diff --git a/packaging/debian/build-client-deb.sh b/packaging/debian/build-client-deb.sh
index ff2156f7..9e6bdfd4 100644
--- a/packaging/debian/build-client-deb.sh
+++ b/packaging/debian/build-client-deb.sh
@@ -106,7 +106,10 @@ SHDEPS="$SHDEPS, libvulkan1"
 
 # Manual additions shlibdeps can't see: the PipeWire daemon + session manager are runtime
 # services (audio playback / mic capture degrade gracefully without them — Recommends).
-RECOMMENDS="pipewire, wireplumber, pipewire-pulse"
+# NOT pipewire-pulse: the client speaks native PipeWire (audio.rs → libpipewire-0.3) and never
+# opens a Pulse socket, and the shim Conflicts with pulseaudio — so recommending it only nags
+# users who run real PulseAudio, in exchange for nothing the client can use.
+RECOMMENDS="pipewire, wireplumber"
 
 INSTALLED_KB="$(du -k -s "$STAGE" | cut -f1)"
 
diff --git a/packaging/rpm/punktfunk.spec b/packaging/rpm/punktfunk.spec
index 23c946c3..d1114d56 100644
--- a/packaging/rpm/punktfunk.spec
+++ b/packaging/rpm/punktfunk.spec
@@ -104,8 +104,13 @@ BuildRequires:  vulkan-headers
 
 # --- Runtime -----------------------------------------------------------------
 Requires:       pipewire
-Requires:       pipewire-pulseaudio
 Requires:       wireplumber
+# The host captures the sink monitor through NATIVE PipeWire (audio/linux.rs) and never opens a
+# Pulse socket itself — the shim is for the GAMES, which commonly emit through the PulseAudio
+# API. Weak-dep, because `pipewire-pulseaudio` CONFLICTS with `pulseaudio`: as a hard Requires it
+# made the host uninstallable for anyone running real PulseAudio, which serves those games just
+# as well. Fedora installs pipewire-pulseaudio by default, so the default box is unaffected.
+Recommends:     pipewire-pulseaudio
 Requires:       opus
 Requires:       libei
 # FFmpeg runtime with NVENC (RPM Fusion). Weak-dep so the package installs even if