diff --git a/crates/tauri-app/src/lib/components/LoginScreen.svelte b/crates/tauri-app/src/lib/components/LoginScreen.svelte
index d9bb0b7..61db7b1 100644
--- a/crates/tauri-app/src/lib/components/LoginScreen.svelte
+++ b/crates/tauri-app/src/lib/components/LoginScreen.svelte
@@ -4,7 +4,10 @@
 
   let { onLogin }: { onLogin: (s: Session) => void } = $props();
 
-  let mode: "login" | "register" = $state("register");
+  // Default to "login" — most users opening the app already have an
+  // account, and the empty-autocomplete form now matches the
+  // action-label pair they expect. "register" is one click away.
+  let mode: "login" | "register" = $state("login");
   let handle: string = $state("");
   let password: string = $state("");
   let busy = $state(false);
diff --git a/crates/tauri-app/src/lib/components/ProfileView.svelte b/crates/tauri-app/src/lib/components/ProfileView.svelte
index 7f58c05..e0c8b7a 100644
--- a/crates/tauri-app/src/lib/components/ProfileView.svelte
+++ b/crates/tauri-app/src/lib/components/ProfileView.svelte
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
     releaseBlob,
     getAppviewUrl,
   } from "../api/client";
-  import { onDestroy, onMount } from "svelte";
+  import { onDestroy, onMount, untrack } from "svelte";
 
   type Props = {
     handle: string;
@@ -99,31 +99,34 @@
     const bannerCid =
       viewModel.kind === "ready" ? viewModel.data.banner_cid ?? null : null;
     // Release the previous URL whenever the banner CID changes
-    // (including to/from null).
-    if (bannerCidLoaded !== bannerCid) {
-      if (bannerUrl) {
-        if (viewModel.kind === "ready" && viewModel.data.did) {
-          releaseBlob(viewModel.data.did, bannerCidLoaded ?? "");
-        }
-        URL.revokeObjectURL(bannerUrl);
-        bannerUrl = null;
+    // (including to/from null). We read the previous-loaded value
+    // through `untrack` because reading + writing `bannerCidLoaded`
+    // inside the same effect would trip Svelte 5's depth guard
+    // (`effect_update_depth_exceeded`).
+    const previous = untrack(() => bannerCidLoaded);
+    if (previous === bannerCid) return;
+    if (bannerUrl) {
+      if (viewModel.kind === "ready" && viewModel.data.did) {
+        releaseBlob(viewModel.data.did, previous ?? "");
       }
-      bannerCidLoaded = bannerCid;
-      if (!bannerCid || viewModel.kind !== "ready") return;
-      const did = viewModel.data.did;
-      let cancelled = false;
-      fetchBlob(did, bannerCid)
-        .then((u) => {
-          if (!cancelled) bannerUrl = u;
-          else URL.revokeObjectURL(u);
-        })
-        .catch(() => {
-          /* fall back to CSS gradient placeholder */
-        });
-      return () => {
-        cancelled = true;
-      };
+      URL.revokeObjectURL(bannerUrl);
+      bannerUrl = null;
     }
+    bannerCidLoaded = bannerCid;
+    if (!bannerCid || viewModel.kind !== "ready") return;
+    const did = viewModel.data.did;
+    let cancelled = false;
+    fetchBlob(did, bannerCid)
+      .then((u) => {
+        if (!cancelled) bannerUrl = u;
+        else URL.revokeObjectURL(u);
+      })
+      .catch(() => {
+        /* fall back to CSS gradient placeholder */
+      });
+    return () => {
+      cancelled = true;
+    };
   });
 
   onMount(() => {