diff --git a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkKit/Video/MetalVideoPresenter.swift b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkKit/Video/MetalVideoPresenter.swift
index 2bebfb0e..01d39006 100644
--- a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkKit/Video/MetalVideoPresenter.swift
+++ b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkKit/Video/MetalVideoPresenter.swift
@@ -602,6 +602,36 @@ public final class MetalVideoPresenter {
     }
     #endif
 
+    /// Deadline pacing only, RENDER THREAD: reconcile the layer with a decoded frame BEFORE a
+    /// drawable exists. The link vends from the layer's CURRENT config, and the layer starts
+    /// with `drawableSize` 0 (it never tracks bounds once set explicitly, and the sublayer's
+    /// frame isn't even laid out when the link spins up) — so leaving all reconciliation to the
+    /// render path (which needs a frame AND a vended drawable) deadlocks at session start:
+    /// every vend fails allocation at 0×0, the stash stays empty, no pair ever completes, and
+    /// the size is never set. The 2026-07-19 iPad black screen ("[CAMetalLayer nextDrawable]
+    /// returning nil because allocation failed" every refresh). Called on EVERY frame arrival:
+    /// drains the same staging the render path drains (both are idempotent about it) and
+    /// applies size + HDR config, so the next vend always matches the frame about to present —
+    /// this also makes a mid-session HDR flip cost at most one skipped vend instead of waiting
+    /// for a paired present to retag the layer.
+    func reconcileLayer(decodedSize: CGSize, isHDR: Bool) {
+        stagingLock.lock()
+        let targetFromLayout = drawableTarget
+        let newHdrMeta = pendingHdrMeta
+        pendingHdrMeta = nil
+        stagingLock.unlock()
+        configure(hdr: isHDR)
+        if let newHdrMeta {
+            self.lastHdrMeta = newHdrMeta
+            #if !os(tvOS)
+            if hdrActive { layer.edrMetadata = makeEDR(newHdrMeta) }
+            #endif
+        }
+        let targetSize = (targetFromLayout.width > 0 && targetFromLayout.height > 0)
+            ? targetFromLayout : decodedSize
+        if layer.drawableSize != targetSize { layer.drawableSize = targetSize }
+    }
+
     /// Draw one decoded frame to the next drawable and present it. RENDER THREAD (Stage2Pipeline's;
     /// `nextDrawable()` may block up to a frame — that wait belongs here, never on main). `isHDR`
     /// selects the 10-bit BT.2020 PQ path vs the 8-bit BT.709 path and is reconciled with the
diff --git a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkKit/Video/Stage2Pipeline.swift b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkKit/Video/Stage2Pipeline.swift
index 500db1f6..113ac239 100644
--- a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkKit/Video/Stage2Pipeline.swift
+++ b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkKit/Video/Stage2Pipeline.swift
@@ -813,19 +813,35 @@ public final class Stage2Pipeline {
                     debugStats?.flushIfDue(ring: ring, gate: nil)
                     return
                 }
-                // Present needs the PAIR. Take the drawable first: if it's missing, the frame
-                // stays in the ring untouched (coalescing newest-wins) for the link's next
-                // update — a wait bounded by one refresh.
-                guard !token.isStopped, let drawable = stash.take() else {
-                    debugStats?.noDrawableWake()
+                // Present needs the PAIR — frame first. The frame drives the layer reconcile,
+                // which must run even when NO drawable is vended yet: the link vends from the
+                // layer's CURRENT config, so drawableSize/format have to be right before a vend
+                // can succeed at all (see reconcileLayer — the session-start bootstrap, where
+                // the layer still has its initial 0×0 size and every vend fails allocation).
+                guard !token.isStopped, let frame = ring.take() else {
+                    debugStats?.emptyWake()
                     debugStats?.flushIfDue(ring: ring, gate: nil)
                     return
                 }
-                guard let frame = ring.take() else {
-                    // No frame yet — return the drawable for the next arrival. putBack, not put:
-                    // the link may have vended a fresher drawable in between, and that one wins.
-                    stash.putBack(drawable)
-                    debugStats?.emptyWake()
+                switch frame.image {
+                case .video(let pixelBuffer, let isHDR):
+                    presenter.reconcileLayer(
+                        decodedSize: CGSize(
+                            width: CVPixelBufferGetWidth(pixelBuffer),
+                            height: CVPixelBufferGetHeight(pixelBuffer)),
+                        isHDR: isHDR)
+                case .planar(let planes):
+                    presenter.reconcileLayer(
+                        decodedSize: CGSize(width: planes.width, height: planes.height),
+                        isHDR: planes.pq)
+                }
+                guard let drawable = stash.take() else {
+                    // No vend yet (session start: the reconcile above just unblocked the
+                    // allocator, the link's next update delivers; steady state: decode beat the
+                    // link's phase). putBack keeps newest-wins — a fresher decode replaces this
+                    // frame while it waits, and the update's signal retries the pairing.
+                    ring.putBack(frame)
+                    debugStats?.noDrawableWake()
                     debugStats?.flushIfDue(ring: ring, gate: nil)
                     return
                 }