Merge pull request 'An OLED palette, and split WHETHER the gamepad UI is offered from WHEN it appears' (#116) from worktree-oled-theme-gamepad-ui-split into main

Reviewed-on: #116

clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/App.kt

@@ -69,11 +69,14 @@ fun App(forceGamepadUi: Boolean = false) {
     // later manual Back out of the library is not undone by a stale value.
     var reopenLibraryHostId by remember { mutableStateOf<String?>(null) }
 
-    // Console (gamepad) mode mirrors the Apple client: the setting AND (a pad is attached OR this is
-    // a TV OR the dev force flag). Flips live as controllers connect/disconnect.
+    // Console (gamepad) mode mirrors the Apple client: the setting AND (its mode says Always OR a
+    // pad is attached OR this is a TV OR the dev force flag). Flips live as controllers
+    // connect/disconnect — unless the mode is Always, where it simply stays.
     val tv = remember { isTvDevice(context) }
     val controllerConnected by rememberControllerConnected()
-    val gamepadUi = gamepadUiActive(settings.gamepadUiEnabled, controllerConnected, tv, forceGamepadUi)
+    val gamepadUi = gamepadUiActive(
+        settings.gamepadUiEnabled, settings.gamepadUiMode, controllerConnected, tv, forceGamepadUi,
+    )
 
     // Publish the live session process-wide, so a `punktfunk://` link that arrives as a SECOND
     // activity instance (the normal case under `launchMode = standard`) can refuse it before that

clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadPalette.kt

@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ class GamepadPalette(
         )
 
         /**
-         * The twelve shipped palettes: the brand default, five more dark fields, then six pale
+         * The thirteen shipped palettes: the brand default, six more dark fields, then six pale
          * ones. Cycling order runs dark → light, so stepping the row walks the range one way.
          */
         val ALL = listOf(
@@ -77,6 +77,22 @@ class GamepadPalette(
                 ground = Triple(0.075, 0.060, 0.160),
                 accent = Triple(0.525, 0.471, 0.961), light = false,
             ),
+            GamepadPalette(
+                // For OLED and AMOLED panels, where a black pixel is a pixel switched off — no
+                // glow, no power. The first two stops are literally (0,0,0), so the shaded half
+                // of the field is genuinely off rather than "very dark grey", and the ground is
+                // pure black too: the calm mix on the form screens lifts toward nothing. What is
+                // left is a faint indigo→violet ember in the bright corner. The accent stays the
+                // brand violet — focus has to be findable on black.
+                "oled", "OLED",
+                listOf(
+                    Triple(0.000, 0.000, 0.000), Triple(0.000, 0.000, 0.000),
+                    Triple(0.010, 0.020, 0.100), Triple(0.045, 0.016, 0.115),
+                    Triple(0.120, 0.024, 0.130),
+                ),
+                ground = Triple(0.0, 0.0, 0.0),
+                accent = Triple(0.525, 0.471, 0.961), light = false,
+            ),
             GamepadPalette(
                 // Deep indigo climbing through violet into a hot magenta.
                 "nebula", "Nebula",

clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadSettingsScreen.kt

@@ -665,6 +665,21 @@ internal fun buildSettingsRows(
             "Turn off to use the touch interface even with a controller connected.",
             s.gamepadUiEnabled,
         ) { update(s.copy(gamepadUiEnabled = it)) },
+    ) + listOfNotNull(
+        // WHEN the switch above takes over. Built only while it is ON: turn the switch off from
+        // this very screen and the row under the cursor would otherwise be one deciding nothing,
+        // on a screen that is itself about to disappear.
+        if (s.gamepadUiEnabled) {
+            choice(
+                "gamepadUIMode", GpTab.INTERFACE, null, "Show it",
+                "With a controller: the touch interface comes back when the last one " +
+                    "disconnects. Always keeps this layout either way — for a device that lives " +
+                    "docked to a TV. A TV itself is always in this mode regardless.",
+                GAMEPAD_UI_MODE_OPTIONS, s.gamepadUiMode,
+            ) { update(s.copy(gamepadUiMode = it)) }
+        } else {
+            null
+        },
     )
 }
 

clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadUi.kt

@@ -16,15 +16,35 @@ import androidx.compose.runtime.remember
 import androidx.compose.ui.platform.LocalContext
 import io.unom.punktfunk.kit.Gamepad
 
+/**
+ * [Settings.gamepadUiMode]: take over only while a controller is attached. The default, and what
+ * the switch meant when it was a lone Boolean.
+ */
+const val GAMEPAD_UI_WHEN_CONNECTED = "connected"
+
+/**
+ * [Settings.gamepadUiMode]: take over whenever the switch is on, pad or no pad — for a phone or
+ * tablet that lives docked to a TV, where the console layout is the one wanted and the pad is not
+ * always awake.
+ */
+const val GAMEPAD_UI_ALWAYS = "always"
+
 /**
  * Whether the controller-optimized "console" home (the host carousel + gamepad chrome) should
  * replace the touch UI — the Android mirror of the Apple client's `GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive`:
- * the user's [enabled] setting AND (a controller is attached OR this is a TV OR the dev [forced]
- * flag). A TV counts unconditionally — its remote/gamepad is the only input, so it's always the
- * console UI (as long as the setting is on).
+ * the user's [enabled] setting AND (the [mode] is [GAMEPAD_UI_ALWAYS] OR a controller is attached
+ * OR this is a TV OR the dev [forced] flag). A TV counts unconditionally — its remote/gamepad is
+ * the only input, so it's always the console UI (as long as the setting is on), which is why the
+ * mode row means nothing there. An unrecognized [mode] waits for a controller, so a value a newer
+ * client wrote can never strand this one in a layout it has no way back out of.
  */
-fun gamepadUiActive(enabled: Boolean, controllerConnected: Boolean, tv: Boolean, forced: Boolean): Boolean =
-    enabled && (controllerConnected || tv || forced)
+fun gamepadUiActive(
+    enabled: Boolean,
+    mode: String,
+    controllerConnected: Boolean,
+    tv: Boolean,
+    forced: Boolean,
+): Boolean = enabled && (mode == GAMEPAD_UI_ALWAYS || controllerConnected || tv || forced)
 
 /** True on a TV: the leanback/television feature or the TELEVISION ui-mode. */
 fun isTvDevice(context: Context): Boolean {

clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/Settings.kt

@@ -94,11 +94,20 @@ data class Settings(
     val touchMode: TouchMode = TouchMode.TRACKPAD,
     /**
      * Swap the whole home screen for the controller-optimized "console" UI (the host carousel +
-     * gamepad chrome) whenever a controller is connected — mirrors the Apple client's
-     * `gamepadUIEnabled`. On by default; turn it off to keep the touch UI even with a pad attached.
+     * gamepad chrome) — mirrors the Apple client's `gamepadUIEnabled`. On by default; turn it off
+     * to keep the touch UI even with a pad attached. WHEN it takes over is [gamepadUiMode].
      * A TV (leanback) is always in this mode regardless (its remote/pad is the only input).
      */
     val gamepadUiEnabled: Boolean = true,
+    /**
+     * When [gamepadUiEnabled] actually takes over — the cross-client `gamepad_ui_mode` pair,
+     * mirroring the Apple client's `gamepadUIMode`: `"connected"` (default, and what the switch
+     * has always meant) waits for a controller; `"always"` keeps the console UI with no pad in
+     * reach, for a phone or tablet that lives docked to a TV. Read only while [gamepadUiEnabled]
+     * is on, which is why both settings screens hide the row when the switch is off. Anything
+     * unrecognized resolves to `"connected"`. A TV ignores it — it is always in console mode.
+     */
+    val gamepadUiMode: String = GAMEPAD_UI_WHEN_CONNECTED,
     /**
      * Show the experimental game-library browser (the coverflow reached with Y from a saved host).
      * Fetched from the host's management API over mTLS; needs a paired host. Mirrors the Apple
@@ -107,9 +116,10 @@ data class Settings(
     val libraryEnabled: Boolean = true,
     /**
      * Which colour family the console (gamepad) UI's living backdrop drifts through — the
-     * cross-client `ui_palette` key: `"violet"` (the brand default), `"tide"`, `"forest"`,
-     * `"ember"`, `"rose"`, `"graphite"`. See [GamepadPalette], whose table and maths mirror the
-     * desktop console's and the Apple client's under the same names. Presentation only: nothing
+     * cross-client `ui_palette` key: `"violet"` (the brand default), then `"oled"`, `"nebula"`,
+     * `"abyss"`, `"ember"`, `"moss"`, `"graphite"`, then the six pale fields. See
+     * [GamepadPalette], whose table and maths mirror the desktop console's and the Apple
+     * client's under the same names. Presentation only: nothing
      * about a stream depends on it, so it is a device preference and never part of a profile.
      * An unknown value reads as the default rather than failing — a newer client may have shipped
      * a palette this build doesn't know.
@@ -303,6 +313,8 @@ class SettingsStore(context: Context) {
             // Migration: the pre-enum Boolean "trackpad_mode" (true = trackpad, false = direct).
             ?: if (prefs.getBoolean(K_TRACKPAD, true)) TouchMode.TRACKPAD else TouchMode.POINTER,
         gamepadUiEnabled = prefs.getBoolean(K_GAMEPAD_UI, true),
+        gamepadUiMode = prefs.getString(K_GAMEPAD_UI_MODE, GAMEPAD_UI_WHEN_CONNECTED)
+            ?: GAMEPAD_UI_WHEN_CONNECTED,
         libraryEnabled = prefs.getBoolean(K_LIBRARY, true),
         uiPalette = prefs.getString(K_UI_PALETTE, "violet") ?: "violet",
         lowLatencyMode = prefs.getBoolean(K_LOW_LATENCY, true),
@@ -344,6 +356,7 @@ class SettingsStore(context: Context) {
             .putString(K_STATS_VERBOSITY, s.statsVerbosity.name)
             .putString(K_TOUCH_MODE, s.touchMode.name)
             .putBoolean(K_GAMEPAD_UI, s.gamepadUiEnabled)
+            .putString(K_GAMEPAD_UI_MODE, s.gamepadUiMode)
             .putBoolean(K_LIBRARY, s.libraryEnabled)
             .putString(K_UI_PALETTE, s.uiPalette)
             .putBoolean(K_LOW_LATENCY, s.lowLatencyMode)
@@ -384,6 +397,7 @@ class SettingsStore(context: Context) {
         const val K_HUD = "stats_hud_enabled"
         const val K_TOUCH_MODE = "touch_mode"
         const val K_GAMEPAD_UI = "gamepad_ui_enabled"
+        const val K_GAMEPAD_UI_MODE = "gamepad_ui_mode"
         const val K_LIBRARY = "library_enabled"
         const val K_UI_PALETTE = "ui_palette"
 
@@ -778,6 +792,13 @@ fun smoothBufferOptions(hz: Int): List<Pair<Int, String>> {
     )
 }
 
+/** (stored value, label) for when the console UI takes over — the Apple client's table verbatim.
+ * Only offered while [Settings.gamepadUiEnabled] is on; a TV is in console mode either way. */
+val GAMEPAD_UI_MODE_OPTIONS = listOf(
+    GAMEPAD_UI_WHEN_CONNECTED to "With a controller",
+    GAMEPAD_UI_ALWAYS to "Always",
+)
+
 /** (mode, label) for the touch-input model. */
 val TOUCH_MODE_OPTIONS = listOf(
     TouchMode.TRACKPAD to "Trackpad",

clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/SettingsScreen.kt

@@ -592,11 +592,24 @@ private fun GeneralSettings(s: Settings, update: (Settings) -> Unit) {
         SettingsGroup("Interface") {
             ToggleRow(
                 title = "Controller-optimized UI",
-                subtitle = "Switch to the console home when a controller is connected. A TV " +
-                    "always uses it.",
+                subtitle = "Swap the touch home for the console home — the host carousel and " +
+                    "gamepad chrome. A TV always uses it.",
                 checked = s.gamepadUiEnabled,
                 onCheckedChange = { on -> update(s.copy(gamepadUiEnabled = on)) },
             )
+            // Only decides anything while the switch above is on, so it is HIDDEN rather than
+            // dimmed when it isn't — a picker whose every option changes nothing is worse than
+            // no picker, and this group is short enough that nothing jumps far.
+            if (s.gamepadUiEnabled) {
+                SettingDropdown(
+                    label = "Show it",
+                    options = GAMEPAD_UI_MODE_OPTIONS,
+                    selected = s.gamepadUiMode,
+                    caption = "With a controller: the touch home comes back when the last one " +
+                        "disconnects. Always keeps the console home either way — for a device " +
+                        "that lives docked to a TV.",
+                ) { v -> update(s.copy(gamepadUiMode = v)) }
+            }
         }
     }
 }

clients/android/app/src/test/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadPaletteTest.kt

@@ -33,14 +33,14 @@ class GamepadPaletteTest {
     fun tableMatchesTheOtherClients() {
         assertEquals(
             listOf(
-                "violet", "nebula", "abyss", "ember", "moss", "graphite",
+                "violet", "oled", "nebula", "abyss", "ember", "moss", "graphite",
                 "holo", "sunset", "bloom", "dawn", "mint", "opal",
             ),
             GamepadPalette.ALL.map { it.id },
         )
         // Dark fields lead, pale ones follow, so stepping the row walks one direction.
         val firstLight = GamepadPalette.ALL.indexOfFirst { it.light }
-        assertEquals(6, firstLight)
+        assertEquals(7, firstLight)
         assertTrue(GamepadPalette.ALL.drop(firstLight).all { it.light })
         // An unknown name is a newer client's palette, not an error.
         assertEquals("violet", GamepadPalette.named("chartreuse").id)
@@ -72,6 +72,25 @@ class GamepadPaletteTest {
         }
     }
 
+    /**
+     * OLED is the one palette whose selling point is measurable: it has to be genuinely black,
+     * not merely the darkest of the dark fields. The blob field this client draws samples the
+     * ramp at 0.15/0.40/0.65/0.90, so its darkest blob lands in the all-black head of the ramp.
+     */
+    @Test
+    fun oledIsActuallyBlack() {
+        val oled = GamepadPalette.named("oled")
+        assertEquals(Triple(0.0, 0.0, 0.0), oled.ground)
+        assertEquals(0f, oled.blobColors[0].red, 1e-6f)
+        assertEquals(0f, oled.blobColors[0].green, 1e-6f)
+        assertEquals(0f, oled.blobColors[0].blue, 1e-6f)
+        val mean = oled.stops.sumOf { luma(it) } / oled.stops.size
+        val darkestOther = GamepadPalette.ALL
+            .filter { it.id != "oled" && it.stops.isNotEmpty() }
+            .minOf { p -> p.stops.sumOf { luma(it) } / p.stops.size }
+        assertTrue("oled means $mean, barely under $darkestOther", mean < darkestOther / 2)
+    }
+
     /** A pale palette really is pale — its ink flips, so a mislabelled one is unreadable. */
     @Test
     fun palettesAreHonestAboutLightness() {

clients/android/app/src/test/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadSettingsRowsTest.kt

@@ -95,4 +95,47 @@ class GamepadSettingsRowsTest {
         // Drawn as a switch, and reading the persisted default.
         assertEquals(true, row(on, "dsCapture").toggled)
     }
+
+    /**
+     * The activation-mode row is a sub-setting of the Controller-optimized UI switch, so it is
+     * OFFERED only while that switch is on — hidden rather than dimmed, because with the switch
+     * off this whole screen is about to be replaced by the touch UI and a dimmed row there would
+     * be one last thing to step past on the way out.
+     */
+    @Test
+    fun `the activation-mode row follows the switch it belongs to`() {
+        fun ids(enabled: Boolean) = buildSettingsRows(
+            Settings(gamepadUiEnabled = enabled),
+            hasBodyVibrator = false, hasGyroscope = false, av1Capable = false,
+        ) {}.map { it.id }
+
+        val on = ids(enabled = true)
+        assertTrue("the mode row is missing", "gamepadUIMode" in on)
+        assertEquals(
+            "the mode belongs directly under the switch it qualifies",
+            on.indexOf("gamepadUI") + 1,
+            on.indexOf("gamepadUIMode"),
+        )
+        val off = ids(enabled = false)
+        assertFalse("the mode row must not outlive its switch", "gamepadUIMode" in off)
+        assertTrue("the switch itself stays, or it could never be turned back on", "gamepadUI" in off)
+    }
+
+    /** Stepping the mode row writes the shared `gamepad_ui_mode` value, and wraps on A. */
+    @Test
+    fun `the activation-mode row steps the shared key`() {
+        var s = Settings()
+        fun mode() = buildSettingsRows(
+            s, hasBodyVibrator = false, hasGyroscope = false, av1Capable = false,
+        ) { s = it }.first { it.id == "gamepadUIMode" }
+
+        assertEquals(GAMEPAD_UI_WHEN_CONNECTED, s.gamepadUiMode)
+        assertEquals("With a controller", mode().value)
+        assertFalse("already the first = thud", mode().adjust(-1))
+        assertTrue(mode().adjust(1))
+        assertEquals(GAMEPAD_UI_ALWAYS, s.gamepadUiMode)
+        // A from the last entry wraps home.
+        mode().activate()
+        assertEquals(GAMEPAD_UI_WHEN_CONNECTED, s.gamepadUiMode)
+    }
 }

clients/android/app/src/test/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadUiTest.kt

@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+package io.unom.punktfunk
+
+import org.junit.Assert.assertEquals
+import org.junit.Assert.assertFalse
+import org.junit.Assert.assertTrue
+import org.junit.Test
+
+/**
+ * [gamepadUiActive] is pure — table-tested over its inputs, and the mirror of the Apple client's
+ * `GamepadUIEnvironmentTests`. The two clients share the stored `gamepad_ui_mode` values, so a
+ * disagreement here is a device that behaves differently from the same setting.
+ */
+class GamepadUiTest {
+
+    /** The default mode is what the switch meant when it was a lone Boolean. */
+    @Test
+    fun whenConnectedWaitsForAPad() {
+        assertTrue(gamepadUiActive(true, GAMEPAD_UI_WHEN_CONNECTED, true, tv = false, forced = false))
+        assertFalse(gamepadUiActive(true, GAMEPAD_UI_WHEN_CONNECTED, false, tv = false, forced = false))
+        assertFalse(gamepadUiActive(false, GAMEPAD_UI_WHEN_CONNECTED, true, tv = false, forced = false))
+        assertFalse(gamepadUiActive(false, GAMEPAD_UI_WHEN_CONNECTED, false, tv = false, forced = false))
+        // A TV is in console mode whatever the mode says — its remote is the only input.
+        assertTrue(gamepadUiActive(true, GAMEPAD_UI_WHEN_CONNECTED, false, tv = true, forced = false))
+    }
+
+    /** Always drops the controller from the decision — but never the switch, which is the one
+     * way back to the touch UI. */
+    @Test
+    fun alwaysIgnoresThePadButNotTheSwitch() {
+        assertTrue(gamepadUiActive(true, GAMEPAD_UI_ALWAYS, false, tv = false, forced = false))
+        assertTrue(gamepadUiActive(true, GAMEPAD_UI_ALWAYS, true, tv = false, forced = false))
+        assertFalse(gamepadUiActive(false, GAMEPAD_UI_ALWAYS, false, tv = false, forced = false))
+        assertFalse(gamepadUiActive(false, GAMEPAD_UI_ALWAYS, true, tv = false, forced = false))
+    }
+
+    /** A value a newer client wrote waits for a pad rather than stranding this build in a
+     * layout it has no way back out of. */
+    @Test
+    fun anUnknownModeWaitsForAPad() {
+        assertFalse(gamepadUiActive(true, "whenever-i-say-so", false, tv = false, forced = false))
+        assertTrue(gamepadUiActive(true, "whenever-i-say-so", true, tv = false, forced = false))
+        assertFalse(gamepadUiActive(true, "", false, tv = false, forced = false))
+    }
+
+    /** The shipped default: the console UI still waits for a controller. */
+    @Test
+    fun theDefaultIsUnchangedBehaviour() {
+        val s = Settings()
+        assertTrue(s.gamepadUiEnabled)
+        assertEquals(GAMEPAD_UI_WHEN_CONNECTED, s.gamepadUiMode)
+        assertFalse(gamepadUiActive(s.gamepadUiEnabled, s.gamepadUiMode, false, tv = false, forced = false))
+    }
+}

clients/android/app/src/test/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/ProfilesTest.kt

@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ class ProfilesTest {
 
         // Device-scope settings are not in the overlay at all, so no profile can move them.
         assertEquals(base.gamepadUiEnabled, out.gamepadUiEnabled)
+        assertEquals(base.gamepadUiMode, out.gamepadUiMode)
         assertEquals(base.libraryEnabled, out.libraryEnabled)
         assertEquals(base.autoWakeEnabled, out.autoWakeEnabled)
         assertEquals(base.sc2Capture, out.sc2Capture)

clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/ContentView.swift

@@ -99,6 +99,10 @@ struct ContentView: View {
     // with no (extended) controller attached tvOS falls back to HomeView as before.
     @ObservedObject private var gamepadManager = GamepadManager.shared
     @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.gamepadUIEnabled) private var gamepadUIEnabled = true
+    /// When the switch above takes over — "connected" (default) or "always". See
+    /// `GamepadUIEnvironment`.
+    @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.gamepadUIMode) private var gamepadUIMode =
+        GamepadUIEnvironment.modeWhenConnected
     /// Auto-wake on connect (Settings → General). On (default): a dial to an offline saved host
     /// fires Wake-on-LAN up front and falls into the "Waking…" wait if the dial fails. Off: connects
     /// go straight through with no wake. The explicit "Wake Host" action is unaffected either way.
@@ -113,7 +117,8 @@ struct ContentView: View {
     @Environment(\.scenePhase) private var scenePhase
     private var gamepadUIActive: Bool {
         GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive(
-            gamepadConnected: gamepadManager.active != nil, enabledSetting: gamepadUIEnabled)
+            gamepadConnected: gamepadManager.active != nil, enabledSetting: gamepadUIEnabled,
+            mode: gamepadUIMode)
     }
 
     // The body is split in two — `driven` (the screen plus its lifecycle drivers and sheets) and

clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadInk.swift

@@ -85,16 +85,40 @@ extension EnvironmentValues {
 }
 
 extension View {
-    /// Resolve the stored `ui_palette` and publish its ink to everything below. Applied by the
-    /// gamepad screens' common root so no individual view has to read the setting.
-    func gamepadPaletteInk() -> some View { modifier(GamepadInkModifier()) }
+    /// Resolve the stored `ui_palette` and publish its ink — AND the matching colour scheme — to
+    /// everything below. Applied by the gamepad screens' common root so no individual view has to
+    /// read the setting.
+    ///
+    /// `active` exists for the one surface that is the same view in both worlds: `LibraryView`
+    /// renders the coverflow under the gamepad UI and a plain grid without it. Passing `false`
+    /// publishes nothing, because the touch/desktop layouts sit on the SYSTEM background, where a
+    /// palette's scheme would invert their own system colours instead of matching them.
+    func gamepadPaletteInk(_ active: Bool = true) -> some View {
+        modifier(GamepadInkModifier(active: active))
+    }
 }
 
 private struct GamepadInkModifier: ViewModifier {
+    var active = true
     @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.uiPalette) private var paletteID = "violet"
+    /// The ambient scheme from ABOVE this modifier — what gets republished unchanged when the
+    /// gamepad UI isn't the one drawing, so `active: false` is a true no-op rather than a branch
+    /// that would change this view's identity.
+    @Environment(\.colorScheme) private var systemScheme
 
     func body(content: Content) -> some View {
-        content.environment(\.gamepadInk, GamepadInk.of(GamepadPalette.named(paletteID)))
+        let palette = GamepadPalette.named(paletteID)
+        return content
+            .environment(\.gamepadInk, active ? GamepadInk.of(palette) : .dark)
+            // The ink alone was never enough. Every SYSTEM-derived colour that lands on these
+            // screens — `.secondary` in a placeholder, a `.bordered` button's chrome, a
+            // NavigationStack's title, a material's frost — resolves against the DEVICE's
+            // appearance, which no part of this app had ever set. On iPhone and Mac that is often
+            // Light, so the pale palettes looked correct by accident; an Apple TV is Dark
+            // essentially always, so on tvOS every one of them came out WHITE on a pale field and
+            // the interface was unreadable. Publishing the scheme here — once, beside the ink it
+            // has to agree with — is what makes a pale palette mean "light" to UIKit too.
+            .environment(\.colorScheme, active ? (palette.light ? .light : .dark) : systemScheme)
     }
 }
 

clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/LibraryView.swift

@@ -32,9 +32,12 @@ struct LibraryView: View {
     // setting off) every platform keeps the plain-grid presentation of this same view.
     @ObservedObject private var gamepadManager = GamepadManager.shared
     @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.gamepadUIEnabled) private var gamepadUIEnabled = true
+    @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.gamepadUIMode) private var gamepadUIMode =
+        GamepadUIEnvironment.modeWhenConnected
     private var gamepadUIActive: Bool {
         GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive(
-            gamepadConnected: gamepadManager.active != nil, enabledSetting: gamepadUIEnabled)
+            gamepadConnected: gamepadManager.active != nil, enabledSetting: gamepadUIEnabled,
+            mode: gamepadUIMode)
     }
     #endif
 
@@ -78,6 +81,16 @@ struct LibraryView: View {
                 }
             }
             #endif
+            #if os(iOS) || os(macOS) || os(tvOS)
+            // Published HERE, not just inside the coverflow, because the coverflow is only one of
+            // four things this view renders: the loading spinner, the error state and the empty
+            // state sit above it, as do the navigation title and toolbar. On iOS those are wrapped
+            // by GamepadLibraryScreen, which inks the whole thing; tvOS and macOS present this view
+            // directly in a NavigationStack, so under a pale palette every one of them kept the
+            // system's own (dark, on an Apple TV) chrome over a light field. Off when the gamepad
+            // UI isn't drawing — the plain grid belongs to the system background.
+            .gamepadPaletteInk(gamepadUIActive)
+            #endif
     }
 
     @ViewBuilder private var content: some View {

clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Settings/GamepadSettingsView.swift

@@ -81,6 +81,9 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
     @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.hudPlacement) private var hudPlacement = HUDPlacement.topTrailing.rawValue
     @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.libraryEnabled) private var libraryEnabled = true
     @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.gamepadUIEnabled) private var gamepadUIEnabled = true
+    /// When the switch above takes over — the row is only built while it is on.
+    @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.gamepadUIMode) private var gamepadUIMode =
+        GamepadUIEnvironment.modeWhenConnected
     /// The gamepad UI's background colour family — the backdrop BEHIND this screen re-colours as
     /// the row steps, which is why the picker lives here and not in a sheet.
     @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.uiPalette) private var paletteID = "violet"
@@ -659,6 +662,21 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
                 detail: "Turn off to use the touch interface even with a controller connected.",
                 value: $gamepadUIEnabled),
         ]
+        // WHEN the switch above takes over. Built only while it is on: with the switch off this
+        // screen is unreachable in the first place (no gamepad UI to open it from), so a row
+        // that decides nothing would exist purely to be found in a screenshot.
+        if gamepadUIEnabled, let at = list.firstIndex(where: { $0.id == "gamepadUI" }) {
+            list.insert(
+                choiceRow(
+                    id: "gamepadUIMode", tab: .interface, icon: "gamecontroller.circle",
+                    label: "Show it",
+                    detail: "With a controller: the touch interface comes back when the last one "
+                        + "disconnects. Always keeps this layout either way — for a device that "
+                        + "lives on a TV.",
+                    options: SettingsOptions.gamepadUIModes, current: gamepadUIMode
+                ) { gamepadUIMode = $0 },
+                at: at + 1)
+        }
         #if os(macOS)
         // The windowed safe-present toggle slots in after "Smoothness buffer" (staying inside
         // the Video tab) — macOS only, mirroring the touch SettingsView's Presentation row
@@ -707,6 +725,14 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
                 at: anchor + 1)
         }
         #endif
+        // The smoothness buffer only decides anything under Smoothness. Every other settings
+        // surface — touch, tvOS, the GTK and WinUI shells — hides it under Lowest latency; this
+        // screen alone left it live and steppable, which is a row that thuds or silently stores
+        // a value nothing reads. Removed here rather than omitted from the literal above so the
+        // macOS safe-present insertion can still anchor on it.
+        if presentPriority != "smooth" {
+            list.removeAll { $0.id == "smoothBuffer" }
+        }
         return list + profileRows
     }
 

clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Settings/SettingsOptions.swift

@@ -53,6 +53,14 @@ enum SettingsOptions {
     static let hudPlacements: [(label: String, tag: String)] =
         HUDPlacement.allCases.map { ($0.label, $0.rawValue) }
 
+    /// When the gamepad UI takes over (`DefaultsKey.gamepadUIMode`) — only meaningful while
+    /// `gamepadUIEnabled` is on, so every surface that offers it hides the row when the switch
+    /// is off rather than showing a picker that decides nothing.
+    static let gamepadUIModes: [(label: String, tag: String)] = [
+        ("With a controller", GamepadUIEnvironment.modeWhenConnected),
+        ("Always", GamepadUIEnvironment.modeAlways),
+    ]
+
     /// Presentation intent (`DefaultsKey.presentPriority` — the 2026-07 rebuild that replaced
     /// the visible stage picker with intent; see SessionPresenter's PresentPriority and
     /// design/apple-presentation-rebuild.md). The stage ladder survives only as the hidden

clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Settings/SettingsView+Sections.swift

@@ -724,11 +724,24 @@ extension SettingsView {
             #endif
             #if !os(tvOS)
             if !inProfileScope {
-                described("With a controller connected, the host list and library switch to a "
-                    + "controller-friendly layout — larger focus targets, a swipeable cover "
-                    + "browser.") {
+                described("The host list and library switch to a controller-friendly layout — "
+                    + "larger focus targets, a swipeable cover browser.") {
                     Toggle("Gamepad-optimized browsing", isOn: $gamepadUIEnabled)
                 }
+                // Only meaningful while the switch above is on, so it is HIDDEN rather than
+                // disabled when it isn't: a picker whose every option decides nothing is worse
+                // than no picker, and this Section is short enough that nothing jumps far.
+                if gamepadUIEnabled {
+                    described("With a controller: the touch interface comes back when the last "
+                        + "one disconnects. Always keeps the controller-friendly layout either "
+                        + "way — for a device that lives on a TV.") {
+                        Picker("Show it", selection: $gamepadUIMode) {
+                            ForEach(SettingsOptions.gamepadUIModes, id: \.tag) { option in
+                                Text(option.label).tag(option.tag)
+                            }
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
             }
             #endif
             #if DEBUG && !os(tvOS)

clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Settings/SettingsView.swift

@@ -75,6 +75,13 @@ struct SettingsView: View {
     @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.hudPlacement) var hudPlacement = HUDPlacement.topTrailing.rawValue
     @ObservedObject var gamepads = GamepadManager.shared
     @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.gamepadUIEnabled) var gamepadUIEnabled = true
+    /// When the switch above takes over — read (and shown) only while it is on.
+    @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.gamepadUIMode) var gamepadUIMode =
+        GamepadUIEnvironment.modeWhenConnected
+    /// The gamepad UI's background palette. Edited here on tvOS only (see `tvBody`) — every other
+    /// platform reaches it through the gamepad settings screen, which an Apple TV without a
+    /// controller cannot open.
+    @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.uiPalette) var uiPalette = "violet"
     @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.autoWake) var autoWakeEnabled = true
     @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.backgroundKeepAlive) var backgroundKeepAlive = false
     @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.backgroundTimeoutMinutes) var backgroundTimeoutMinutes = 10
@@ -488,6 +495,22 @@ struct SettingsView: View {
                 TVSelectionRow(
                     title: "Gamepad-optimized browsing",
                     options: [("On", "on"), ("Off", "off")], selection: gamepadUIEnabledTag)
+                // Hidden while the switch above is off — see the touch settings' identical gate.
+                if gamepadUIEnabled {
+                    TVSelectionRow(
+                        title: "Show it",
+                        options: SettingsOptions.gamepadUIModes, selection: $gamepadUIMode)
+                    // The Apple TV's ONLY route to the shared `ui_palette`. Everywhere else the
+                    // Background row lives on the gamepad settings screen, which is reached from
+                    // the gamepad launcher — and on tvOS that launcher needs an extended-profile
+                    // controller, so an Apple TV driven by the Siri Remote alone could not reach
+                    // the palettes at all. It belongs beside "Show it" because both describe the
+                    // same interface: this row is what that interface looks like once it is up.
+                    TVSelectionRow(
+                        title: "Background",
+                        options: GamepadPalette.all.map { (label: $0.name, tag: $0.id) },
+                        selection: $uiPalette)
+                }
                 tvCaption(Self.controllersFooter)
                 NavigationLink("About") { AboutView() }
                     .padding(.top, 8)

clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Support/GlassStyle.swift

@@ -95,24 +95,19 @@ private struct ConsoleGlass<S: Shape>: ViewModifier {
     private var materialWash: Color { ink.glass(ink.isLight ? 0.55 : 0.40) }
 
     func body(content: Content) -> some View {
+        // The scheme goes on the WHOLE modified view, not just the fill inside `.background {}`.
+        // Scoped to the fill it frosts the material correctly and stops there, so a system colour
+        // in the row's own content (a `.secondary` label, a `.bordered` button) still resolved
+        // against the device appearance — which is how the pale palettes came out light-on-light
+        // on tvOS, whose appearance is always Dark. The 26 branch had it right all along; the
+        // tvOS and pre-26 branches were the odd ones out.
         #if os(tvOS)
         // ALWAYS the material fallback on tvOS: the gamepad settings list is 15+ of these
         // surfaces, and live Liquid Glass per row made the whole screen visibly laggy on the
         // Apple TV's GPU (same class of call GlassProminentButton already makes — glass fights
         // the 10-foot platform). The wash and tint ride overlays — two flat fills, no GPU cost.
-        content.background {
-            shape.fill(.ultraThinMaterial)
-                .environment(\.colorScheme, scheme)
-                .overlay { shape.fill(materialWash) }
-                .overlay {
-                    if let tint { shape.fill(tint) }
-                }
-        }
-        #else
-        if #available(iOS 26, macOS 26, *) {
-            content.glassEffect(glass, in: shape).environment(\.colorScheme, scheme)
-        } else {
-            content.background {
+        content
+            .background {
                 shape.fill(.ultraThinMaterial)
                     .environment(\.colorScheme, scheme)
                     .overlay { shape.fill(materialWash) }
@@ -120,6 +115,21 @@ private struct ConsoleGlass<S: Shape>: ViewModifier {
                         if let tint { shape.fill(tint) }
                     }
             }
+            .environment(\.colorScheme, scheme)
+        #else
+        if #available(iOS 26, macOS 26, *) {
+            content.glassEffect(glass, in: shape).environment(\.colorScheme, scheme)
+        } else {
+            content
+                .background {
+                    shape.fill(.ultraThinMaterial)
+                        .environment(\.colorScheme, scheme)
+                        .overlay { shape.fill(materialWash) }
+                        .overlay {
+                            if let tint { shape.fill(tint) }
+                        }
+                }
+                .environment(\.colorScheme, scheme)
         }
         #endif
     }
@@ -173,11 +183,14 @@ private struct ConsoleGlassBackground<S: Shape>: ViewModifier {
                     in: shape)
                 .environment(\.colorScheme, scheme)
         } else {
-            content.background {
-                shape.fill(.regularMaterial)
-                    .environment(\.colorScheme, scheme)
-                    .overlay { shape.fill(ink.glass(ink.isLight ? 0.55 : 0.40)) }
-            }
+            // Same hoist as ConsoleGlass: the content needs the scheme too, not only the frost.
+            content
+                .background {
+                    shape.fill(.regularMaterial)
+                        .environment(\.colorScheme, scheme)
+                        .overlay { shape.fill(ink.glass(ink.isLight ? 0.55 : 0.40)) }
+                }
+                .environment(\.colorScheme, scheme)
         }
     }
 }

clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkKit/Gamepad/GamepadUIEnvironment.swift

@@ -3,20 +3,40 @@
 // layouts). A pure function, not a singleton: the reactivity comes from callers already observing
 // `GamepadManager.shared` and the `DefaultsKey.gamepadUIEnabled` @AppStorage themselves (the same
 // local-read pattern SettingsView already uses for GamepadManager), so this stays the single place
-// the two combine without adding a second ObservableObject or an environment key nobody else needs.
+// the inputs combine without adding a second ObservableObject or an environment key nobody else needs.
 
 import Foundation
 import PunktfunkShared
 
 public enum GamepadUIEnvironment {
-    /// `enabledSetting` is the user's Settings toggle (`DefaultsKey.gamepadUIEnabled`);
+    /// `DefaultsKey.gamepadUIMode`: take over only while a controller is attached. The default,
+    /// and what the switch meant when it was a lone Bool.
+    public static let modeWhenConnected = "connected"
+    /// `DefaultsKey.gamepadUIMode`: take over whenever the switch is on, pad or no pad — asked
+    /// for by people driving a TV-connected iPad or a couch Mac, where the console layout is the
+    /// one they want and the pad is not always awake.
+    public static let modeAlways = "always"
+
+    /// `enabledSetting` is the user's Settings switch (`DefaultsKey.gamepadUIEnabled`) — off means
+    /// the touch/desktop UI, full stop. `mode` is `DefaultsKey.gamepadUIMode`, and only matters
+    /// once the switch is on: `modeAlways` takes over unconditionally, anything else (including a
+    /// value a newer client wrote) waits for a controller.
+    ///
     /// `gamepadConnected` is `GamepadManager.shared.active != nil` — active only once a usable
     /// controller is actually attached (a non-extended-profile device leaves `active` nil, which
-    /// keeps the touch UI). A `Bool` rather than the `DiscoveredController` itself: this function's
-    /// whole job is the AND, so there's nothing else to inspect, and it keeps the helper testable
-    /// without a real `GCController` (which XCTest can't construct).
-    public static func isActive(gamepadConnected: Bool, enabledSetting: Bool) -> Bool {
-        enabledSetting && (gamepadConnected || forced)
+    /// keeps the touch UI). A `Bool` rather than the `DiscoveredController` itself: this function
+    /// has nothing else to inspect, and it keeps the helper testable without a real `GCController`
+    /// (which XCTest can't construct).
+    /// `mode` carries no default on purpose: a call site that forgot it would silently strand
+    /// everyone who picked Always back on "only with a controller", which is exactly the bug
+    /// this parameter exists to make impossible.
+    public static func isActive(
+        gamepadConnected: Bool,
+        enabledSetting: Bool,
+        mode: String
+    ) -> Bool {
+        guard enabledSetting else { return false }
+        return mode == modeAlways || gamepadConnected || forced
     }
 
     /// Dev-only escape hatch (like ContentView's `PUNKTFUNK_AUTOCONNECT`): pretend a controller is

clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkShared/DefaultsKeys.swift

@@ -176,16 +176,23 @@ public enum DefaultsKey {
     /// ("topLeading"/"topTrailing"/"bottomLeading"/"bottomTrailing"). Default top-trailing.
     public static let hudPlacement = "punktfunk.hudPlacement"
     /// iOS/iPadOS/macOS: switch the host list, settings and game library to a controller-friendly
-    /// layout (the console launcher, gamepad-navigable settings, a coverflow-style library)
-    /// whenever a gamepad is connected. On by default; see `GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive`.
+    /// layout (the console launcher, gamepad-navigable settings, a coverflow-style library).
+    /// On by default; WHEN it takes over is `gamepadUIMode`. See `GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive`.
     public static let gamepadUIEnabled = "punktfunk.gamepadUIEnabled"
+    /// When `gamepadUIEnabled` actually takes over: `"connected"` (the default — only while a
+    /// usable controller is attached, the behaviour this switch has always had) or `"always"`,
+    /// for someone who prefers the console layout with no pad in reach (a TV-connected iPad, a
+    /// Mac driven from the couch). Read only while `gamepadUIEnabled` is on, which is why the
+    /// settings rows hide it when the switch is off. Anything unrecognized reads as
+    /// `"connected"`. A device preference, never part of a stream profile.
+    public static let gamepadUIMode = "punktfunk.gamepadUIMode"
     /// Which colour family the gamepad UI's living backdrop drifts through — a
-    /// `GamepadPalette` id ("violet" = the brand default, then "tide"/"forest"/"ember"/
-    /// "rose"/"graphite"). The cross-client `ui_palette` key: the desktop console and the
-    /// Android client carry the same table under the same names. Presentation only, so it is
-    /// a device preference and never part of a stream profile. An unknown value reads as the
-    /// default rather than failing — a newer client may have shipped a palette this build
-    /// doesn't know.
+    /// `GamepadPalette` id ("violet" = the brand default, then "oled"/"nebula"/"abyss"/"ember"/
+    /// "moss"/"graphite", then the pale ones). The cross-client `ui_palette` key: the desktop
+    /// console and the Android client carry the same table under the same names. Presentation
+    /// only, so it is a device preference and never part of a stream profile. An unknown value
+    /// reads as the default rather than failing — a newer client may have shipped a palette this
+    /// build doesn't know.
     public static let uiPalette = "punktfunk.uiPalette"
     /// iPhone: ALSO play the rumble the host addresses to controller 1 (wire pad 0) on this
     /// device's own Taptic Engine — for phone-clip pads that ship without rumble motors, where

clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkShared/GamepadPalette.swift

@@ -65,13 +65,25 @@ public struct GamepadPalette: Identifiable, Equatable, Sendable {
         SIMD3(0.22, 0.38, 0.86), SIMD3(0.53, 0.47, 0.96),
     ]
 
-    /// The twelve shipped palettes: the brand default, five more dark fields, then six pale
+    /// The thirteen shipped palettes: the brand default, six more dark fields, then six pale
     /// ones. Cycling order runs dark → light, so stepping the row walks the whole range one way.
     public static let all: [GamepadPalette] = [
         // --- dark fields (white ink) ---
         GamepadPalette(
             id: "violet", name: "Violet", stops: [],
             ground: SIMD3(0.075, 0.060, 0.160), accent: SIMD3(0.525, 0.471, 0.961), light: false),
+        GamepadPalette(
+            // For OLED and AMOLED panels, where a black pixel is a pixel switched off — no glow,
+            // no power. The first two stops are literally (0,0,0), so the shaded half of the
+            // field is genuinely off rather than "very dark grey", and the ground is pure black
+            // too: the calm mix on the form screens lifts toward nothing. What is left is a
+            // faint indigo→violet ember in the bright corner. The accent stays the brand violet
+            // — focus has to be findable on black.
+            id: "oled", name: "OLED",
+            stops: [SIMD3(0.000, 0.000, 0.000), SIMD3(0.000, 0.000, 0.000),
+                    SIMD3(0.010, 0.020, 0.100), SIMD3(0.045, 0.016, 0.115),
+                    SIMD3(0.120, 0.024, 0.130)],
+            ground: SIMD3(0, 0, 0), accent: SIMD3(0.525, 0.471, 0.961), light: false),
         GamepadPalette(
             // Deep indigo climbing through violet into a hot magenta.
             id: "nebula", name: "Nebula",

clients/apple/Tests/PunktfunkKitTests/GamepadPaletteTests.swift

@@ -46,12 +46,29 @@ final class GamepadPaletteTests: XCTestCase {
     func testTableMatchesTheOtherClients() {
         XCTAssertEqual(
             GamepadPalette.all.map(\.id),
-            ["violet", "nebula", "abyss", "ember", "moss", "graphite",
+            ["violet", "oled", "nebula", "abyss", "ember", "moss", "graphite",
              "holo", "sunset", "bloom", "dawn", "mint", "opal"])
         // Dark fields lead, pale ones follow, so stepping the row walks one direction.
         let firstLight = GamepadPalette.all.firstIndex { $0.light }
-        XCTAssertEqual(firstLight, 6)
-        XCTAssertTrue(GamepadPalette.all.dropFirst(6).allSatisfy(\.light))
+        XCTAssertEqual(firstLight, 7)
+        XCTAssertTrue(GamepadPalette.all.dropFirst(7).allSatisfy(\.light))
+    }
+
+    /// OLED is the one palette whose selling point is measurable: it has to be genuinely black,
+    /// not merely the darkest of the dark fields.
+    func testOLEDIsActuallyBlack() {
+        let oled = GamepadPalette.named("oled")
+        XCTAssertEqual(oled.ground, SIMD3(0, 0, 0), "the calm lift must be nothing")
+        let cells = oled.meshColors
+        XCTAssertGreaterThanOrEqual(
+            cells.filter { luma($0) == 0 }.count, 3,
+            "the shaded corner has to be switched off, not dimmed")
+        let mean = cells.map(luma).reduce(0, +) / Double(cells.count)
+        let darkestOther = GamepadPalette.all
+            .filter { $0.id != "oled" }
+            .map { p in p.meshColors.map(luma).reduce(0, +) / Double(p.meshColors.count) }
+            .min() ?? 0
+        XCTAssertLessThan(mean, darkestOther / 2, "oled is barely darker than \(darkestOther)")
     }
 
     /// A palette must read as SEVERAL hues, not one hue at several brightnesses — that was

clients/apple/Tests/PunktfunkKitTests/GamepadUIEnvironmentTests.swift

@@ -1,14 +1,58 @@
-// GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive is a pure AND — table-tested exhaustively over its 2x2 inputs.
+// GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive is pure — table-tested exhaustively over its inputs.
 
 import XCTest
 
 @testable import PunktfunkKit
 
 final class GamepadUIEnvironmentTests: XCTestCase {
-    func testActiveOnlyWhenEnabledAndConnected() {
-        XCTAssertTrue(GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive(gamepadConnected: true, enabledSetting: true))
-        XCTAssertFalse(GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive(gamepadConnected: true, enabledSetting: false))
-        XCTAssertFalse(GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive(gamepadConnected: false, enabledSetting: true))
-        XCTAssertFalse(GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive(gamepadConnected: false, enabledSetting: false))
+    private let connected = GamepadUIEnvironment.modeWhenConnected
+    private let always = GamepadUIEnvironment.modeAlways
+
+    /// The default mode is the behaviour the switch had when it was a lone Bool, so an install
+    /// that never sees the new row is exactly where it was.
+    func testWhenConnectedIsAPlainAnd() {
+        XCTAssertTrue(
+            GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive(
+                gamepadConnected: true, enabledSetting: true, mode: connected))
+        XCTAssertFalse(
+            GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive(
+                gamepadConnected: true, enabledSetting: false, mode: connected))
+        XCTAssertFalse(
+            GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive(
+                gamepadConnected: false, enabledSetting: true, mode: connected))
+        XCTAssertFalse(
+            GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive(
+                gamepadConnected: false, enabledSetting: false, mode: connected))
+    }
+
+    /// Always drops the controller from the decision entirely — but NOT the switch, which stays
+    /// the one way back to the touch UI.
+    func testAlwaysIgnoresTheControllerButNotTheSwitch() {
+        XCTAssertTrue(
+            GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive(
+                gamepadConnected: false, enabledSetting: true, mode: always))
+        XCTAssertTrue(
+            GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive(
+                gamepadConnected: true, enabledSetting: true, mode: always))
+        XCTAssertFalse(
+            GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive(
+                gamepadConnected: false, enabledSetting: false, mode: always))
+        XCTAssertFalse(
+            GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive(
+                gamepadConnected: true, enabledSetting: false, mode: always))
+    }
+
+    /// A value a newer client wrote must wait for a controller, never strand this build in a
+    /// layout it has no way back out of.
+    func testUnknownModeWaitsForAController() {
+        XCTAssertFalse(
+            GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive(
+                gamepadConnected: false, enabledSetting: true, mode: "whenever-i-say-so"))
+        XCTAssertTrue(
+            GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive(
+                gamepadConnected: true, enabledSetting: true, mode: "whenever-i-say-so"))
+        XCTAssertFalse(
+            GamepadUIEnvironment.isActive(
+                gamepadConnected: false, enabledSetting: true, mode: ""))
     }
 }

crates/pf-client-core/src/trust.rs

@@ -1174,12 +1174,12 @@ pub struct Settings {
     /// mirrors the Apple client's "Show game library" toggle, default off.
     pub library_enabled: bool,
     /// Which colour family the gamepad UI's living backdrop drifts through — the shared
-    /// `ui_palette` key (`"violet"` = the brand default, then `tide`/`forest`/`ember`/
-    /// `rose`/`graphite`; see `pf-console-ui`'s palette table, and the Apple/Android
-    /// clients' twins). Presentation only: nothing about a stream depends on it, which is
-    /// why it is a device preference and never part of a settings profile. An unknown
-    /// name reads as the default rather than erroring — a newer client may have shipped a
-    /// palette this binary doesn't know.
+    /// `ui_palette` key (`"violet"` = the brand default, then `oled`/`nebula`/`abyss`/
+    /// `ember`/`moss`/`graphite`, then the six pale fields; see `pf-console-ui`'s palette
+    /// table, and the Apple/Android clients' twins). Presentation only: nothing about a
+    /// stream depends on it, which is why it is a device preference and never part of a
+    /// settings profile. An unknown name reads as the default rather than erroring — a
+    /// newer client may have shipped a palette this binary doesn't know.
     #[serde(default = "default_ui_palette")]
     pub ui_palette: String,
     /// Send Wake-on-LAN before connecting to a saved host and wait for it to boot (the

crates/pf-console-ui/src/library.rs

@@ -246,17 +246,34 @@ const CELL_RAMP: [f64; 16] = [
     -0.10,  0.08, -0.06,  0.12,
 ];
 
-/// The twelve shipped palettes: the brand default, five more dark fields, then six pale ones.
+/// The thirteen shipped palettes: the brand default, six more dark fields, then six pale ones.
 /// Cycling order runs dark → light, so stepping the row walks the whole range in one direction.
 /// Adding one here adds it to every console settings screen; the Apple and Android tables must
 /// gain the same entry to keep the `ui_palette` key portable.
 #[rustfmt::skip]
-pub const PALETTES: [Palette; 12] = [
+pub const PALETTES: [Palette; 13] = [
     // --- dark fields (white ink) ---
     Palette {
         id: "violet", name: "Violet", stops: None,
         ground: (0.075, 0.060, 0.160), accent: (0.525, 0.471, 0.961), light: false,
     },
+    Palette {
+        // For OLED and AMOLED panels, where a black pixel is a pixel switched off — no glow,
+        // no power. The ramp's first two stops are literally (0,0,0), so the whole shaded half
+        // of the field is genuinely off rather than "very dark grey", and the ground is pure
+        // black too: the calm mix on the form screens lifts toward nothing, so settings and
+        // pairing sit on an unlit panel. What is left is a faint indigo→violet ember in the
+        // bright corner, dim enough to stay under a tenth of the other dark fields' mean
+        // luminance while keeping the backdrop a field with somewhere to go rather than a
+        // dead rectangle. The accent stays the brand violet — focus has to be findable on
+        // black.
+        id: "oled", name: "OLED",
+        stops: Some(&[
+            (0.000, 0.000, 0.000), (0.000, 0.000, 0.000), (0.010, 0.020, 0.100),
+            (0.045, 0.016, 0.115), (0.120, 0.024, 0.130),
+        ]),
+        ground: (0.0, 0.0, 0.0), accent: (0.525, 0.471, 0.961), light: false,
+    },
     Palette {
         // Deep indigo climbing through violet into a hot magenta.
         id: "nebula", name: "Nebula",
@@ -857,7 +874,7 @@ mod tests {
         assert_eq!(
             ids,
             [
-                "violet", "nebula", "abyss", "ember", "moss", "graphite", "holo", "sunset",
+                "violet", "oled", "nebula", "abyss", "ember", "moss", "graphite", "holo", "sunset",
                 "bloom", "dawn", "mint", "opal",
             ]
         );
@@ -867,7 +884,36 @@ mod tests {
             .position(|p| p.light)
             .expect("some are light");
         assert!(PALETTES[first_light..].iter().all(|p| p.light));
-        assert_eq!(first_light, 6);
+        assert_eq!(first_light, 7);
+    }
+
+    /// OLED is the one palette whose selling point is measurable: it has to be genuinely
+    /// black, not merely the darkest of the dark fields. Pure black corners, a mean well
+    /// under every other field's, and a ground that lifts to nothing on the form screens.
+    #[test]
+    fn oled_is_actually_black() {
+        let luma = |c: (f64, f64, f64)| 0.2126 * c.0 + 0.7152 * c.1 + 0.0722 * c.2;
+        let oled = palette("oled");
+        assert_eq!(
+            oled.ground,
+            (0.0, 0.0, 0.0),
+            "the calm lift must be nothing"
+        );
+        let cells = oled.mesh_colors();
+        assert!(
+            cells.iter().filter(|c| luma(**c) == 0.0).count() >= 3,
+            "the shaded corner has to be switched off, not dimmed"
+        );
+        let mean = cells.iter().map(|c| luma(*c)).sum::<f64>() / 16.0;
+        let darkest_other = PALETTES
+            .iter()
+            .filter(|p| p.id != "oled")
+            .map(|p| p.mesh_colors().iter().map(|c| luma(*c)).sum::<f64>() / 16.0)
+            .fold(f64::MAX, f64::min);
+        assert!(
+            mean < darkest_other / 2.0,
+            "oled means {mean:.3}, only half a stop under {darkest_other:.3}"
+        );
     }
 
     /// Every colour a palette produces stays in gamut, and a pale palette really is pale —

crates/pf-console-ui/src/screens/settings.rs

@@ -258,11 +258,17 @@ impl SettingsScreen {
         }
     }
 
-    /// The rows of the CURRENT tab. Profiles is built from the catalog: one row per
-    /// profile, or the explainer placeholder while there are none.
-    fn row_ids(&self) -> Vec<RowId> {
+    /// The rows of the CURRENT tab, minus any whose setting has nothing to act on (see
+    /// [`row_applies`]). Profiles is built from the catalog: one row per profile, or the
+    /// explainer placeholder while there are none.
+    fn row_ids(&self, ctx: &Ctx) -> Vec<RowId> {
         if self.tab != PROFILES_TAB {
-            return TABS[self.tab].1.to_vec();
+            return TABS[self.tab]
+                .1
+                .iter()
+                .copied()
+                .filter(|id| row_applies(*id, ctx.settings))
+                .collect();
         }
         if self.profiles.is_empty() {
             vec![RowId::NoProfiles]
@@ -271,6 +277,16 @@ impl SettingsScreen {
         }
     }
 
+    /// Pull the cursor back onto the list. Every tab but Profiles used to be a fixed length,
+    /// so this only mattered on entry ([`show_tab`]); the smoothness buffer's row now comes
+    /// and goes, and another writer (a desktop shell, a session's match-window persist) can
+    /// take it away between frames while this screen is open.
+    fn clamp_cursor(&mut self, len: usize) {
+        if self.list.cursor >= len {
+            self.list.jump_to(len.saturating_sub(1));
+        }
+    }
+
     #[cfg(test)]
     pub(crate) fn tab_for_test(&self) -> usize {
         self.tab
@@ -278,21 +294,22 @@ impl SettingsScreen {
 
     /// L1/R1 (and Tab/PgUp/PgDn) — move one tab, wrapping (the strip is a ring, like A's
     /// value cycle), keeping each tab's own cursor.
-    fn switch_tab(&mut self, delta: i32) -> Option<MenuPulse> {
+    fn switch_tab(&mut self, delta: i32, ctx: &Ctx) -> Option<MenuPulse> {
         let n = TABS.len() as i32;
-        self.show_tab((self.tab as i32 + delta).rem_euclid(n) as usize)
+        self.show_tab((self.tab as i32 + delta).rem_euclid(n) as usize, ctx)
     }
 
     /// Show `tab`, parking the cursor the outgoing tab was on. Also the pointer's path in:
     /// a press on a pill names a tab outright rather than a direction to step in.
-    fn show_tab(&mut self, tab: usize) -> Option<MenuPulse> {
+    fn show_tab(&mut self, tab: usize, ctx: &Ctx) -> Option<MenuPulse> {
         if tab >= TABS.len() {
             return None;
         }
         self.tab_cursors[self.tab] = self.list.cursor;
         self.tab = tab;
-        // Clamp the remembered cursor: the Profiles tab's length follows the catalog.
-        let len = self.row_ids().len();
+        // Clamp the remembered cursor: the Profiles tab's length follows the catalog, and
+        // Video's follows whether the smoothness buffer is offered.
+        let len = self.row_ids(ctx).len();
         self.list
             .jump_to(self.tab_cursors[self.tab].min(len.saturating_sub(1)));
         Some(MenuPulse::Move)
@@ -302,10 +319,11 @@ impl SettingsScreen {
     /// there is never meant for a row.
     pub(crate) fn pointer(&mut self, p: Pointer, ctx: &mut Ctx, fx: &mut Outbox) -> bool {
         if let Some(tab) = self.strip.pointer(p) {
-            self.show_tab(tab);
+            self.show_tab(tab, ctx);
             return true;
         }
-        let ids = self.row_ids();
+        let ids = self.row_ids(ctx);
+        self.clamp_cursor(ids.len());
         let (msg, pulse) = self.list.pointer(p, ids.len());
         if matches!(msg, ListMsg::None) && pulse.is_none() {
             return false;
@@ -325,11 +343,12 @@ impl SettingsScreen {
                 fx.pop();
                 return None;
             }
-            MenuEvent::JumpBack => return self.switch_tab(-1),
-            MenuEvent::JumpForward => return self.switch_tab(1),
+            MenuEvent::JumpBack => return self.switch_tab(-1, ctx),
+            MenuEvent::JumpForward => return self.switch_tab(1, ctx),
             _ => {}
         }
-        let ids = self.row_ids();
+        let ids = self.row_ids(ctx);
+        self.clamp_cursor(ids.len());
         let (msg, pulse) = self.list.menu(ev, ids.len());
         self.apply_row(msg, pulse, &ids, ctx, fx)
     }
@@ -344,8 +363,14 @@ impl SettingsScreen {
         ctx: &mut Ctx,
         fx: &mut Outbox,
     ) -> Option<MenuPulse> {
+        // A cursor with no row under it can only mean the list shrank between the clamp above
+        // and here, which nothing does today — but indexing on the assumption would turn that
+        // into a panic in a shipping console rather than a dropped keypress.
+        let Some(&focused) = ids.get(self.list.cursor) else {
+            return pulse;
+        };
         // The Profiles rows navigate instead of editing the settings file.
-        match ids[self.list.cursor] {
+        match focused {
             RowId::Profile(i) => {
                 return match msg {
                     ListMsg::Activate => {
@@ -378,7 +403,7 @@ impl SettingsScreen {
         }
         match msg {
             ListMsg::Adjust(delta) => {
-                let changed = adjust(ids[self.list.cursor], delta, false, ctx);
+                let changed = adjust(focused, delta, false, ctx);
                 if changed {
                     ctx.settings.save();
                     Some(MenuPulse::Move)
@@ -388,7 +413,7 @@ impl SettingsScreen {
             }
             ListMsg::Activate => {
                 // A cycles forward WRAPPING, so every option is reachable one-handed.
-                if adjust(ids[self.list.cursor], 1, true, ctx) {
+                if adjust(focused, 1, true, ctx) {
                     ctx.settings.save();
                 }
                 pulse
@@ -397,8 +422,8 @@ impl SettingsScreen {
         }
     }
 
-    pub(crate) fn hints(&self, _ctx: &Ctx) -> Vec<Hint> {
-        let ids = self.row_ids();
+    pub(crate) fn hints(&self, ctx: &Ctx) -> Vec<Hint> {
+        let ids = self.row_ids(ctx);
         // The shoulders always change section, so that hint leads on every row.
         let mut hints = vec![Hint::new(HintKey::Shoulders, "Section")];
         hints.extend(match ids.get(self.list.cursor) {
@@ -445,7 +470,8 @@ impl SettingsScreen {
             rect.right,
             rect.bottom - detail_h as f32,
         );
-        let ids = self.row_ids();
+        let ids = self.row_ids(ctx);
+        self.clamp_cursor(ids.len());
         let rows: Vec<RowSpec> = ids
             .iter()
             .map(|id| row_spec(*id, ctx, &self.profiles))
@@ -466,6 +492,24 @@ impl SettingsScreen {
     }
 }
 
+/// Whether a row is OFFERED at all, as opposed to offered-but-inert.
+///
+/// The two are a real distinction. Echo cancellation and the pad rows follow a switch the user
+/// can see a line or two above them, so dimming them shows the relationship — dropping them
+/// would just make settings appear and disappear as the switch flips. The smoothness buffer is
+/// different: it is not a sub-setting of a switch, it is a knob on ONE of two intents, and
+/// under Lowest latency it names a quantity that doesn't exist. Every other settings surface —
+/// the GTK and WinUI shells, the Apple touch/tvOS screens, the Android touch screen — hides it
+/// there. This screen was the lone exception because its row list was fixed; it is rebuilt from
+/// this filter each frame now, and the row it drops sits directly BELOW the row that drops it,
+/// so the cursor is never under anything that moves.
+fn row_applies(id: RowId, s: &pf_client_core::trust::Settings) -> bool {
+    match id {
+        RowId::SmoothBuffer => s.present_priority == "smooth",
+        _ => true,
+    }
+}
+
 fn row_spec(id: RowId, ctx: &Ctx, profiles: &[(String, String)]) -> RowSpec {
     // The Profiles section: name + how many hosts pin it (counted from the live rows, so
     // it reflects what the carousel shows). Read-only here beyond opening the pin screen.
@@ -497,18 +541,17 @@ fn row_spec(id: RowId, ctx: &Ctx, profiles: &[(String, String)]) -> RowSpec {
         _ => {}
     }
     let s = &ctx.settings;
-    // Several rows follow another: echo cancellation only means anything while the mic
-    // streams, the pad rows only while any controller is forwarded at all, and the
-    // smoothness buffer only while that intent is chosen. All go dim and inert otherwise
-    // — the same relationship the desktop shells draw by greying a row out (they hide the
-    // buffer row entirely; a fixed row list can't, and a row that vanished mid-list would
-    // move everything under the cursor).
+    // Two rows follow a switch a line or two above them: echo cancellation only means
+    // anything while the mic streams, and the pad rows only while any controller is
+    // forwarded at all. Both go dim and inert otherwise — the same relationship the desktop
+    // shells draw by greying a row out, and dimming (not dropping) is what shows the
+    // relationship. The smoothness buffer used to be listed here too; it is dropped from the
+    // list instead now — see [`row_applies`] for why that one is different.
     let enabled = match id {
         RowId::EchoCancel => s.mic_enabled,
         RowId::Pad | RowId::PadType | RowId::SystemButtons | RowId::GuideGesture => {
             s.gamepad_forwarding
         }
-        RowId::SmoothBuffer => s.present_priority == "smooth",
         _ => true,
     };
     let (header, label, value): (Option<&'static str>, &str, String) = match id {
@@ -848,7 +891,10 @@ fn adjust(id: RowId, delta: i32, wrap: bool, ctx: &mut Ctx) -> bool {
             step_option(cur, PRESENT_PRIORITIES.len(), delta, wrap)
                 .map(|i| s.present_priority = PRESENT_PRIORITIES[i].0.to_string())
         }
-        // Inert unless smoothness is chosen — a boundary thud, matching the dimmed row.
+        // Under Lowest latency the row isn't offered at all ([`row_applies`]), so this branch
+        // is only reachable if another writer flipped the intent between the frame that built
+        // the list and the keypress that lands here — a boundary thud, not a stored value
+        // nothing will read.
         RowId::SmoothBuffer => {
             if s.present_priority == "smooth" {
                 let cur = SMOOTH_BUFFERS
@@ -1093,9 +1139,6 @@ mod tests {
         fake_home();
         let mut s = SettingsScreen::with_profiles(Vec::new());
         rendered(&mut s);
-        // Row 0 of the leading tab is Resolution, whose first step is Native → Match
-        // window: one field, one unambiguous effect to assert on.
-        assert_eq!(s.row_ids()[0], RowId::Resolution);
         let first = s.list.row_rect(0).expect("the list drew its rows");
         let (mut settings, pads) = ctx_parts();
         settings.save(); // seat the fake HOME's file — `apply_row` rebases on it
@@ -1109,6 +1152,9 @@ mod tests {
             device_name: "t",
             t: 0.0,
         };
+        // Row 0 of the leading tab is Resolution, whose first step is Native → Match
+        // window: one field, one unambiguous effect to assert on.
+        assert_eq!(s.row_ids(&ctx)[0], RowId::Resolution);
         let mut fx = Outbox::default();
         assert!(!ctx.settings.match_window);
         assert!(s.pointer(press(first), &mut ctx, &mut fx));
@@ -1232,13 +1278,12 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(ctx.settings.echo_cancel);
     }
 
-    /// The smoothness buffer follows the presentation intent, exactly as echo cancellation
-    /// follows the mic: dimmed and inert under Lowest latency (where holding frames means
-    /// nothing), live under Smoothness. The desktop shells hide the row instead; a fixed
-    /// row list dims it, because a row vanishing mid-list would shift everything under the
-    /// cursor.
+    /// The smoothness buffer is OFFERED only under Smoothness — under Lowest latency it names
+    /// a quantity that doesn't exist, so the row is gone from the Video tab rather than sitting
+    /// there dimmed. This is what the GTK and WinUI shells and the Apple/Android screens have
+    /// always done; this screen was the exception until its row list stopped being fixed.
     #[test]
-    fn smoothness_buffer_follows_the_intent() {
+    fn smoothness_buffer_is_offered_only_under_smoothness() {
         let (mut settings, pads) = ctx_parts();
         assert_eq!(settings.present_priority, "latency", "the shipped default");
         let library = crate::library::LibraryShared::default();
@@ -1251,24 +1296,93 @@ mod tests {
             device_name: "t",
             t: 0.0,
         };
-        assert!(!row_spec(RowId::SmoothBuffer, &ctx, &[]).enabled);
+        let mut s = SettingsScreen::with_profiles(Vec::new());
+        s.tab = TABS
+            .iter()
+            .position(|(name, _)| *name == "Video")
+            .expect("the Video tab");
+
+        let video = s.row_ids(&ctx);
+        assert!(
+            !video.contains(&RowId::SmoothBuffer),
+            "latency hides the buffer row: {video:?}"
+        );
+        assert!(video.contains(&RowId::PresentPriority), "the intent stays");
+        // Even reached out of band it writes nothing — the list it came from is a frame old.
         assert!(
             !adjust(RowId::SmoothBuffer, 1, false, &mut ctx),
             "latency intent = thud"
         );
         assert_eq!(ctx.settings.smooth_buffer, 0, "and nothing was written");
 
-        // Stepping the intent to Smoothness brings the buffer row to life.
+        // Stepping the intent to Smoothness brings the row into the list, directly under it.
         assert!(adjust(RowId::PresentPriority, 1, false, &mut ctx));
         assert_eq!(ctx.settings.present_priority, "smooth");
-        assert!(row_spec(RowId::SmoothBuffer, &ctx, &[]).enabled);
+        let video = s.row_ids(&ctx);
+        let intent = video
+            .iter()
+            .position(|id| *id == RowId::PresentPriority)
+            .expect("the intent row");
+        assert_eq!(
+            video.get(intent + 1),
+            Some(&RowId::SmoothBuffer),
+            "the row that comes and goes sits BELOW the row that decides it, so the cursor \
+             never has anything move out from under it"
+        );
         assert!(adjust(RowId::SmoothBuffer, 1, false, &mut ctx));
         assert_eq!(ctx.settings.smooth_buffer, 1);
 
-        // The intent wraps back and the row goes inert again.
+        // The intent wraps back and the row leaves again — with the cursor parked on the
+        // intent row, which is where a user who just stepped it necessarily is.
+        s.list.cursor = intent;
         assert!(adjust(RowId::PresentPriority, -1, false, &mut ctx));
         assert_eq!(ctx.settings.present_priority, "latency");
-        assert!(!row_spec(RowId::SmoothBuffer, &ctx, &[]).enabled);
+        let video = s.row_ids(&ctx);
+        assert!(!video.contains(&RowId::SmoothBuffer));
+        assert_eq!(
+            video.get(s.list.cursor),
+            Some(&RowId::PresentPriority),
+            "the cursor is still on the row the user was stepping"
+        );
+    }
+
+    /// A cursor parked past the end of a list that shrank underneath it is pulled back rather
+    /// than indexed with — the console must not panic because another writer changed the
+    /// presentation intent while its settings screen was open.
+    #[test]
+    fn a_shrinking_list_pulls_the_cursor_back() {
+        // `apply_row` rebases on the FILE before acting, so this has to be seated — and
+        // seated with the SHRUNKEN list's intent, which is the state being tested.
+        fake_home();
+        let (mut settings, pads) = ctx_parts();
+        settings.present_priority = "latency".into();
+        settings.save();
+        settings.present_priority = "smooth".into();
+        let library = crate::library::LibraryShared::default();
+        let mut ctx = Ctx {
+            hosts: &[],
+            library: &library,
+            settings: &mut settings,
+            pads: &pads,
+            deck: false,
+            device_name: "t",
+            t: 0.0,
+        };
+        let mut s = SettingsScreen::with_profiles(Vec::new());
+        s.tab = TABS
+            .iter()
+            .position(|(name, _)| *name == "Video")
+            .expect("the Video tab");
+        // Park on the last row while the buffer row is still there…
+        s.list.cursor = s.row_ids(&ctx).len() - 1;
+        let parked = s.list.cursor;
+        // …then take it away behind the screen's back, as a desktop shell would.
+        ctx.settings.present_priority = "latency".into();
+        let mut fx = Outbox::default();
+        let pulse = s.menu(MenuEvent::Confirm, &mut ctx, &mut fx);
+        assert!(pulse.is_some(), "the press was routed, not dropped");
+        assert!(s.list.cursor < parked, "the cursor came back onto the list");
+        assert!(fx.nav.is_none());
     }
 
     #[test]
@@ -1392,7 +1506,7 @@ mod tests {
             ("p2".into(), "Game".into()),
         ]);
         s.tab = PROFILES_TAB;
-        let ids = s.row_ids();
+        let ids = s.row_ids(&ctx);
         assert_eq!(ids, vec![RowId::Profile(0), RowId::Profile(1)]);
 
         let spec = row_spec(RowId::Profile(0), &ctx, &s.profiles);
@@ -1438,7 +1552,7 @@ mod tests {
         };
         let mut s = SettingsScreen::with_profiles(Vec::new());
         s.tab = PROFILES_TAB;
-        let ids = s.row_ids();
+        let ids = s.row_ids(&ctx);
         assert_eq!(ids, vec![RowId::NoProfiles]);
         let spec = row_spec(RowId::NoProfiles, &ctx, &s.profiles);
         assert!(!spec.enabled);

crates/pf-console-ui/src/shell/tests.rs

@@ -329,7 +329,7 @@ fn dump_console_screens() {
     for _ in 0..5 {
         s.handle_menu(MenuEvent::JumpForward);
     }
-    for id in ["violet", "ember", "abyss", "holo", "sunset", "mint"] {
+    for id in ["violet", "oled", "ember", "abyss", "holo", "sunset", "mint"] {
         s.settings.ui_palette = id.to_string();
         dump(&mut s, 40, 8, &format!("03-settings-{id}"), true);
     }

docs-site/content/docs/client-settings.md

@@ -96,11 +96,12 @@ those hiccups out, at that buffer's worth of added delay. Linux and Windows apps
 home; the Apple and Android apps have carried the same setting for a while, and it is stored
 under the same name, so a [profile](/docs/profiles-and-links) means the same thing on every device.
 
-**Smoothness buffer** — *default: Automatic (two frames).* Only shown under **Smoothness**. How
-many frames are held back before showing. Each frame absorbs roughly one screen refresh of network
-hiccup and costs one refresh of delay — so on a 120 Hz screen, two frames is about 17 ms of extra
-delay bought against 17 ms of jitter. If you never see stutter, you don't need this. Wherever
-**Prioritize** is offered, and greyed out until you pick Smoothness.
+**Smoothness buffer** — *default: Automatic (two frames).* How many frames are held back before
+showing. Each frame absorbs roughly one screen refresh of network hiccup and costs one refresh of
+delay — so on a 120 Hz screen, two frames is about 17 ms of extra delay bought against 17 ms of
+jitter. If you never see stutter, you don't need this. The row appears wherever **Prioritize** is
+offered, and only once you have picked **Smoothness** — under Lowest latency there are no held
+frames for it to count, so it isn't shown at all.
 
 **V-Sync** — *default: on.* Tear-free presentation. Turning it off asks the GPU to show each frame
 the instant it's ready instead of waiting for the screen's next refresh: the lowest delay a display
@@ -263,6 +264,43 @@ when you return to the host list. The console home carries the row for the deskt
 shares the store — a Gaming-Mode launch is fullscreen whatever it says. iPhone, iPad, Apple TV
 and Android have no equivalent.
 
+## Interface
+
+These change how the client itself looks and behaves. None of them touches a stream, so none of them
+can live in a [profile](/docs/profiles-and-links) — they are decisions about the device in front of
+you.
+
+**Gamepad-optimized browsing** — *default: on.* Swaps the touch or desktop home for the
+controller-optimized one: the host carousel, larger focus targets, a swipeable cover browser, and
+settings you can step with a thumbstick. The Apple and Android apps have this switch. Turn it off to
+stay in the touch interface even with a pad in your hands. On Linux, Windows and the Steam Deck the
+controller-optimized home is a separate entry point rather than a switch, so there is nothing to
+turn off. An Android TV is always in this mode — its remote is the only input it has.
+
+**Show it** — *default: With a controller.* Only shown while the switch above is on, and it decides
+*when* that switch takes effect. **With a controller** is the long-standing behaviour: the
+controller-optimized home appears as a pad connects and the touch interface returns when the last one
+disconnects. **Always** keeps the controller-optimized home either way — for a phone or tablet that
+lives docked to a TV, where the pad isn't always awake but the couch layout is always the one you
+want. Apple and Android. (An Android TV is in that mode regardless, so the choice changes nothing
+there.)
+
+**Background** — *default: Violet.* The colour family the controller-optimized home's living backdrop
+drifts through. Thirteen of them: seven dark fields — **Violet**, **OLED**, **Nebula**, **Abyss**,
+**Ember**, **Moss**, **Graphite** — then six pale ones, **Holo**, **Sunset**, **Bloom**, **Dawn**,
+**Mint** and **Opal**, which flip the whole interface to dark text on a light field. The backdrop
+recolours as you step the row, so pick by looking. **OLED** is the one with a practical point rather
+than a decorative one: it is true black — most of the frame is pixels switched off, which on an OLED
+or AMOLED panel means no glow and no power drawn, with only a faint violet ember left in one corner.
+Stored under the same name on every client, so a phone, a Deck and a desktop set to Mint all look
+alike. Appearance only — nothing about a stream depends on it.
+
+The row lives in the controller-optimized settings themselves — the screen you reach with **X** from
+the controller-optimized home — on every platform that has one, which includes the Steam Deck and the
+Linux and Windows console home. The Apple TV is the exception: it carries **Background** in its
+ordinary Settings instead, next to **Show it**, because its controller-optimized home needs a real
+controller to open and the palettes would otherwise be unreachable from the Siri Remote.
+
 ## Overlay
 
 **Statistics overlay** — *default: Normal.* Four tiers — Off, Compact, Normal, Detailed — each a
@@ -292,6 +330,10 @@ stay global and **cannot be put in a settings profile**:
   profile forwards.
 - **Auto-wake on connect** and **Show game library** — decisions about this device and this network,
   not about how a given host is streamed.
+- Everything under **Interface** — **Gamepad-optimized browsing**, **Show it** and **Background**.
+  How this client looks and which layout it wears has nothing to do with how a host streams to it,
+  so binding them to a host would only make the same device change appearance depending on what it
+  connected to.
 
 One switch you might expect here isn't in Settings at all: **Share clipboard** lives in a saved
 host's own edit sheet, because handing a machine your clipboard is a decision about that one host —