diff --git a/src/app/components/message/layout/layout.css.ts b/src/app/components/message/layout/layout.css.ts
index 731fa0f5..815c579f 100644
--- a/src/app/components/message/layout/layout.css.ts
+++ b/src/app/components/message/layout/layout.css.ts
@@ -198,25 +198,19 @@ export const BubbleHeaderOwn = style({
   alignSelf: 'flex-end',
 });
 
-// Phone: the name is a pill straddling the bubble's top edge, on the side opposite the portrait.
+// Phone: name and time are one plain line in flow above the bubble, on the side opposite the
+// portrait. It is as wide as the full name needs, up to the room beside the portrait; only a name
+// longer than that wraps (and then the time drops below it). It is capped by the viewport, not by
+// the column: a short bubble's column is narrower than its own name, and a percentage cap there
+// truncated names to one letter.
 export const BubbleHeaderPose = style({
   '@media': {
     [PHONE]: {
-      position: 'absolute',
-      zIndex: 2,
-      // Anchored by its bottom edge, 13px inside the bubble: a name that wraps grows upward, out of
-      // the bubble, instead of down over the first line of text.
-      bottom: `calc(100% - ${toRem(13)})`,
-      right: toRem(14),
-      padding: `0 ${toRem(13)}`,
-      background: color.Secondary.Container,
-      border: `1px solid ${color.Secondary.ContainerLine}`,
-      // The pill is as wide as the full name needs, up to the room beside the portrait, then the
-      // name wraps. It is capped by the viewport, not by the column: a short bubble's column is
-      // narrower than its own name, and a percentage cap there truncated names to one letter.
+      alignSelf: 'flex-end',
+      margin: `0 ${toRem(14)} ${toRem(2)}`,
       width: 'max-content',
       maxWidth: `calc(100vw - ${PHONE_PORTRAIT} - ${toRem(64)})`,
-      borderRadius: toRem(14),
+      textAlign: 'right',
     },
   },
 });
@@ -224,8 +218,8 @@ export const BubbleHeaderPose = style({
 export const BubbleHeaderPoseAlt = style({
   '@media': {
     [PHONE]: {
-      right: 'auto',
-      left: toRem(14),
+      alignSelf: 'flex-start',
+      textAlign: 'left',
     },
   },
 });
@@ -398,9 +392,8 @@ globalStyle(`${BubbleContentPose} > div`, {
   },
 });
 
-// The name inside the pill wraps instead of ellipsising: the pill already caps its own width, and
-// Username's own nowrap + ellipsis, and the truncate on the Text inside it, clipped long names to
-// "Heimdall o…" inside it.
+// The name wraps instead of ellipsising: the header already caps its own width, and Username's own
+// nowrap + ellipsis, and the truncate on the Text inside it, clipped long names to "Heimdall o…".
 globalStyle(`${BubbleHeaderPose} ${Username}, ${BubbleHeaderPose} ${Username} *`, {
   '@media': {
     [PHONE]: {
@@ -413,11 +406,21 @@ globalStyle(`${BubbleHeaderPose} ${Username}, ${BubbleHeaderPose} ${Username} *`
 });
 
 // A name too long for one line takes its own lines and the time drops below it, instead of the
-// name shrinking to a sliver beside the time (the pill's one child is the flex row of both).
+// name shrinking to a sliver beside the time (the header's one child is the flex row of both). The
+// row hugs the side the header sits on, so a dropped time stays under the name's edge.
 globalStyle(`${BubbleHeaderPose} > div`, {
   '@media': {
     [PHONE]: {
       flexWrap: 'wrap',
+      justifyContent: 'flex-end',
+    },
+  },
+});
+
+globalStyle(`${BubbleHeaderPoseAlt} > div`, {
+  '@media': {
+    [PHONE]: {
+      justifyContent: 'flex-start',
     },
   },
 });
@@ -446,14 +449,6 @@ globalStyle(`${scene} ${BubbleContent}`, {
 globalStyle(`${scene} ${BubbleContentOwn}`, {
   backgroundColor: [color.Primary.Container, half(color.Primary.Container)],
 });
-globalStyle(`${scene} ${BubbleHeaderPose}`, {
-  '@media': {
-    [PHONE]: {
-      backgroundColor: [color.Secondary.Container, half(color.Secondary.Container)],
-      backdropFilter: 'blur(12px)',
-    },
-  },
-});
 globalStyle(`${scene} ${BubbleLeftArrow}`, {
   display: 'none',
 });
diff --git a/src/app/components/nav/styles.css.ts b/src/app/components/nav/styles.css.ts
index 927fee0f..b123f9bc 100644
--- a/src/app/components/nav/styles.css.ts
+++ b/src/app/components/nav/styles.css.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,14 @@ import { RecipeVariants, recipe } from '@vanilla-extract/recipes';
 import { ContainerColor, DefaultReset, Disabled, RadiiVariant, color, config, toRem } from 'folds';
 import { surfaceInk } from '../../features/scene/sceneShell.css';
 
+// Wash strengths over the scene: rows and labels are faint, and hover, selected and pressed rows
+// are three distinct steps above them.
+const SCRIM_LABEL = '12%';
+const SCRIM_ROW = '16%';
+const SCRIM_HOVER = '26%';
+const SCRIM_SELECTED = '36%';
+const SCRIM_PRESSED = '48%';
+
 export const NavCategory = style([
   DefaultReset,
   {
@@ -13,9 +21,9 @@ export const NavCategory = style([
 export const NavCategoryHeader = style({
   gap: config.space.S100,
   selectors: {
-    // Category labels sit on the scene like the rows do, and need the same scrim to be read.
+    // Category labels sit on the scene like the rows do, and need a wash to be read.
     ':root[data-scene] &': {
-      backgroundColor: `color-mix(in srgb, ${surfaceInk} 62%, transparent)`,
+      backgroundColor: `color-mix(in srgb, ${surfaceInk} ${SCRIM_LABEL}, transparent)`,
       borderRadius: config.radii.R400,
     },
   },
@@ -69,21 +77,21 @@ const NavItemBase = style({
     '&[data-hover=true]': {
       backgroundColor: ContainerHover,
     },
-    // While the background scene runs the shell is clear (sceneShell.css.ts); a row is a steady
-    // scrim of the theme's own surface, so ridges never show through its text. Hover, the selected row and a
-    // press each strengthen it a step.
+    // While the background scene runs the shell is clear (sceneShell.css.ts); a row is a faint
+    // wash of the theme's own surface: the terrain stays visible, the text stays readable. Hover,
+    // the selected row and a press each strengthen it a step.
     ':root[data-scene] &': {
-      backgroundColor: `color-mix(in srgb, ${surfaceInk} 62%, transparent)`,
+      backgroundColor: `color-mix(in srgb, ${surfaceInk} ${SCRIM_ROW}, transparent)`,
     },
     ':root[data-scene] &:hover, :root[data-scene] &:focus-visible, :root[data-scene] &[data-hover=true]':
       {
-        backgroundColor: `color-mix(in srgb, ${surfaceInk} 74%, transparent)`,
+        backgroundColor: `color-mix(in srgb, ${surfaceInk} ${SCRIM_HOVER}, transparent)`,
       },
     ':root[data-scene] &[aria-selected=true]': {
-      backgroundColor: `color-mix(in srgb, ${surfaceInk} 84%, transparent)`,
+      backgroundColor: `color-mix(in srgb, ${surfaceInk} ${SCRIM_SELECTED}, transparent)`,
     },
     [`:root[data-scene] &:has(.${NavLink}:active)`]: {
-      backgroundColor: `color-mix(in srgb, ${surfaceInk} 92%, transparent)`,
+      backgroundColor: `color-mix(in srgb, ${surfaceInk} ${SCRIM_PRESSED}, transparent)`,
     },
     [`&:has(.${NavLink}:active)`]: {
       backgroundColor: ContainerActive,