diff --git a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/ContentView.swift b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/ContentView.swift
index 2b16327b..83357046 100644
--- a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/ContentView.swift
+++ b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/ContentView.swift
@@ -384,7 +384,13 @@ struct ContentView: View {
             .frame(minWidth: 940, minHeight: 620)
         }
         #else
-        .fullScreenCover(item: $libraryTarget) { host in
+        // iOS: the cover is the TOUCH UI's presentation only. In gamepad mode the library is one
+        // of GamepadHomeView's in-place layers (the console shell — no bottom-up cover), so the
+        // proxy hides the target from the cover while that mode owns it; every writer (Y on a
+        // tile, `returnToLibrary`) keeps writing the same `libraryTarget` either way, and a
+        // controller arriving or leaving mid-browse hands the open library to whichever
+        // presentation the new mode owns.
+        .fullScreenCover(item: touchLibraryTarget) { host in
             NavigationStack {
                 LibraryView(store: store, host: host, onLaunch: { launchTitle(host, $0) })
             }
@@ -401,6 +407,14 @@ struct ContentView: View {
         Binding(get: { deepLinkNotice != nil }, set: { if !$0 { deepLinkNotice = nil } })
     }
 
+    /// The iOS library cover's item: `libraryTarget`, hidden while the gamepad shell presents
+    /// the library in place (see the cover's comment).
+    private var touchLibraryTarget: Binding<StoredHost?> {
+        Binding(
+            get: { gamepadUIActive ? nil : libraryTarget },
+            set: { libraryTarget = $0 })
+    }
+
     private var approvalChoicePresented: Binding<Bool> {
         Binding(get: { approvalChoice != nil }, set: { if !$0 { approvalChoice = nil } })
     }
@@ -558,7 +572,8 @@ struct ContentView: View {
                 GamepadHomeView(
                     store: store, model: model, discovery: discovery,
                     libraryTarget: $libraryTarget, waker: waker,
-                    connect: { connect($0, profile: $1) }, connectDiscovered: connectDiscovered)
+                    connect: { connect($0, profile: $1) }, connectDiscovered: connectDiscovered,
+                    launchTitle: launchTitle)
             } else {
                 HomeView(
                     store: store, model: model, discovery: discovery,
@@ -574,7 +589,8 @@ struct ContentView: View {
                 GamepadHomeView(
                     store: store, model: model, discovery: discovery,
                     libraryTarget: $libraryTarget, waker: waker,
-                    connect: { connect($0, profile: $1) }, connectDiscovered: connectDiscovered)
+                    connect: { connect($0, profile: $1) }, connectDiscovered: connectDiscovered,
+                    launchTitle: launchTitle)
                 // On tvOS pairing/library normally present from HomeView's navigationDestinations
                 // — which aren't mounted while the gamepad launcher is up. Give the launcher its
                 // own presenters (exactly one of the two homes is mounted at a time, so these can
diff --git a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/ConnectOverlay.swift b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/ConnectOverlay.swift
index c3fe8b3e..e06561d7 100644
--- a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/ConnectOverlay.swift
+++ b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/ConnectOverlay.swift
@@ -83,6 +83,11 @@ struct ConnectOverlay: View {
         }
     }
 
+    /// The overlay's text/glyph colour: the palette's ink in the console takeover — over a pale
+    /// aurora, literal white was the one console surface that stayed white-on-white — and white
+    /// in the touch modal, whose branch is deliberately forced dark over a black scrim.
+    private var overlayFG: Color { gamepadUI ? ink.fg : .white }
+
     @ViewBuilder private func content(_ phase: Phase) -> some View {
         // The takeover carries larger type than the compact modal.
         let titleSize: CGFloat = gamepadUI ? 24 : 19
@@ -90,21 +95,24 @@ struct ConnectOverlay: View {
         VStack(spacing: gamepadUI ? 16 : 14) {
             switch phase {
             case .connecting(let name):
-                ProgressView().controlSize(.large).tint(.white)
+                ProgressView().controlSize(.large).tint(overlayFG)
                 Text("Connecting to \(name)")
-                    .font(.geist(titleSize, .bold, relativeTo: .title3)).foregroundStyle(.white)
+                    .font(.geist(titleSize, .bold, relativeTo: .title3)).foregroundStyle(overlayFG)
                     .multilineTextAlignment(.center)
                 Text("Establishing a secure connection…")
-                    .font(.geist(bodySize, relativeTo: .caption)).foregroundStyle(.white.opacity(0.6))
+                    .font(.geist(bodySize, relativeTo: .caption))
+                    .foregroundStyle(overlayFG.opacity(0.6))
                 Button("Cancel") { onCancelConnect() }.buttonStyle(.bordered).padding(.top, 6)
             case .waking(let w) where w.timedOut:
                 Image(systemName: "moon.zzz.fill")
-                    .font(.system(size: gamepadUI ? 40 : 34)).foregroundStyle(.white.opacity(0.9))
+                    .font(.system(size: gamepadUI ? 40 : 34))
+                    .foregroundStyle(overlayFG.opacity(0.9))
                 Text("\(w.hostName) didn't wake")
-                    .font(.geist(titleSize, .bold, relativeTo: .title3)).foregroundStyle(.white)
+                    .font(.geist(titleSize, .bold, relativeTo: .title3)).foregroundStyle(overlayFG)
                     .multilineTextAlignment(.center)
                 Text("It may still be booting, or it's powered off / off this network.")
-                    .font(.geist(bodySize, relativeTo: .caption)).foregroundStyle(.white.opacity(0.6))
+                    .font(.geist(bodySize, relativeTo: .caption))
+                    .foregroundStyle(overlayFG.opacity(0.6))
                     .multilineTextAlignment(.center)
                 HStack(spacing: 12) {
                     Button("Cancel") { waker.cancel() }.buttonStyle(.bordered)
@@ -112,12 +120,13 @@ struct ConnectOverlay: View {
                 }
                 .padding(.top, 6)
             case .waking(let w):
-                ProgressView().controlSize(.large).tint(.white)
+                ProgressView().controlSize(.large).tint(overlayFG)
                 Text("Waking \(w.hostName)…")
-                    .font(.geist(titleSize, .bold, relativeTo: .title3)).foregroundStyle(.white)
+                    .font(.geist(titleSize, .bold, relativeTo: .title3)).foregroundStyle(overlayFG)
                     .multilineTextAlignment(.center)
                 Text("Waiting for it to come online · \(w.seconds)s")
-                    .font(.geistFixed(bodySize)).foregroundStyle(.white.opacity(0.6)).monospacedDigit()
+                    .font(.geistFixed(bodySize)).foregroundStyle(overlayFG.opacity(0.6))
+                    .monospacedDigit()
                 // A wake-only wait (no dial after) offers "Stop Waiting"; a wake-&-connect is "Cancel".
                 Button(w.connectsAfter ? "Cancel" : "Stop Waiting") { waker.cancel() }
                     .buttonStyle(.bordered).padding(.top, 6)
diff --git a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadAddHostView.swift b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadAddHostView.swift
index f5af6b36..300bc243 100644
--- a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadAddHostView.swift
+++ b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadAddHostView.swift
@@ -14,7 +14,15 @@ import SwiftUI
 struct GamepadAddHostView: View {
     @Environment(\.gamepadInk) private var ink
     @Environment(\.dismiss) private var dismiss
+    @Environment(\.gamepadHostedInShell) private var hostedInShell
     let onAdd: (StoredHost) -> Void
+    /// How the in-place shell (iOS) closes this screen; nil (the macOS sheet, the tvOS cover)
+    /// falls back to the environment dismiss. Declared AFTER `onAdd` so the existing trailing-
+    /// closure call sites keep binding to it, not to this.
+    var close: (() -> Void)?
+    /// Whether this screen owns the controller — false while the shell is mid-transition or the
+    /// connect takeover is up (see GamepadSettingsView's twin).
+    var controllerActive = true
 
     #if os(iOS)
     /// `.compact` in a landscape phone window — tighter chrome so the keyboard tray still fits.
@@ -36,8 +44,8 @@ struct GamepadAddHostView: View {
             items: rows,
             focusID: $focusID,
             onActivate: { activate(id: $0.id) },
-            onBack: { dismiss() },
-            isActive: editing == nil
+            onBack: { performClose() },
+            isActive: controllerActive && editing == nil
         ) { row, focused in
             rowView(row, focused: focused)
                 .frame(maxWidth: GamepadFormMetrics.rowMaxWidth)
@@ -45,10 +53,14 @@ struct GamepadAddHostView: View {
         }
         .frame(maxWidth: .infinity)
         .safeAreaInset(edge: .top, spacing: 0) {
-            VStack(spacing: 4) {
+            VStack(spacing: gamepadHeaderSpacing(compact: compact)) {
                 Text("Add Host")
                     .font(.geist(gamepadTitleSize(compact: compact), .bold, relativeTo: .title))
                     .foregroundStyle(ink.fg)
+                    .frame(maxWidth: .infinity)
+                    // On the title row itself (not the header block) so it rides the title's own
+                    // top padding — the same anchoring the settings screen's close button uses.
+                    .overlay(alignment: .trailing) { closeButton.padding(.trailing, 20) }
                 if !compact {
                     Text("Hosts on this network appear automatically — add one by address "
                         + "for everything else.")
@@ -59,9 +71,8 @@ struct GamepadAddHostView: View {
                 }
             }
             .padding(.top, gamepadTitleTopPadding(compact: compact))
-            .padding(.bottom, compact ? 4 : 8)
+            .padding(.bottom, gamepadTitleBottomPadding(compact: compact))
             .frame(maxWidth: .infinity)
-            .overlay(alignment: .topTrailing) { closeButton.padding(.top, 20).padding(.trailing, 20) }
             .background { GamepadTrayScrim(edge: .top) }
         }
         .safeAreaInset(edge: .bottom, spacing: 0) {
@@ -73,7 +84,10 @@ struct GamepadAddHostView: View {
                 .background { GamepadTrayScrim(edge: .bottom) }
         }
         // No aurora — the same clean Liquid-Glass-over-dark base as the gamepad settings screen.
-        .background { GamepadFormBackground() }
+        // Hosted in the shell, the field is the shell's (see GamepadSettingsView's twin).
+        .background {
+            if !hostedInShell { GamepadFormBackground() }
+        }
         // Publish the palette's ink to this screen (text, glass, accent, scrims) — a
         // pale palette flips all of them, and no leaf should have to read the setting.
         .gamepadPaletteInk()
@@ -141,15 +155,21 @@ struct GamepadAddHostView: View {
         #endif
     }
 
+    /// Close this screen through whichever mechanism presents it: the shell's layer pop on iOS,
+    /// the environment dismiss under a macOS sheet / tvOS cover.
+    private func performClose() {
+        if let close { close() } else { dismiss() }
+    }
+
     /// Touch/click fallback for closing — the controller path is B, a hardware keyboard's Esc
     /// rides the cancel action.
     private var closeButton: some View {
-        Button { dismiss() } label: {
+        Button { performClose() } label: {
             Image(systemName: "xmark")
                 .font(.system(size: GamepadFormMetrics.closeFont, weight: .semibold))
                 .foregroundStyle(ink.fg)
                 .frame(width: GamepadFormMetrics.closeSide, height: GamepadFormMetrics.closeSide)
-                .glassBackground(Circle(), interactive: true)
+                .consoleGlassBackground(Circle(), interactive: true)
                 .contentShape(Circle())
         }
         .buttonStyle(.plain)
@@ -237,7 +257,7 @@ struct GamepadAddHostView: View {
                 name: name.trimmingCharacters(in: .whitespaces),
                 address: address.trimmingCharacters(in: .whitespaces),
                 port: UInt16(port) ?? 9777))
-            dismiss()
+            performClose()
         default:
             openKeyboard(id)
         }
diff --git a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadChrome.swift b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadChrome.swift
index f0fb8fc4..995abd16 100644
--- a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadChrome.swift
+++ b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadChrome.swift
@@ -23,12 +23,36 @@ func buttonGlyph(
 
 /// Top padding for a gamepad screen's pinned title. macOS gets extra clearance — the launcher
 /// title sits right under the window titlebar and the settings/add-host sheets have no titlebar
-/// at all, so the iOS value hugs the top edge there.
+/// at all. The other values follow the console shell's rhythm (title top = 18 design units,
+/// k-floored to 10 for a landscape phone): the title needs air to the screen edge or the whole
+/// header reads pressed against the bezel, which the tab strip's extra band made obvious.
 func gamepadTitleTopPadding(compact: Bool) -> CGFloat {
     #if os(macOS)
     26
+    #elseif os(tvOS)
+    24
     #else
-    compact ? 4 : 10
+    compact ? 10 : 18
+    #endif
+}
+
+/// Padding under a gamepad screen's pinned header block (title, and the tab strip where there is
+/// one) before the content: the console leaves ~14 units of air under its tab pills, and without
+/// it the first row sits shoulder-to-shoulder with the header.
+func gamepadTitleBottomPadding(compact: Bool) -> CGFloat {
+    #if os(tvOS)
+    16
+    #else
+    compact ? 8 : 12
+    #endif
+}
+
+/// Spacing between a header's stacked elements (title over tab strip / subtitle).
+func gamepadHeaderSpacing(compact: Bool) -> CGFloat {
+    #if os(tvOS)
+    13
+    #else
+    compact ? 6 : 10
     #endif
 }
 
@@ -60,6 +84,7 @@ enum GamepadFormMetrics {
     static let detailFont: CGFloat = 19
     static let closeFont: CGFloat = 20
     static let closeSide: CGFloat = 48
+    static let bandWidth: CGFloat = 380
     #else
     static let headerFont: CGFloat = 12
     static let labelFont: CGFloat = 16
@@ -74,6 +99,8 @@ enum GamepadFormMetrics {
     static let detailFont: CGFloat = 13
     static let closeFont: CGFloat = 14
     static let closeSide: CGFloat = 34
+    /// The option band's (GamepadOptionBand) fixed stage inside a choice row.
+    static let bandWidth: CGFloat = 240
     #endif
 }
 
@@ -147,8 +174,21 @@ struct GamepadHintBar: View {
 /// header). Honors Reduce Motion by freezing the field at a fixed phase.
 struct GamepadScreenBackground: View {
     @Environment(\.gamepadInk) private var ink
-    /// Quiet the field for a form screen (see the type comment).
-    var calm = false
+    /// How far toward the form screens' quiet the field sits: 0 = the launcher's full aurora,
+    /// 1 = calm, fractional mid-chase. Continuous (not a Bool) so the in-place shell can CHASE
+    /// it during a push/pop — the console does the same with its `bg_mix` — and every
+    /// calm-dependent factor below rides an `.opacity` modifier, which animates reliably where
+    /// re-built gradient stops do not.
+    var calmMix: Double
+
+    /// The Bool spelling every non-shell call site uses (see the type comment for `calm`).
+    init(calm: Bool = false) {
+        calmMix = calm ? 1 : 0
+    }
+
+    init(calmMix: Double) {
+        self.calmMix = calmMix
+    }
 
     @Environment(\.accessibilityReduceMotion) private var reduceMotion
     @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.uiPalette) private var paletteID = "violet"
@@ -184,21 +224,22 @@ struct GamepadScreenBackground: View {
                 // ±8° over ~5 min — the whole field very slowly warms and cools.
                 .hueRotation(.degrees(sin(t * 0.021) * 8))
                 // Calm = col·0.6 + ground·0.4: over the ground, `.opacity` IS the multiply…
-                .opacity(calm ? 0.6 : 1)
-            if calm {
-                // …and a plusLighter wash of the palette's own ground IS the add. Chosen so the
-                // ground lands exactly where it was and the bright pools come down to meet it.
-                Self.color(palette.ground)
-                    .opacity(0.4)
-                    .blendMode(.plusLighter)
-            }
+                .opacity(1 - 0.4 * calmMix)
+            // …and a plusLighter wash of the palette's own ground IS the add. Chosen so the
+            // ground lands exactly where it was and the bright pools come down to meet it.
+            // Mounted unconditionally — at opacity 0 a plusLighter layer contributes nothing,
+            // and an always-present layer is what lets the mix animate instead of popping.
+            Self.color(palette.ground)
+                .opacity(0.4 * calmMix)
+                .blendMode(.plusLighter)
             // Cinematic vignette: the edges settle toward the scrim so the cards sit in the
             // pooled light. Soft (extends past the frame) so the corners deepen rather than
             // crush. Halved under calm: a launcher's cards sit in the pooled centre, but a form
             // screen's rows run out toward the edges, where crushing them just eats the list.
             EllipticalGradient(
-                colors: [.clear, scrim.opacity((calm ? 0.21 : 0.42) * strength)],
+                colors: [.clear, scrim.opacity(0.42 * strength)],
                 center: .center, startRadiusFraction: 0.25, endRadiusFraction: 1.15)
+                .opacity(1 - 0.5 * calmMix)
             // Legibility grounding for the pinned title (top) and hint pill (bottom). This one
             // works on the field itself (it's the backdrop's bottom layer — nothing behind it to
             // blur), so it stays a gradient, just a light one.
diff --git a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadHomeView.swift b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadHomeView.swift
index 030ce2dd..370d20d9 100644
--- a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadHomeView.swift
+++ b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadHomeView.swift
@@ -74,6 +74,9 @@ struct GamepadHomeView: View {
     @ObservedObject var waker: HostWaker
     let connect: (StoredHost, ProfileSelection) -> Void
     let connectDiscovered: (DiscoveredHost) -> Void
+    /// Launch a library title on a host — the in-place library layer's activate path (iOS; the
+    /// cover/sheet presentations wire ContentView's `launchTitle` into LibraryView themselves).
+    let launchTitle: (StoredHost, String) -> Void
 
     /// The profile catalog — pinned host+profile combos render as their own tiles here, which is
     /// how a controller picks a profile: one focus-and-press instead of a menu (design §5.4).
@@ -93,29 +96,51 @@ struct GamepadHomeView: View {
     private let compact = false // no size classes on macOS; the window minimum keeps room
     #endif
     @ObservedObject private var gamepads = GamepadManager.shared
+    @Environment(\.accessibilityReduceMotion) private var reduceMotion
     @State private var selection: GamepadHomeTarget?
     @State private var showSettings = false
     @State private var showAddHost = false
+    /// The console's input drop: true for the transition's 0.26 s, during which NO layer polls
+    /// the controller — a double-tapped A can't push two screens, and the held button that
+    /// caused the change is long released before the next poller starts (whose own
+    /// `needsSnapshot` seed swallows it if not).
+    @State private var transitioning = false
+    /// Guards the gate's release against an interrupted transition: only the newest hold clears.
+    @State private var transitionEpoch = 0
 
     var body: some View {
-        GeometryReader { geo in
-            hero(for: geo.size)
+        // The in-place shell (see GamepadShell.swift): the launcher is the base layer, the
+        // current sub-screen a transparent layer over it, both over ONE persistent backdrop
+        // that never unmounts — a push slides the screen up out of a fade while the launcher
+        // recedes underneath, the console's own choreography. On macOS/tvOS `topScreen` is
+        // constantly nil and this ZStack degenerates to the plain launcher, presented over by
+        // the sheets/covers below exactly as before.
+        ZStack {
+            homeLayer
+                .opacity(covered ? 0 : 1)
+                .scaleEffect(covered ? GamepadShellMotion.underScale : 1)
+                // The covers used to swallow touch; the recessed layer must too.
+                .allowsHitTesting(!covered)
+            #if os(iOS)
+            if let screen = topScreen {
+                screenLayer(screen)
+                    .zIndex(1)
+                    .id(screen.id)
+                    .transition(.gamepadScreen(slide: GamepadShellMotion.slide(compact: compact)))
+            }
+            #endif
         }
-        // Pinned inside the safe area, out of the carousel's vertical budget — never clipped.
-        .safeAreaInset(edge: .top, spacing: 0) {
-            titleBar
-                .padding(.top, gamepadTitleTopPadding(compact: compact))
-                .padding(.bottom, compact ? 4 : 8)
+        // Value-keyed rather than `withAnimation` at the triggers: pushes originate outside
+        // this view too (`model.returnToLibrary` writes `libraryTarget`), and keying on the
+        // derived id catches every writer. Reduce Motion snaps.
+        .animation(reduceMotion ? nil : GamepadShellMotion.screen, value: topScreenID)
+        // ONE living field for every layer, still a `.background` (the layout rule in this
+        // file's header). Its calm is CHASED between the launcher's aurora and the form
+        // screens' quiet, never crossfaded per screen — the console's `bg_mix`.
+        .background {
+            GamepadScreenBackground(calmMix: calmTarget)
+                .animation(reduceMotion ? nil : GamepadShellMotion.calm, value: calmTarget)
         }
-        .safeAreaInset(edge: .bottom, alignment: .leading, spacing: 0) {
-            GamepadHintBar(hints: hints)
-                // Equal distance from the left and bottom edges — the pill's corner inset was the
-                // real asymmetry (leading 22 vs bottom 10), not its internal padding.
-                .padding(.leading, compact ? 12 : 18)
-                .padding(.bottom, compact ? 12 : 18)
-                .padding(.top, compact ? 4 : 8)
-        }
-        .background { GamepadScreenBackground() }
         // Publish the palette's ink to this screen (text, glass, accent, scrims) — a
         // pale palette flips all of them, and no leaf should have to read the setting.
         .gamepadPaletteInk()
@@ -129,6 +154,17 @@ struct GamepadHomeView: View {
                 try? await Task.sleep(for: .seconds(10))
             }
         }
+        #if os(iOS)
+        .onChange(of: topScreenID) { _, _ in
+            transitionEpoch += 1
+            let epoch = transitionEpoch
+            transitioning = true
+            let hold = reduceMotion ? 0.05 : GamepadShellMotion.duration + 0.02
+            DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + hold) {
+                if epoch == transitionEpoch { transitioning = false }
+            }
+        }
+        #endif
         // The remote's Play/Pause mirrors the pad's X (Settings): the focus engine never surfaces
         // X, and historically tvOS maps a pad's X to this same press — the poll and this command
         // double-firing just sets the same Bool twice.
@@ -136,8 +172,9 @@ struct GamepadHomeView: View {
         .onPlayPauseCommand { showSettings = true }
         #endif
         // The settings / add-host screens take over the controller (the carousel's `isActive`
-        // gate above). iOS presents them full screen — the immersive console feel; macOS has no
-        // fullScreenCover, so they become generously sized sheets over the dimmed launcher.
+        // gate above). macOS has no fullScreenCover — they are generously sized sheets over the
+        // dimmed launcher; tvOS keeps its focus-engine covers. iOS needs nothing here: the
+        // shell's layers above ARE the presentation.
         #if os(macOS)
         .sheet(isPresented: $showSettings) {
             GamepadSettingsView(store: store)
@@ -148,7 +185,7 @@ struct GamepadHomeView: View {
                 .frame(width: 660, height: 620)
         }
         .frame(minWidth: 640, minHeight: 420)
-        #else
+        #elseif os(tvOS)
         .fullScreenCover(isPresented: $showSettings) { GamepadSettingsView(store: store) }
         .fullScreenCover(isPresented: $showAddHost) {
             GamepadAddHostView { store.add($0) }
@@ -156,6 +193,110 @@ struct GamepadHomeView: View {
         #endif
     }
 
+    // MARK: - The shell's layers (see GamepadShell.swift)
+
+    /// The launcher itself — everything the pre-shell body was, minus the backdrop (hoisted to
+    /// the shell) and the presentation modifiers (below).
+    private var homeLayer: some View {
+        GeometryReader { geo in
+            hero(for: geo.size)
+        }
+        // Pinned inside the safe area, out of the carousel's vertical budget — never clipped.
+        .safeAreaInset(edge: .top, spacing: 0) {
+            titleBar
+                .padding(.top, gamepadTitleTopPadding(compact: compact))
+                .padding(.bottom, gamepadTitleBottomPadding(compact: compact))
+        }
+        .safeAreaInset(edge: .bottom, alignment: .leading, spacing: 0) {
+            GamepadHintBar(hints: hints)
+                // Equal distance from the left and bottom edges — the pill's corner inset was the
+                // real asymmetry (leading 22 vs bottom 10), not its internal padding.
+                .padding(.leading, compact ? 12 : 18)
+                .padding(.bottom, compact ? 12 : 18)
+                .padding(.top, compact ? 4 : 8)
+        }
+    }
+
+    #if os(iOS)
+    /// The screen the shell shows over the launcher — derived from the same triggers every
+    /// platform sets, so `returnToLibrary`, the tiles, X and Y all keep writing what they wrote.
+    private var topScreen: GamepadScreen? {
+        if showSettings { return .settings }
+        if showAddHost { return .addHost }
+        if let host = libraryTarget { return .library(host) }
+        return nil
+    }
+
+    @ViewBuilder private func screenLayer(_ screen: GamepadScreen) -> some View {
+        // The layer owns the controller only once the push settles and nothing rides over the
+        // shell (the connect/wake takeover is an overlay in ContentView, above these layers).
+        let active = !transitioning && waker.waking == nil && model.phase != .connecting
+        Group {
+            switch screen {
+            case .settings:
+                GamepadSettingsView(
+                    store: store,
+                    close: { if !transitioning { showSettings = false } },
+                    controllerActive: active)
+            case .addHost:
+                GamepadAddHostView(
+                    onAdd: { store.add($0) },
+                    close: { if !transitioning { showAddHost = false } },
+                    controllerActive: active)
+            case .library(let host):
+                GamepadLibraryScreen(
+                    store: store, host: host,
+                    onLaunch: { launchTitle(host, $0) },
+                    close: { if !transitioning { libraryTarget = nil } },
+                    controllerActive: active)
+            }
+        }
+        .environment(\.gamepadHostedInShell, true)
+    }
+    #endif
+
+    private var covered: Bool {
+        #if os(iOS)
+        topScreen != nil
+        #else
+        false
+        #endif
+    }
+
+    private var topScreenID: String? {
+        #if os(iOS)
+        topScreen?.id
+        #else
+        nil
+        #endif
+    }
+
+    /// The backdrop's calm target: 1 under a form screen, 0 under the launcher/library. The
+    /// macOS sheets / tvOS covers mount their own calmed field, so the launcher behind them
+    /// keeps its aurora — exactly what shipped.
+    private var calmTarget: Double {
+        #if os(iOS)
+        topScreen?.isForm == true ? 1 : 0
+        #else
+        0
+        #endif
+    }
+
+    /// Stop consuming the controller while another screen (or the connect/wake takeover) is on
+    /// top — otherwise the launcher navigates behind it (invisibly on iPhone, visibly on iPad),
+    /// and a second A during a dial would launch a concurrent connect. `.connecting` covers the
+    /// takeover's Connecting phase; `waker.waking` its Waking phase. On iOS the shell adds the
+    /// transition's input drop, during which NOBODY polls.
+    private var homeOwnsController: Bool {
+        #if os(iOS)
+        topScreen == nil && !transitioning
+            && waker.waking == nil && model.phase != .connecting
+        #else
+        libraryTarget == nil && !showSettings && !showAddHost
+            && waker.waking == nil && model.phase != .connecting
+        #endif
+    }
+
     // MARK: - Hero (carousel + detail), sized to fit the space between the pinned title and hints
 
     @ViewBuilder private func hero(for size: CGSize) -> some View {
@@ -229,12 +370,7 @@ struct GamepadHomeView: View {
             onActivate: { $0.activate() },
             onSecondary: { openLibraryForSelected() },
             onTertiary: { showSettings = true },
-            // Stop consuming the controller while another screen (or the connect/wake takeover) is on
-            // top — otherwise the launcher navigates behind it (invisibly on iPhone, visibly on iPad),
-            // and a second A during a dial would launch a concurrent connect. `.connecting` covers the
-            // takeover's Connecting phase; `waker.waking` covers its Waking phase.
-            isActive: libraryTarget == nil && !showSettings && !showAddHost
-                && waker.waking == nil && model.phase != .connecting
+            isActive: homeOwnsController
         ) { tile in
             hostCard(tile, size: CGSize(width: cardWidth, height: cardHeight))
         }
@@ -402,10 +538,15 @@ private struct GamepadHostTile: View {
                             .foregroundStyle(ink.fg(0.5))
                     }
                     if tile.isOnline {
+                        // Status colours stay palette-independent (a pip must not change meaning
+                        // with the wallpaper) — only the glow softens on a pale field, where it
+                        // reads as a smudge at full strength.
                         Circle()
-                            .fill(Color.green)
+                            .fill(GamepadInk.onlineGreen)
                             .frame(width: Self.pipSide, height: Self.pipSide)
-                            .shadow(color: .green.opacity(0.7), radius: 5)
+                            .shadow(
+                                color: GamepadInk.onlineGreen.opacity(ink.isLight ? 0.45 : 0.7),
+                                radius: 5)
                     }
                 }
             }
@@ -441,7 +582,7 @@ private struct GamepadHostTile: View {
                         startPoint: .top, endPoint: .bottom),
                     style: StrokeStyle(lineWidth: 1, dash: tile.filled ? [] : [6, 5]))
         }
-        .shadow(color: .black.opacity(0.45), radius: 20, y: 14)
+        .shadow(color: ink.shadow(0.45), radius: 20, y: 14)
     }
 
     private var monogramBadge: some View {
diff --git a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadInk.swift b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadInk.swift
index fbb74b34..852e3a9c 100644
--- a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadInk.swift
+++ b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadInk.swift
@@ -37,6 +37,12 @@ struct GamepadInk: Equatable, Sendable {
     func accent(_ alpha: Double) -> Color { accent.opacity(alpha) }
     /// A wash under text: `alpha` is the dark-field strength, scaled for a pale one.
     func shade(_ alpha: Double) -> Color { shade.opacity(alpha * shadeScale) }
+    /// The glass base at `alpha` — what a surface's material is washed with so it carries the
+    /// palette's hue (the console fills its panels with exactly this colour).
+    func glass(_ alpha: Double) -> Color { glass.opacity(alpha) }
+    /// A drop shadow: always black — a white shadow is not a shadow — but softened on a pale
+    /// field, where full-strength black under every card reads as a smear rather than depth.
+    func shadow(_ alpha: Double) -> Color { .black.opacity(alpha * (isLight ? 0.4 : 1)) }
 
     static func of(_ p: GamepadPalette) -> GamepadInk {
         let accent = Color(red: p.accent.x, green: p.accent.y, blue: p.accent.z)
@@ -60,6 +66,10 @@ struct GamepadInk: Equatable, Sendable {
 
     /// The shipped dark look — what a preview or a test composition gets.
     static let dark = GamepadInk.of(GamepadPalette.named("violet"))
+
+    /// The online pip — deliberately NOT palette-derived: a status colour must not change
+    /// meaning with the wallpaper (the console's rule; this is its `ONLINE_GREEN` verbatim).
+    static let onlineGreen = Color(red: 0.20, green: 0.84, blue: 0.29)
 }
 
 private struct GamepadInkKey: EnvironmentKey {
diff --git a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadKeyboard.swift b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadKeyboard.swift
index 88965c6c..66d67ece 100644
--- a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadKeyboard.swift
+++ b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadKeyboard.swift
@@ -111,7 +111,9 @@ struct GamepadKeyboard: View {
                     .font(.geist(15, .semibold, relativeTo: .callout))
             }
         }
-        .foregroundStyle(focused ? Color.black : ink.fg)
+        // The focused keycap sits on `ink.accent`, so `onAccent` is what reads on it — a dark
+        // accent palette got black-on-dark with the old literal black.
+        .foregroundStyle(focused ? ink.onAccent : ink.fg)
         .frame(maxWidth: .infinity, minHeight: compact ? 34 : 42)
         .background {
             RoundedRectangle(cornerRadius: 9, style: .continuous)
diff --git a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadLibraryScreen.swift b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadLibraryScreen.swift
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..67ba4a44
--- /dev/null
+++ b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadLibraryScreen.swift
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+// The library as one of the gamepad shell's in-place layers (iOS): console chrome — a pinned
+// title and a close ✕ styled like the settings screen's — around the shared LibraryView, whose
+// gamepad branch renders the coverflow. The cover presentation used to get its title and Close
+// from the wrapping NavigationStack's bar; a shell layer has no bar, so this restores both in
+// the console's own grammar. Everything data-shaped (the fetch, the loading/error/empty states,
+// the image session lifecycle) stays LibraryView's.
+
+import PunktfunkKit
+import SwiftUI
+#if os(iOS)
+
+struct GamepadLibraryScreen: View {
+    @Environment(\.gamepadInk) private var ink
+    @ObservedObject var store: HostStore
+    let host: StoredHost
+    let onLaunch: (String) -> Void
+    let close: () -> Void
+    var controllerActive = true
+
+    /// `.compact` in a landscape phone window — tighter chrome, like every gamepad screen.
+    @Environment(\.verticalSizeClass) private var vSizeClass
+
+    private var compact: Bool { vSizeClass == .compact }
+
+    var body: some View {
+        LibraryView(
+            store: store, host: host, onLaunch: onLaunch,
+            onClose: close, controllerActive: controllerActive)
+            .safeAreaInset(edge: .top, spacing: 0) {
+                Text("\(host.displayName) — Library")
+                    .font(.geist(gamepadTitleSize(compact: compact), .bold, relativeTo: .title))
+                    .foregroundStyle(ink.fg)
+                    .lineLimit(1)
+                    .minimumScaleFactor(0.75)
+                    .frame(maxWidth: .infinity)
+                    .overlay(alignment: .trailing) { closeButton.padding(.trailing, 20) }
+                    .padding(.top, gamepadTitleTopPadding(compact: compact))
+                    .padding(.bottom, gamepadTitleBottomPadding(compact: compact))
+                    .background { GamepadTrayScrim(edge: .top) }
+            }
+            .gamepadPaletteInk()
+    }
+
+    /// Touch/click fallback for closing — the controller path is B (the coverflow's onDismiss),
+    /// and it also covers the loading/error/empty states, which the coverflow (and its B) never
+    /// mounts under. A hardware keyboard's Esc rides the cancel action.
+    private var closeButton: some View {
+        Button { close() } label: {
+            Image(systemName: "xmark")
+                .font(.system(size: GamepadFormMetrics.closeFont, weight: .semibold))
+                .foregroundStyle(ink.fg)
+                .frame(width: GamepadFormMetrics.closeSide, height: GamepadFormMetrics.closeSide)
+                .consoleGlassBackground(Circle(), interactive: true)
+                .contentShape(Circle())
+        }
+        .buttonStyle(.plain)
+        .keyboardShortcut(.cancelAction)
+        .accessibilityLabel("Close library")
+    }
+}
+#endif
diff --git a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadShell.swift b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadShell.swift
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e9d025ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/GamepadShell.swift
@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
+// The gamepad UI's screen-shell vocabulary (iOS): which screen sits over the launcher, and the
+// console push/pop choreography that presents it. On iOS the launcher's sub-screens (settings,
+// add-host, library) are NOT system covers — they are transparent layers composited in
+// GamepadHomeView's ZStack over ONE persistent living backdrop, exactly the model
+// `pf-console-ui`'s shell renders on the desktop clients: a push slides the incoming screen up
+// out of a fade while the outgoing one recedes; a pop mirrors it; the field underneath never
+// moves and never leaves. A system `fullScreenCover` — an opaque sheet sliding up from the
+// bottom edge, mounting its own backdrop — was exactly the wrong grammar for a console.
+// (macOS keeps its windowed sheets and tvOS its focus-engine covers; this file's motion
+// constants are iOS-only in practice, but compile everywhere for the shared call sites.)
+
+import PunktfunkKit
+import SwiftUI
+#if os(iOS) || os(macOS) || os(tvOS)
+
+/// The screen the shell currently shows over the launcher. Derived, not stored: the presentation
+/// triggers (`showSettings`, `showAddHost`, `libraryTarget`) stay authoritative on every
+/// platform — this enum is just their iOS rendering. Depth is ≤ 1 by construction (the settings
+/// pin picker is an in-screen layer, and every trigger is only reachable from the launcher), so
+/// there is no stack to model.
+enum GamepadScreen: Identifiable {
+    case settings
+    case addHost
+    case library(StoredHost)
+
+    var id: String {
+        switch self {
+        case .settings: return "settings"
+        case .addHost: return "addHost"
+        case .library(let host): return "library-\(host.id.uuidString)"
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// The backdrop's calm target while this screen is up: the form screens quiet the field
+    /// (`Bg::Form` in the console); the library keeps the launcher's full aurora.
+    var isForm: Bool {
+        switch self {
+        case .settings, .addHost: return true
+        case .library: return false
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+/// The console shell's motion constants, mapped to SwiftUI. Source of truth:
+/// `crates/pf-console-ui/src/shell/render.rs` (push/pop) and `shell.rs` (`TRANSITION_S`).
+enum GamepadShellMotion {
+    /// One transition, both layers — the console's `TRANSITION_S`.
+    static let duration: TimeInterval = 0.26
+    /// `1-(1-t)³` as a bezier: the standard ease-out-cubic control points.
+    static let screen = Animation.timingCurve(0.33, 1, 0.68, 1, duration: duration)
+    /// The backdrop's calm chase. The console runs an exponential approach (τ 0.12 s); the same
+    /// ease-out at 0.30 s lands within a few percent of it and settles together with the screen.
+    static let calm = Animation.timingCurve(0.33, 1, 0.68, 1, duration: 0.30)
+    /// The push/pop travel — the console's `36 * k`, k-floored for a landscape phone.
+    static func slide(compact: Bool) -> CGFloat { compact ? 27 : 36 }
+    /// The incoming screen grows from this; the revealed launcher grows back from `underScale`.
+    static let inScale: CGFloat = 0.985
+    static let underScale: CGFloat = 0.96
+}
+
+extension AnyTransition {
+    /// The console push/pop for the top layer. Insertion: up out of a fade, growing from 0.985.
+    /// Removal: down into a fade at full size (the console's pop leaves scale alone). The
+    /// launcher's recede underneath is NOT a transition — it never unmounts — it is the
+    /// `covered` opacity/scale in GamepadHomeView, animated in the same transaction.
+    ///
+    /// Known deviation from the console: a pop there re-reveals the launcher from α 0.4; a
+    /// SwiftUI opacity animates from 0. Same duration, same landing — the revealed screen just
+    /// reads a beat later in the fade, not worth an explicitly-driven progress machine.
+    static func gamepadScreen(slide: CGFloat) -> AnyTransition {
+        .asymmetric(
+            insertion: .opacity
+                .combined(with: .offset(y: slide))
+                .combined(with: .scale(scale: GamepadShellMotion.inScale)),
+            removal: .opacity.combined(with: .offset(y: slide)))
+    }
+}
+
+private struct GamepadHostedInShellKey: EnvironmentKey {
+    static let defaultValue = false
+}
+
+extension EnvironmentValues {
+    /// True for a screen mounted as one of the shell's layers: it must NOT mount its own
+    /// backdrop (the shell's single persistent field is behind everything already — a second
+    /// one would double the mesh cost and break the "field never moves" illusion). The same
+    /// screens presented as macOS sheets / tvOS covers read the default `false` and keep
+    /// mounting their own, exactly as before.
+    var gamepadHostedInShell: Bool {
+        get { self[GamepadHostedInShellKey.self] }
+        set { self[GamepadHostedInShellKey.self] = newValue }
+    }
+}
+
+#endif
diff --git a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/LibraryCoverflowView.swift b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/LibraryCoverflowView.swift
index 5f73b0ef..bff15cce 100644
--- a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/LibraryCoverflowView.swift
+++ b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/LibraryCoverflowView.swift
@@ -26,6 +26,11 @@ struct LibraryCoverflowView: View {
     /// Button B (back) — dismisses the library screen. No touch equivalent needed here (the toolbar
     /// Close button already covers that); this is what makes gamepad-only exit possible.
     var onDismiss: (() -> Void)?
+    /// Whether the carousel owns the controller — the in-place shell gates it (mid-transition,
+    /// and under the connect takeover after A launches a title, where this coverflow used to
+    /// keep polling underneath). Cover/sheet presentations keep the default.
+    var controllerActive = true
+    @Environment(\.gamepadHostedInShell) private var hostedInShell
 
     #if os(iOS)
     /// `.compact` in a landscape phone window — drives a tighter poster so everything still fits.
@@ -46,7 +51,11 @@ struct LibraryCoverflowView: View {
                 .padding(.leading, 22)
                 .padding(.vertical, compact ? 6 : 10)
         }
-        .background { GamepadScreenBackground() }
+        // Hosted in the shell, the field is the shell's own persistent aurora (the library is
+        // an aurora screen — the calm mix simply stays 0, so nothing even chases).
+        .background {
+            if !hostedInShell { GamepadScreenBackground() }
+        }
         // Publish the palette's ink to this screen (text, glass, accent, scrims) — a
         // pale palette flips all of them, and no leaf should have to read the setting.
         .gamepadPaletteInk()
@@ -81,7 +90,8 @@ struct LibraryCoverflowView: View {
             spacing: 34,
             onActivate: { onLaunch?($0.id) },
             onBack: { onDismiss?() },
-            shoulderJump: 5
+            shoulderJump: 5,
+            isActive: controllerActive
         ) { game in
             cover(game, width: coverWidth, height: coverHeight)
         }
@@ -103,7 +113,7 @@ struct LibraryCoverflowView: View {
                 RoundedRectangle(cornerRadius: 16, style: .continuous)
                     .strokeBorder(ink.fg(0.12), lineWidth: 1)
             }
-            .shadow(color: .black.opacity(0.5), radius: 16, y: 12)
+            .shadow(color: ink.shadow(0.5), radius: 16, y: 12)
             .scrollTransition { content, phase in
                 let v = phase.value
                 let d = CGFloat(min(abs(v), 1))
diff --git a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/LibraryView.swift b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/LibraryView.swift
index 03a2e918..f02b2544 100644
--- a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/LibraryView.swift
+++ b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Home/LibraryView.swift
@@ -12,6 +12,13 @@ struct LibraryView: View {
     /// Tapping a title starts a session that asks the host to launch it (the library id is passed
     /// through). `nil` ⇒ browse-only (cards aren't tappable).
     var onLaunch: ((String) -> Void)? = nil
+    /// How the gamepad shell (GamepadLibraryScreen) closes this screen; nil — every sheet/cover
+    /// presentation — falls back to the environment dismiss.
+    var onClose: (() -> Void)? = nil
+    /// Whether the gamepad coverflow owns the controller — the shell gates it during a push/pop
+    /// and while the connect takeover is up. Presentations that cover the launcher keep the
+    /// default (their being up IS the launcher's gate).
+    var controllerActive = true
     @Environment(\.dismiss) private var dismiss
 
     @State private var games: [GameEntry] = []
@@ -72,7 +79,8 @@ struct LibraryView: View {
             if gamepadUIActive {
                 LibraryCoverflowView(
                     games: games, imageSession: imageSession, onLaunch: onLaunch,
-                    onDismiss: { dismiss() })
+                    onDismiss: { (onClose ?? { dismiss() })() },
+                    controllerActive: controllerActive)
             } else {
                 grid
             }
diff --git a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Screenshots/ScreenshotScenes.swift b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Screenshots/ScreenshotScenes.swift
index 7c4a4bba..4017f335 100644
--- a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Screenshots/ScreenshotScenes.swift
+++ b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Screenshots/ScreenshotScenes.swift
@@ -243,7 +243,7 @@ private struct ShotGamepadHome: View {
         GamepadHomeView(
             store: store, model: model, discovery: discovery,
             libraryTarget: .constant(nil), waker: waker,
-            connect: { _, _ in }, connectDiscovered: { _ in })
+            connect: { _, _ in }, connectDiscovered: { _ in }, launchTitle: { _, _ in })
     }
 }
 
@@ -301,7 +301,7 @@ private struct ShotConnect: View {
             GamepadHomeView(
                 store: store, model: model, discovery: discovery,
                 libraryTarget: .constant(nil), waker: waker,
-                connect: { _, _ in }, connectDiscovered: { _ in })
+                connect: { _, _ in }, connectDiscovered: { _ in }, launchTitle: { _, _ in })
         } else {
             ShotHome()
         }
diff --git a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Settings/GamepadOptionBand.swift b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Settings/GamepadOptionBand.swift
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b4397d32
--- /dev/null
+++ b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Settings/GamepadOptionBand.swift
@@ -0,0 +1,187 @@
+// The gamepad settings' "select" value as a REAL band: every option sits on a drum rotating
+// about a vertical axis — the current one faces you flat, its neighbours curve away with
+// perspective, shrinking and fading toward the edges. The old presentation animated a single
+// Text keyed by its value (an old-out/new-in crossfade that merely implied motion), which fell
+// apart under fast repeated steps: each press restarted the fade. Here the drum's position is
+// one continuous value driven by a spring, and SwiftUI's spring retargeting preserves velocity —
+// rapid presses accumulate into one accelerating spin instead of five restarted crossfades.
+//
+// The band is purely presentational: stepping semantics (left/right clamps with a boundary thud,
+// A cycles forward wrapping, disabled rows refuse input) stay in GamepadSettingsView's row
+// closures. Font and ink come from the environment — the row applies the same value font/colour
+// it always did, and the drum's own opacity ramp multiplies on top.
+
+import Foundation
+import SwiftUI
+
+#if os(iOS) || os(macOS) || os(tvOS)
+
+struct GamepadOptionBand: View {
+    let options: [String]
+    /// The committed selection — the caller's clamp/wrap already applied.
+    let selection: Int
+    let focused: Bool
+    /// The band's footprint, FIXED by the row: a step must never reflow the row (the old
+    /// free-width value shifted the chevrons with every label), and the drum needs its stage
+    /// even when the facing label is short.
+    let width: CGFloat
+
+    @Environment(\.accessibilityReduceMotion) private var reduceMotion
+
+    /// Where the drum rests, in option steps — UNBOUNDED: a forward wrap keeps adding 1, never
+    /// modded back, so the ring distance below is what brings option 0 around from the right.
+    /// Rendering only ever reads it modulo `options.count`.
+    @State private var drumPosition: Double
+
+    init(options: [String], selection: Int, focused: Bool, width: CGFloat) {
+        self.options = options
+        self.selection = selection
+        self.focused = focused
+        self.width = width
+        _drumPosition = State(initialValue: Double(selection))
+    }
+
+    var body: some View {
+        Group {
+            if reduceMotion {
+                // No drum, no travel: today's quiet crossfade, minus even the 14 pt slip.
+                ZStack {
+                    Text(current)
+                        .lineLimit(1)
+                        .id(selection)
+                        .transition(.opacity)
+                }
+                .animation(.smooth(duration: 0.2), value: selection)
+            } else {
+                Drum(
+                    options: options,
+                    rotation: drumPosition,
+                    neighborGate: focused ? 1 : 0,
+                    target: drumPosition,
+                    // Puts the ±1 neighbour ~40 % of the band off-centre, curling to the edge.
+                    radius: width * 0.72)
+            }
+        }
+        .frame(width: width)
+        .clipped()
+        // Soft edges: the drum dissolves before it reaches the chevrons instead of ending on a cut.
+        .mask {
+            LinearGradient(
+                stops: [
+                    .init(color: .clear, location: 0),
+                    .init(color: .black, location: 0.12),
+                    .init(color: .black, location: 0.88),
+                    .init(color: .clear, location: 1),
+                ],
+                startPoint: .leading, endPoint: .trailing)
+        }
+        .onChange(of: selection) { old, new in step(from: old, to: new) }
+        // The options list itself can mutate under the drum (a custom resolution appears, a
+        // controller connects, the buffer options re-derive from a new refresh rate) — the ring
+        // math is only valid while drumPosition ≡ selection (mod count), so re-seat without a spin.
+        .onChange(of: options.count) { _, _ in snap() }
+        // One element to VoiceOver — the neighbour texts are rendering, not content.
+        .accessibilityElement(children: .ignore)
+        .accessibilityLabel(current)
+    }
+
+    private var current: String {
+        options.indices.contains(selection) ? options[selection] : ""
+    }
+
+    /// One step spins the drum; anything else (an external write from the touch settings, a
+    /// re-derived options list) re-seats it — a spin to a value the user didn't step to would
+    /// read as the UI acting on its own.
+    private func step(from old: Int, to new: Int) {
+        let n = options.count
+        let raw = new - old
+        let delta: Int? = if n > 1 && old == n - 1 && new == 0 {
+            1 // A's wrap from the last option: keep spinning FORWARD, the way the thumb pressed.
+        } else if abs(raw) == 1 {
+            raw
+        } else {
+            nil
+        }
+        guard let delta, !reduceMotion else { return snap() }
+        withAnimation(.spring(response: 0.32, dampingFraction: 0.78)) {
+            drumPosition += Double(delta)
+        }
+    }
+
+    private func snap() {
+        var tx = Transaction()
+        tx.disablesAnimations = true
+        withTransaction(tx) { drumPosition = Double(selection) }
+    }
+}
+
+/// The rotating drum itself. `Animatable` so SwiftUI re-evaluates the body with the INTERPOLATED
+/// rotation every frame of the spring — each option's offset/scale/opacity follows the real arc,
+/// and options more than one step away genuinely enter and leave mid-spin. (A plain `.animation`
+/// on independent modifiers can't do that: each modifier would lerp its own endpoints and the
+/// in-between options would never appear.)
+private struct Drum: View, Animatable {
+    let options: [String]
+    /// The interpolated drum position, in option steps.
+    var rotation: Double
+    /// 1 while the row is focused — the resting drum shows its neighbours only under focus (an
+    /// unfocused row is one flat Text, visually and costwise what it was before the band).
+    var neighborGate: Double
+    /// Where the spring is headed (jumps instantly on a step; only `rotation` chases it). The
+    /// distance between them is "how mid-flight are we" — it keeps the neighbours visible while
+    /// an unfocused drum finishes settling, fading them continuously as it lands.
+    let target: Double
+    /// Drum radius in points (from the band width — see the caller).
+    let radius: Double
+
+    var animatableData: AnimatablePair<Double, Double> {
+        get { AnimatablePair(rotation, neighborGate) }
+        set {
+            rotation = newValue.first
+            neighborGate = newValue.second
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Angular pitch between adjacent options on the drum.
+    private static let stepAngle = 34.0 * .pi / 180.0
+
+    var body: some View {
+        let n = options.count
+        let flight = min(1, abs(rotation - target) * 3)
+        let content = ZStack {
+            ForEach(0..<n, id: \.self) { i in
+                // Signed ring distance to the drum position, wrapped into (-n/2, n/2] — the
+                // whole wrap story: a monotonically grown position brings option 0 around from
+                // the right of the last option with no special casing.
+                let d = (Double(i) - rotation).remainder(dividingBy: Double(n))
+                if abs(d) <= 2.5 {
+                    option(i, distance: d, gate: max(neighborGate, flight))
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        #if os(tvOS)
+        // Flatten the transform stack while spinning — the 10-foot GPU already made these rows
+        // drop Liquid Glass, and five projected texts per step is the same class of cost.
+        content.drawingGroup()
+        #else
+        content
+        #endif
+    }
+
+    @ViewBuilder private func option(_ i: Int, distance d: Double, gate: Double) -> some View {
+        let angle = d * Self.stepAngle
+        let depth = cos(angle)
+        // The facing option never gates: an unfocused row still shows its value.
+        let alpha = pow(max(depth, 0), 3) * (abs(d) < 0.5 ? 1 : gate)
+        Text(options[i])
+            .lineLimit(1)
+            .scaleEffect(0.70 + 0.30 * depth)
+            // Foreshorten the label as it turns away — this is what sells the cylinder.
+            .rotation3DEffect(.radians(angle), axis: (x: 0, y: 1, z: 0), perspective: 0.4)
+            .offset(x: radius * sin(angle))
+            .opacity(alpha)
+            .zIndex(depth)
+    }
+}
+
+#endif
diff --git a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Settings/GamepadSettingsView.swift b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Settings/GamepadSettingsView.swift
index 808ff0c9..6727577e 100644
--- a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Settings/GamepadSettingsView.swift
+++ b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Settings/GamepadSettingsView.swift
@@ -47,10 +47,18 @@ enum GpSettingsTab: String, CaseIterable, Hashable {
 struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
     @Environment(\.gamepadInk) private var ink
     @Environment(\.dismiss) private var dismiss
+    @Environment(\.gamepadHostedInShell) private var hostedInShell
     /// The saved-host store — the pin picker writes `setPinned` through it and the profile rows
     /// count pins from its live hosts. Threaded in from GamepadHomeView like the home screen
     /// itself (ContentView owns the instance).
     @ObservedObject var store: HostStore
+    /// How the in-place shell (iOS) closes this screen; nil (the macOS sheet, the tvOS cover)
+    /// falls back to the environment dismiss. See `performClose`.
+    var close: (() -> Void)?
+    /// Whether this screen owns the controller. The shell holds it false during a push/pop (the
+    /// console's input drop) and while the connect takeover is up; a system presentation never
+    /// needs the gate and keeps the default.
+    var controllerActive = true
     @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.streamWidth) private var width = 1920
     @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.streamHeight) private var height = 1080
     @AppStorage(DefaultsKey.streamHz) private var hz = 60
@@ -127,7 +135,8 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
             onAdjust: { row, delta in adjust(id: row.id, by: delta) },
             onActivate: { activate(id: $0.id) },
             onBack: { back() },
-            onShoulder: { step(tabBy: $0) }
+            onShoulder: { step(tabBy: $0) },
+            isActive: controllerActive
         ) { row, focused in
             rowView(row, focused: focused)
                 .frame(maxWidth: GamepadFormMetrics.rowMaxWidth)
@@ -135,7 +144,7 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
         }
         .frame(maxWidth: .infinity)
         .safeAreaInset(edge: .top, spacing: 0) {
-            VStack(spacing: compact ? 4 : 8) {
+            VStack(spacing: gamepadHeaderSpacing(compact: compact)) {
                 Text(title)
                     .font(.geist(gamepadTitleSize(compact: compact), .bold, relativeTo: .title))
                     .foregroundStyle(ink.fg)
@@ -146,7 +155,7 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
                 if pinTarget == nil { tabStrip }
             }
             .padding(.top, gamepadTitleTopPadding(compact: compact))
-            .padding(.bottom, compact ? 4 : 8)
+            .padding(.bottom, gamepadTitleBottomPadding(compact: compact))
             .background { GamepadTrayScrim(edge: .top) }
         }
         .safeAreaInset(edge: .bottom, alignment: .leading, spacing: 0) {
@@ -168,8 +177,12 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
         }
         // The launcher's living field, calmed (GamepadFormBackground) — the glass rows keep real
         // colour and luminance to lens without the launcher's contrast, and the palette setting
-        // applies here too, so this screen previews the row you're stepping.
-        .background { GamepadFormBackground() }
+        // applies here too, so this screen previews the row you're stepping. Hosted in the
+        // shell, the field is the SHELL's (one persistent backdrop, calm-chased) — mounting a
+        // second would double the mesh and snap where the shell crossfades.
+        .background {
+            if !hostedInShell { GamepadFormBackground() }
+        }
         // Publish the palette's ink to this screen (text, glass, accent, scrims) — a
         // pale palette flips all of them, and no leaf should have to read the setting.
         .gamepadPaletteInk()
@@ -275,15 +288,21 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
         focusID = landing
     }
 
+    /// Close this screen through whichever mechanism presents it: the shell's layer pop on iOS,
+    /// the environment dismiss under a macOS sheet / tvOS cover.
+    private func performClose() {
+        if let close { close() } else { dismiss() }
+    }
+
     /// Touch/click fallback for closing — the controller path is B, a hardware keyboard's Esc
     /// rides the cancel action.
     private var closeButton: some View {
-        Button { dismiss() } label: {
+        Button { performClose() } label: {
             Image(systemName: "xmark")
                 .font(.system(size: GamepadFormMetrics.closeFont, weight: .semibold))
                 .foregroundStyle(ink.fg)
                 .frame(width: GamepadFormMetrics.closeSide, height: GamepadFormMetrics.closeSide)
-                .glassBackground(Circle(), interactive: true)
+                .consoleGlassBackground(Circle(), interactive: true)
                 .contentShape(Circle())
         }
         .buttonStyle(.plain)
@@ -338,7 +357,7 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
             pinTarget = nil
             focusID = "profile-\(profile.id)"
         } else {
-            dismiss()
+            performClose()
         }
     }
 
@@ -364,24 +383,33 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
                         .font(.system(size: m.chevronFont, weight: .semibold))
                         .foregroundStyle(
                             ink.fg(focused && row.adjustable && row.enabled ? 0.6 : 0))
-                    // Keyed by the value so a change slides the new option in instead of
-                    // hard-swapping the string — a QUIET horizontal slip following the user's
-                    // motion (a right-step enters from the right), crossfading over ~14 pt.
-                    // Deliberately not `.push`: that travels the whole container width, loud
-                    // and visibly outside the row. The ZStack is the stable home the
-                    // removed/inserted texts transition within.
-                    let slide: CGFloat = lastAdjustDelta >= 0 ? 14 : -14
-                    ZStack {
-                        Text(row.value)
+                    if let labels = row.optionLabels, let idx = row.selectedIndex {
+                        // A choice row's value is a REAL band — the options ride a rotating
+                        // drum, so fast repeated steps spin it instead of restarting a fade.
+                        GamepadOptionBand(
+                            options: labels, selection: idx, focused: focused, width: bandWidth)
                             .font(.geist(m.valueFont, .medium, relativeTo: .callout))
                             .foregroundStyle(focused ? ink.fg : ink.fg(0.6))
-                            .lineLimit(1)
-                            .id(row.value)
-                            .transition(.asymmetric(
-                                insertion: .offset(x: slide).combined(with: .opacity),
-                                removal: .offset(x: -slide).combined(with: .opacity)))
+                    } else {
+                        // Toggles and the flat rows keep the quiet slip: keyed by the value so
+                        // a change slides the new string in following the user's motion (a
+                        // right-step enters from the right), crossfading over ~14 pt. The
+                        // ZStack is the stable home the removed/inserted texts transition
+                        // within. (A two-position switch on a drum would read as a coin flip —
+                        // both sibling clients keep toggles a different control, too.)
+                        let slide: CGFloat = lastAdjustDelta >= 0 ? 14 : -14
+                        ZStack {
+                            Text(row.value)
+                                .font(.geist(m.valueFont, .medium, relativeTo: .callout))
+                                .foregroundStyle(focused ? ink.fg : ink.fg(0.6))
+                                .lineLimit(1)
+                                .id(row.value)
+                                .transition(.asymmetric(
+                                    insertion: .offset(x: slide).combined(with: .opacity),
+                                    removal: .offset(x: -slide).combined(with: .opacity)))
+                        }
+                        .animation(.smooth(duration: 0.22), value: row.value)
                     }
-                    .animation(.smooth(duration: 0.22), value: row.value)
                     Image(systemName: "chevron.right")
                         .font(.system(size: m.chevronFont, weight: .semibold))
                         .foregroundStyle(
@@ -411,6 +439,17 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
         rows.first { $0.id == focusID }?.detail ?? " "
     }
 
+    /// The option band's fixed stage. A portrait phone is the one place the full 240 pt starves
+    /// the row's label (everywhere else the 620 pt row cap leaves room to spare), so it alone
+    /// narrows the stage.
+    private var bandWidth: CGFloat {
+        #if os(iOS)
+        hSizeClass == .compact && vSizeClass == .regular ? 170 : GamepadFormMetrics.bandWidth
+        #else
+        GamepadFormMetrics.bandWidth
+        #endif
+    }
+
     // MARK: - Row model
 
     private struct Row: Identifiable {
@@ -423,6 +462,11 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
         let value: String
         /// One-line explanation shown near the hint bar while this row is focused.
         let detail: String
+        /// A choice row's full option list (labels only — the tags stay inside the closures)
+        /// and where its drum currently rests. nil ⇒ the value renders as plain text (toggles,
+        /// actions, profiles — a two-position switch is not a drum; see GamepadOptionBand).
+        var optionLabels: [String]?
+        var selectedIndex: Int?
         /// Whether left/right means anything here — false hides the value's chevrons (the
         /// Profiles rows navigate, and the placeholder rows do nothing at all).
         var adjustable = true
@@ -793,6 +837,10 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
             id: id, tab: tab, icon: icon, label: label,
             value: index.map { options[$0].label } ?? "—",
             detail: detail,
+            // The band mounts only once the value is a known option — the "—" of an unknown
+            // current renders flat, and the first step's snap-to-first seats the drum.
+            optionLabels: index != nil ? options.map(\.label) : nil,
+            selectedIndex: index,
             enabled: enabled,
             adjust: { delta in
                 // Unknown current value: snap to the first option on any step.
diff --git a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Support/GlassStyle.swift b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Support/GlassStyle.swift
index 6f429e44..f8b64170 100644
--- a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Support/GlassStyle.swift
+++ b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Support/GlassStyle.swift
@@ -70,12 +70,17 @@ extension View {
 
 // MARK: - Console glass (gamepad host tiles + settings rows)
 
-/// Liquid Glass tuned for the gamepad UI's dark "console" surfaces — the host-carousel tiles and
+/// Liquid Glass tuned for the gamepad UI's "console" surfaces — the host-carousel tiles and
 /// the settings rows. Unlike `glassBackground` (floating-overlay only, per HIG), this deliberately
 /// clads content tiles / dense rows: a chosen part of the 10-foot console look. `tint` washes the
-/// glass toward a color (the brand violet on the focused / primary surface); `interactive` makes
-/// it flex on press. The pre-26 fallback is `.ultraThinMaterial` forced dark — these surfaces
-/// always sit on the near-black backdrop, so the material must stay dark even in a light appearance.
+/// glass toward a color (the palette accent on the focused / primary surface); `interactive` makes
+/// it flex on press.
+///
+/// Every tier is WASHED with the palette's `ink.glass` — the same surface colour the console
+/// fills its panels with — so switching the background palette recolours the surfaces, not just
+/// the text on them. The wash alphas are tune-on-device values with one fixed direction: the
+/// pale palettes' white frost needs MORE body than the dark glass (the console's 0.66-vs-0.62
+/// pair), because a thin white wash over a colourful field reads as haze, not as a surface.
 private struct ConsoleGlass<S: Shape>: ViewModifier {
     let shape: S
     var tint: Color?
@@ -86,16 +91,19 @@ private struct ConsoleGlass<S: Shape>: ViewModifier {
     @Environment(\.gamepadInk) private var ink
 
     private var scheme: ColorScheme { ink.isLight ? .light : .dark }
+    /// The palette wash over the material tiers (the material itself supplies the blur body).
+    private var materialWash: Color { ink.glass(ink.isLight ? 0.55 : 0.40) }
 
     func body(content: Content) -> some View {
         #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 tint rides an overlay so the focused row keeps its wash.
+        // 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) }
                 }
@@ -104,7 +112,14 @@ private struct ConsoleGlass<S: Shape>: ViewModifier {
         if #available(iOS 26, macOS 26, *) {
             content.glassEffect(glass, in: shape).environment(\.colorScheme, scheme)
         } else {
-            content.background { shape.fill(.ultraThinMaterial).environment(\.colorScheme, scheme) }
+            content.background {
+                shape.fill(.ultraThinMaterial)
+                    .environment(\.colorScheme, scheme)
+                    .overlay { shape.fill(materialWash) }
+                    .overlay {
+                        if let tint { shape.fill(tint) }
+                    }
+            }
         }
         #endif
     }
@@ -112,8 +127,13 @@ private struct ConsoleGlass<S: Shape>: ViewModifier {
     #if !os(tvOS)
     @available(iOS 26, macOS 26, *)
     private var glass: Glass {
-        var g: Glass = .regular
-        if let tint { g = g.tint(tint) }
+        // Liquid Glass has ONE tint channel, so the palette wash and the caller's tint share
+        // it: mixed 60 % toward the caller's (the focused row must still read accented on
+        // every palette) over the palette base. If device QA finds the mixed focus wash too
+        // weak, the escape hatch is `tint ?? wash` — today's focused look, bit for bit.
+        let wash = ink.glass(ink.isLight ? 0.60 : 0.45)
+        var g: Glass = .regular.tint(
+            tint.map { wash.mix(with: $0, by: 0.6) } ?? wash)
         if interactive { g = g.interactive() }
         return g
     }
@@ -121,9 +141,51 @@ private struct ConsoleGlass<S: Shape>: ViewModifier {
 }
 
 extension View {
-    /// Liquid Glass for a dark console surface (a host tile / settings row), or `.ultraThinMaterial`
-    /// (forced dark) pre-26. Pass the surface's shape explicitly — glass defaults to a Capsule.
+    /// Liquid Glass for a console surface (a host tile / settings row), or `.ultraThinMaterial`
+    /// pre-26 — both washed with the palette's own glass colour, both frosting to the palette's
+    /// scheme. Pass the surface's shape explicitly — glass defaults to a Capsule.
     func consoleGlass<S: Shape>(_ shape: S, tint: Color? = nil, interactive: Bool = false) -> some View {
         modifier(ConsoleGlass(shape: shape, tint: tint, interactive: interactive))
     }
 }
+
+// MARK: - Console floating glass (the gamepad screens' close buttons)
+
+/// `glassBackground` for a floating control INSIDE the gamepad UI (the close ✕): same shape
+/// contract, but washed with the palette's ink and frosted to the palette's scheme — plain
+/// `glassBackground` follows the SYSTEM appearance, which leaves the frost dark under dark ink
+/// when a pale palette is up. The non-gamepad floating surfaces (the HUD, the trust card, the
+/// touch connect modal) keep plain `glassBackground`: they sit over video or the touch UI,
+/// where the palette means nothing.
+private struct ConsoleGlassBackground<S: Shape>: ViewModifier {
+    let shape: S
+    var interactive = false
+    @Environment(\.gamepadInk) private var ink
+
+    private var scheme: ColorScheme { ink.isLight ? .light : .dark }
+
+    func body(content: Content) -> some View {
+        if #available(iOS 26, macOS 26, tvOS 26, *) {
+            content
+                .glassEffect(
+                    (interactive ? Glass.regular.interactive() : .regular)
+                        .tint(ink.glass(ink.isLight ? 0.60 : 0.45)),
+                    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)) }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+extension View {
+    /// Palette-washed floating glass for the gamepad screens' own controls. Same fallback story
+    /// as `glassBackground` (`.regularMaterial` pre-26), plus the ink wash and scheme flip.
+    func consoleGlassBackground<S: Shape>(_ shape: S, interactive: Bool = false) -> some View {
+        modifier(ConsoleGlassBackground(shape: shape, interactive: interactive))
+    }
+}