}B $uri"
-            }
-        }
-        return delegate.parse(uri, ByteArrayInputStream(stripped))
-    }
+    ): HlsPlaylist = delegate.parse(uri, ByteArrayInputStream(stripLowLatencyTags(inputStream.readBytes())))
 }
 
 /**