diff --git a/public/sw.js b/public/sw.js
index d56f5047..af2783a6 100644
--- a/public/sw.js
+++ b/public/sw.js
@@ -57,14 +57,21 @@ self.addEventListener('notificationclick', (event) => {
 
 // --- Activate immediately ---
 //
-// On activate, nuke every Cache Storage entry. A previous version of Agora
-// deployed a precaching service worker (Workbox-style) that's still serving
-// stale HTML/JS to returning users on the same origin. Wiping caches here
-// means the first request a returning user makes after this SW takes over
-// will hit the network and get the new build.
+// On activate:
+//   1. Wipe every Cache Storage entry. A previous version of Agora deployed
+//      a precaching service worker (Workbox-style) that's still serving stale
+//      HTML/JS to returning users on this origin. Clearing caches means future
+//      requests bypass anything the old SW left behind.
+//   2. Take control of all open clients via clients.claim().
+//   3. Force each controlled tab to navigate to its own URL. clients.claim()
+//      only changes which SW handles future fetches — it does not re-render
+//      pages that already finished loading. Without the explicit navigate,
+//      the user is stuck on the old rendered bundle until they manually
+//      close and reopen the tab. Since this SW has no fetch handler, the
+//      navigation falls through to the network and gets the new build.
 //
-// This SW itself does not intercept fetches (no 'fetch' handler), so it
-// never repopulates a cache — only push notifications are handled below.
+// This SW has no 'fetch' handler, so it never repopulates a cache — push
+// notifications are the only thing it intercepts.
 
 self.addEventListener('install', () => self.skipWaiting());
 self.addEventListener('activate', (event) => {
@@ -73,6 +80,18 @@ self.addEventListener('activate', (event) => {
       const keys = await caches.keys();
       await Promise.all(keys.map((key) => caches.delete(key)));
       await self.clients.claim();
+
+      // Soft-reload every open same-origin tab so it picks up the fresh
+      // index.html + hashed bundle from the network. WindowClient.navigate()
+      // is same-origin-only by spec, which is exactly what we want.
+      const windowClients = await self.clients.matchAll({ type: 'window' });
+      await Promise.all(
+        windowClients.map((client) =>
+          'navigate' in client
+            ? client.navigate(client.url).catch(() => {})
+            : Promise.resolve(),
+        ),
+      );
     })(),
   );
 });
diff --git a/src/main.tsx b/src/main.tsx
index a97a8038..f7f06e48 100644
--- a/src/main.tsx
+++ b/src/main.tsx
@@ -87,21 +87,26 @@ requestAnimationFrame(() => {
   document.getElementById('preloader')?.remove();
 });
 
-// ─── Service worker takeover (web only) ──────────────────────────────────────
+// ─── Service worker registration (web only) ─────────────────────────────────
 //
-// A previous version of Agora deployed at this origin shipped a precaching
-// service worker that's still serving stale HTML/JS to returning users. The
-// SW we ship now (public/sw.js) has no fetch handler and nukes every cache
-// on activate, so as soon as the browser installs it, returning users start
-// getting fresh builds again.
+// Register /sw.js unconditionally on web. The SW itself (public/sw.js) has
+// no fetch handler and wipes caches on activate — see that file for the
+// stale-SW eviction story.
 //
-// usePushNotifications() also registers /sw.js, but only when the user
-// visits the notification settings page — that's not good enough to evict
-// the old SW for everyone. We register here on every web page load so the
-// new SW takes over for all visitors, regardless of whether they use push.
+// This registration does NOT fix the stale-SW problem on its own: returning
+// users with the old precache SW never run any of our new JS, because the
+// old SW serves the old bundle from cache. The browser evicts the old SW
+// out-of-band by re-fetching /sw.js on its own update schedule, and the
+// new SW's activate handler does the actual cache wipe + tab reload.
 //
-// Native (Capacitor) skips this — the bundled web assets are served from
-// the local filesystem and there's no stale SW on the origin to evict.
+// What this registration buys us is forward-looking insurance: it ensures
+// every web visitor has a SW in place, so the next time we need to ship an
+// emergency cache bust via /sw.js, there's something for the browser to
+// update. Without it, only push-enabled users (who hit
+// usePushNotifications) would ever have a SW registered.
+//
+// Native (Capacitor) skips this — assets are served from the local
+// filesystem, no SW involved.
 if (!Capacitor.isNativePlatform() && 'serviceWorker' in navigator) {
   window.addEventListener('load', () => {
     navigator.serviceWorker.register('/sw.js', { scope: '/' }).catch((err) => {