diff --git a/client/src/components/Chat/Input/Composer/Bar.tsx b/client/src/components/Chat/Input/Composer/Bar.tsx
index e2d212f870..e06324fdda 100644
--- a/client/src/components/Chat/Input/Composer/Bar.tsx
+++ b/client/src/components/Chat/Input/Composer/Bar.tsx
@@ -243,11 +243,20 @@ function Bar({
       chipsFitInline(packedEntries, widths, rowWidth - plusWidth - controlsWidth - CHIP_GAP * 2),
     [packedEntries, widths, rowWidth, plusWidth, controlsWidth],
   );
-  /* The recording controls take the bottom row over, so every chip moves into
-     the block above and leaves with it rather than being cut off mid-row. */
   const dictating = dictation.active || dictation.transcribing;
-  const above = inlineChips && !dictating ? EMPTY_ENTRIES : packedEntries;
-  const inline = inlineChips && !dictating ? packedEntries : EMPTY_ENTRIES;
+
+  /* The arrangement is frozen for the length of a recording. The controls
+     shrink to just the elapsed time while one runs, which would otherwise let
+     chips qualify for the bottom row and re-mount there mid-animation: a chip
+     that changes parent restarts from its new parent's resting state, which is
+     no transition at all. */
+  const [restingInline, setRestingInline] = useState(true);
+  if (!dictating && restingInline !== inlineChips) {
+    setRestingInline(inlineChips);
+  }
+  const chipsInline = dictating ? restingInline : inlineChips;
+  const above = chipsInline ? EMPTY_ENTRIES : packedEntries;
+  const inline = chipsInline ? packedEntries : EMPTY_ENTRIES;
 
   const rowClass = cn(
     'flex flex-wrap items-center gap-1.5',
@@ -287,10 +296,16 @@ function Bar({
         )}
       >
         <div className="overflow-hidden">
+          {/* Travels down as the row above closes over it, so the chips read as
+              moving out of the way rather than being wiped from the bottom up. */}
           <div
             role="list"
             aria-label={localize('com_ui_composer_tools')}
-            className={cn(rowClass, 'pb-1.5')}
+            className={cn(
+              rowClass,
+              'pb-1.5 transition-transform duration-200 ease-out',
+              dictating ? 'translate-y-3' : 'translate-y-0',
+            )}
           >
             {above.map(renderChip)}
           </div>
@@ -320,10 +335,19 @@ function Bar({
             anchorRef={anchorRef}
           />
         </span>
-        {/* `contents`, so these chips sit on the same line as the buttons rather
-            than in a box of their own. The element keeps its list semantics for
-            assistive tech; only its box is dropped. */}
-        <div role="list" aria-label={localize('com_ui_composer_tools')} className="contents">
+        {/* A box rather than `contents` so it has something to move: the split
+            only puts chips here when they all fit on this line, so wrapping as
+            one unit and wrapping as siblings come to the same layout. */}
+        <div
+          role="list"
+          aria-label={localize('com_ui_composer_tools')}
+          aria-hidden={dictating}
+          className={cn(
+            'flex min-w-0 flex-wrap items-center gap-1.5',
+            'transition-[transform,opacity] duration-200 ease-out',
+            dictating ? 'pointer-events-none translate-y-3 opacity-0' : 'translate-y-0 opacity-100',
+          )}
+        >
           {inline.map(renderChip)}
         </div>
         {/* Auto margin on the main-start side, so the group sits at the end of
@@ -354,14 +378,14 @@ function Bar({
               <Thinking />
               <TokenUsage index={index} conversation={conversation} isSubmitting={isSubmitting} />
             </div>
+            {/* Fades in place. The elapsed time is not one of the things that
+                stepped aside, so it has nowhere to travel from. */}
             <div
               aria-hidden={!dictating}
               className={cn(
                 'col-start-1 row-start-1 flex items-center justify-end px-1',
-                'transition-[transform,opacity] duration-200 ease-out',
-                dictating
-                  ? 'translate-y-0 opacity-100'
-                  : 'pointer-events-none translate-y-3 opacity-0',
+                'transition-opacity duration-200 ease-out',
+                dictating ? 'opacity-100' : 'pointer-events-none opacity-0',
               )}
             >
               <span className="text-xs tabular-nums text-text-secondary">
diff --git a/client/src/components/Chat/Input/Composer/Palette.tsx b/client/src/components/Chat/Input/Composer/Palette.tsx
index 8d8ac15086..3da7075cf3 100644
--- a/client/src/components/Chat/Input/Composer/Palette.tsx
+++ b/client/src/components/Chat/Input/Composer/Palette.tsx
@@ -662,7 +662,10 @@ function Palette({
               'hover:bg-surface-hover hover:text-text-primary',
               'focus-visible:outline-none focus-visible:ring-2 focus-visible:ring-primary focus-visible:ring-opacity-50',
               'disabled:cursor-not-allowed disabled:opacity-40',
-              open && 'bg-surface-hover text-text-primary',
+              /* The close mark carries the same weight whichever job it is
+                 doing: dimmer and unbacked while dictating read as a smaller
+                 glyph next to the one the open palette shows. */
+              (open || dictating) && 'bg-surface-hover text-text-primary',
             )}
           >
             {/* The same glyph turned a quarter of the way round is the close
diff --git a/client/src/hooks/Input/useDictation.ts b/client/src/hooks/Input/useDictation.ts
index 5b6dd2f815..3dc815fe57 100644
--- a/client/src/hooks/Input/useDictation.ts
+++ b/client/src/hooks/Input/useDictation.ts
@@ -10,6 +10,10 @@ import useLocalize from '../useLocalize';
 
 const isExternalSTT = (speechToTextEndpoint: string) => speechToTextEndpoint === 'external';
 
+/** How long to hold the recording layout after a stop before giving up on a
+ *  transcription request ever being reported. */
+const SETTLE_MS = 500;
+
 /** How the in-flight transcription should be spent once recording ends. */
 type StopMode = 'compose' | 'send' | 'cancel';
 
@@ -123,6 +127,27 @@ export default function useDictation({
   const active = isListening === true;
   const levels = useAudioLevels(active);
 
+  /* Bridges the gap between the recorder being told to stop and the upload
+     starting: `isListening` clears synchronously, while the recorder's own
+     `stop` event, which is what begins the transcription request, arrives a
+     tick later. Without this the composer reads as idle for that tick and every
+     control it had put away flashes back in and out again. */
+  const [settling, setSettling] = useState(false);
+  useEffect(() => {
+    if (!settling) {
+      return;
+    }
+    if (isLoading === true) {
+      setSettling(false);
+      return;
+    }
+    /* Backstop for the engines that never report a request at all: the browser
+       recogniser hands its transcript straight over, so nothing else would ever
+       clear this. */
+    const timer = setTimeout(() => setSettling(false), SETTLE_MS);
+    return () => clearTimeout(timer);
+  }, [settling, isLoading]);
+
   const [elapsed, setElapsed] = useState(0);
   useEffect(() => {
     if (!active) {
@@ -142,6 +167,7 @@ export default function useDictation({
   const stopWith = useCallback(
     (mode: StopMode) => {
       modeRef.current = mode;
+      setSettling(true);
       stopRecording();
     },
     [stopRecording],
@@ -153,6 +179,7 @@ export default function useDictation({
      that was already in flight lands anyway. */
   const cancel = useCallback(() => {
     modeRef.current = 'cancel';
+    setSettling(false);
     abortRecording();
     reset({ text: existingTextRef.current });
     existingTextRef.current = '';
@@ -160,7 +187,7 @@ export default function useDictation({
 
   return {
     active,
-    transcribing: isLoading === true,
+    transcribing: isLoading === true || settling,
     levels,
     elapsed,
     start,