diff --git a/docs/status-bar-overlay-validation-2026-11-01.md b/docs/status-bar-overlay-validation-2026-11-01.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2d153e5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/status-bar-overlay-validation-2026-11-01.md
@@ -0,0 +1,133 @@
+# Status bar overlay and bottom strip: verification, 1 November 2026
+
+Branch `fix/ios-overlay-1035`, cut from `origin/main` at e2bf684 (1.35.0,
+build 54). Committed locally, not pushed. Changes: `ios/App/App/ZNViewController.swift`,
+`src/bridge/keyboard-backdrop.ts`, `src/main.tsx`, `src/ui-mobile/mobile.css`
+and the layout contracts in `src/ui-mobile/mobile-layout.test.ts`. No
+app-core change and no Capacitor config change.
+
+Report: ZenNotes/zennotes#1035 (@Christian-SC26), iPhone 1.35.0 on iOS 27.2
+in dark mode. A whitish, translucent band covers the status bar; it goes away
+once the keyboard opens. A blank strip sits at the bottom of the screen.
+
+## Cause
+
+**The band is the iOS 27 scroll edge effect on the web view.** Apps built
+with the iOS 27 SDK get the current design whatever
+`UIDesignRequiresCompatibility` says (the key added for #631 only works on
+iOS 26), so the WKWebView's scroll view carries the system's top edge effect
+(`style=automatic backgroundCapture=sampled`, read with lldb from the running
+1.35.0 build). The effect is a progressive blur over the top safe area. Near
+the screen edge it samples past the page, which is transparent
+(`ios.backgroundColor` `#00000000`), into the UIWindow behind it.
+
+**The window's color is the keyboard backdrop's**, and that was only set at
+boot and on `keyboardWillShow`. At boot `index.html`'s pre-boot script sets
+`data-theme` from the stored `themeId` as is, even in Auto mode, and Auto
+keeps the id of the variant the user picked (`apple-light`, say). The boot
+sync read that light theme's `--z-bg` (white) into the window; core then
+resolved Auto to `apple-dark`, and nothing repainted the window. The edge
+effect blurred white into the status bar. Opening the keyboard ran the sync
+again, so the window turned dark and the band went away: exactly the report.
+The same thing happens without a cold launch when Auto follows the system
+from light to dark while the app runs, or when a theme is picked in Settings.
+
+Measured column, top 60 pt, dark Apple theme: the reporter's screenshot runs
+126, 125, 124, 121, 117, 111, 102, 87, 69, 51, 38, 30, 28 (every 5 pt); the
+simulator before the fix runs 127, 127, 125, 122, 119, 114, 105, 94, 77, 59,
+45, 33, 29.
+
+**The bottom strip is the shell's own padding.** `.zn-app-shell` padded
+`0.75rem + env(safe-area-inset-bottom)` under every view (46 pt on an iPhone
+16 Pro), so the note stopped at a hard line well above the home indicator.
+
+## Fix
+
+- **Native:** `ZNViewController` hides the web view's four scroll edge effects
+  (iOS 26 and later). The page draws its own chrome edge to edge and never
+  scrolls the document, so the effects have nothing to mark. This alone
+  removes the band, whatever color the window has.
+- **Backdrop follows the theme:** `watchThemeBackdrop()` replaces the one-off
+  boot sync. It re-reads `--z-bg` whenever core changes `data-theme` or
+  `data-theme-mode` on `<html>`, or the managed `<style>` elements in `<head>`
+  (custom themes, tweaks), coalesced to one frame and deduplicated, so the
+  window around the rounded keyboard and behind the web view always matches
+  the theme. The `keyboardWillShow` sync stays as a cheap second check.
+- **Bottom edge:** the shell no longer pads the bottom. Views run under the
+  home indicator to the screen edge, and every view's main scroller (a
+  `flex-1` overflow element: Home, Read mode, Tasks, Tags, the collections, a
+  database table) ends with a `::after` spacer of the old clearance
+  (`--zn-shell-bottom`), so the last line still scrolls clear. The editor's
+  scroller already ends with core's fifth-of-a-screen padding. Kept as before:
+  the Kanban board pads itself so its columns stop above the indicator; side
+  panels and the separate note-list column pad themselves and add no spacer;
+  with the keyboard up the clearance is 0, as the shell's padding was; Cloud's
+  attention row, the last thing in the shell, carries the clearance under its
+  44 px so its action and the circle sit where they did.
+
+## Verification
+
+Scratch simulator `zn-1035-scratch` (iPhone 16 Pro, iOS 27.2 24B8117, Xcode
+27.2), Debug builds of `origin/main` and of this branch. The page was driven
+through an eval channel injected into the scratch builds' `dist` only, touch
+through a scratch XCUITest driver (an existing UI test file replaced locally
+and restored afterwards), native state read with lldb. Both were removed and
+`dist` rebuilt clean.
+
+| Case | Before (1.35.0) | After |
+| --- | --- | --- |
+| Cold launch, Auto + Apple theme (stored `apple-light`), iPhone in dark mode | whitish band, top 127 fading to the background by 60 pt | top exactly the background (28 28 30) |
+| Window forced white through the backdrop plugin | band 127 to 29 (the report's profile) | no change at the top |
+| Stripes painted under the status bar | blurred and dimmed over the top 50 pt | crisp |
+| Edge effects (lldb), after a keyboard cycle and appearance flips | top/bottom/left/right shown | all four `isHidden == YES` |
+| Window color (lldb) after the system flips light, then dark | stays the boot color | white, then 28 28 30 |
+| Note in Edit mode, at rest | text stops at 828, blank to 874 | text runs to 874 |
+| End of scroll: Read mode, Home, Tasks, Tags, Archive, Trash, database table | | scroller reaches 874 and ends with a 46 px spacer; Read mode's last line at 462 |
+| Kanban board | columns end at 816 | columns end at 816 (board padded 58 px), card lists add no spacer |
+| Outline panel | | panel pads 46 px, its scroller adds no spacer |
+| Cloud attention row (phase forced to `attention`) | row 784 to 828, circle bottom 784 | row content 784 to 828, padded to 874, circle bottom 784 |
+| Keyboard open and closed in a note | | toolbar and keyboard as before, top stays clean |
+| iPhone in light mode | blank strip at the bottom | text runs to the edge; no band in either version |
+
+Automated: `npm test` 416 passed (the new layout contract fails on
+1.35.0's `mobile.css` and passes here); `npm run typecheck` clean;
+`npm run build`, `cap copy ios` and the simulator `xcodebuild` succeed.
+
+Screenshots (before/after in dark and light, and the reporter's top strip
+next to both) are in the side-session notes folder `iphone-status-bar-1035/`,
+not in the repo.
+
+## Android
+
+No matching change. The band needs UIKit's scroll edge effects behind a
+transparent WKWebView and the iOS-only backdrop plugin; Android has neither.
+At the bottom, Android shows core's status row with the Cloud status at all
+times (#48: its word-count hide no longer matches core's `px-3 sm:px-6`), so
+the inset under it is that row's navigation-bar clearance, not dead space.
+Porting the shell rule there would only add a spacer above the row. If
+Android ever hides that row the way the iPhone does, port these rules then.
+
+## Not verified
+
+A real iOS 27.2 device; landscape (no rotation without the simulator panel;
+the spacer uses the same inset, 20 pt in landscape); iPad (the CSS is
+phone-gated, the native change applies there too); a real Cloud account in
+an attention phase (forced through the DOM instead); custom themes and theme
+tweaks (covered by the `<head>` observer, not exercised); VoiceOver.
+
+## How to test locally
+
+1. In this worktree: `npm ci && npm run build`, then
+   `LANG=en_US.UTF-8 LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8 npx cap sync ios`.
+2. Run the App scheme on an iOS 27 iPhone simulator. Fresh install: "Get
+   started", then "On this iPhone".
+3. With the simulator in light mode: ••• More, Settings, Appearance, mode
+   Auto, then pick the Apple theme (Auto stores the light variant's id).
+   Switch the simulator to dark (Features, Toggle Appearance) and relaunch
+   the app. Before: a whitish band over the status bar until a keyboard
+   opens. After: the status bar sits on the plain dark background, and stays
+   clean when the appearance is toggled while the app runs.
+4. In any note: the text runs to the bottom edge (before: a blank strip about
+   46 pt tall); scroll to the end and the last line rests above the home
+   indicator. Home, Tasks and a database scroll the same way.
+5. Tasks, Kanban: the columns still stop above the home indicator.
diff --git a/ios/App/App/ZNViewController.swift b/ios/App/App/ZNViewController.swift
index a14cb3d..21c1845 100644
--- a/ios/App/App/ZNViewController.swift
+++ b/ios/App/App/ZNViewController.swift
@@ -18,6 +18,25 @@ class ZNViewController: CAPBridgeViewController {
         bridge?.registerPluginInstance(WidgetBridgePlugin())
         bridge?.registerPluginInstance(CloudFilesPlugin())
         bridge?.registerPluginInstance(BackgroundSyncPlugin())
+        hideScrollEdgeEffects()
+    }
+
+    /// The page draws its own chrome edge to edge and never scrolls the
+    /// document (every view scrolls an inner element), so the system's scroll
+    /// edge effects on the web view have nothing to mark. Apps built with the
+    /// iOS 27 SDK get them whatever UIDesignRequiresCompatibility says, and
+    /// the top one blurs what lies behind the transparent web view into the
+    /// status bar: the window, whose color is the keyboard backdrop's, so a
+    /// window still holding a light theme's color drew a whitish band over a
+    /// dark theme (ZenNotes/zennotes#1035).
+    private func hideScrollEdgeEffects() {
+        guard #available(iOS 26.0, *), let scrollView = webView?.scrollView else { return }
+        for effect in [
+            scrollView.topEdgeEffect, scrollView.leftEdgeEffect,
+            scrollView.bottomEdgeEffect, scrollView.rightEdgeEffect
+        ] {
+            effect.isHidden = true
+        }
     }
 
     override open func viewDidAppear(_ animated: Bool) {
diff --git a/src/bridge/keyboard-backdrop.ts b/src/bridge/keyboard-backdrop.ts
index a0a2db1..c60ffe5 100644
--- a/src/bridge/keyboard-backdrop.ts
+++ b/src/bridge/keyboard-backdrop.ts
@@ -7,10 +7,43 @@ interface KeyboardBackdropPlugin {
 
 const NativeKeyboardBackdrop = registerPlugin<KeyboardBackdropPlugin>('ZenKeyboardBackdrop')
 
+let sentColor = ''
+
 /** Keep the native window exposed around iOS's rounded keyboard on-theme. */
 export function syncKeyboardBackdrop(): void {
   const rawColor = getComputedStyle(document.documentElement).getPropertyValue('--z-bg')
   const color = parseThemeBackdropColor(rawColor)
   if (!color) return
-  void NativeKeyboardBackdrop.setColor(color).catch(() => {})
+  const key = `${color.red} ${color.green} ${color.blue}`
+  if (key === sentColor) return
+  sentColor = key
+  void NativeKeyboardBackdrop.setColor(color).catch(() => {
+    sentColor = ''
+  })
+}
+
+/**
+ * The window sits behind the transparent WebView, so its color shows wherever
+ * the page does not paint, and it has to follow the theme as it changes, not
+ * only when a keyboard opens: index.html's pre-boot theme can be the light
+ * variant of an Auto theme that core then resolves dark, and Auto follows the
+ * system while the app runs. A light window under a dark theme was the whitish
+ * band over the status bar in ZenNotes/zennotes#1035. Core sets the theme on
+ * <html> and keeps custom themes and tweaks in <style> elements in <head>.
+ */
+export function watchThemeBackdrop(): void {
+  let frame = 0
+  const schedule = (): void => {
+    if (!frame) frame = requestAnimationFrame(() => {
+      frame = 0
+      syncKeyboardBackdrop()
+    })
+  }
+  const observer = new MutationObserver(schedule)
+  observer.observe(document.documentElement, {
+    attributes: true,
+    attributeFilter: ['data-theme', 'data-theme-mode']
+  })
+  observer.observe(document.head, { childList: true, subtree: true, characterData: true })
+  syncKeyboardBackdrop()
 }
diff --git a/src/main.tsx b/src/main.tsx
index eb746c7..32020a1 100644
--- a/src/main.tsx
+++ b/src/main.tsx
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ import {
   mobileBackgroundSyncHost
 } from './bridge/mobile-bridge'
 import { installBackgroundSync } from './bridge/background-sync'
-import { syncKeyboardBackdrop } from './bridge/keyboard-backdrop'
+import { syncKeyboardBackdrop, watchThemeBackdrop } from './bridge/keyboard-backdrop'
 import { configureMobileCloudAuth } from './bridge/mobile-cloud-auth'
 import { maybeRunFirstRunOnboarding } from './ui-mobile/Onboarding'
 import { installWidgetPublisher } from './bridge/widgets'
@@ -35,9 +35,10 @@ import './ui-mobile/mobile.css'
 
 function wireKeyboard(): void {
   // The rounded iOS 26+ keyboard exposes the native UIWindow after Capacitor
-  // shortens the WKWebView. Match it to the active ZenNotes theme before the
-  // first keyboard and refresh it on every show in case the theme changed.
-  syncKeyboardBackdrop()
+  // shortens the WKWebView. Match it to the active ZenNotes theme now and on
+  // every theme change; each show checks again, which costs nothing when the
+  // color is the one already sent.
+  watchThemeBackdrop()
   // Tablets: hardware keyboards / the floating mini-keyboard still report a
   // "keyboard frame", and Native resize would shrink the WebView leaving a
   // black band where no keyboard is. Don't resize there — the toolbar lifts
diff --git a/src/ui-mobile/mobile-layout.test.ts b/src/ui-mobile/mobile-layout.test.ts
index c20aca9..c448ec5 100644
--- a/src/ui-mobile/mobile-layout.test.ts
+++ b/src/ui-mobile/mobile-layout.test.ts
@@ -59,7 +59,6 @@ test('dialog sheets keep their content out of the home indicator and the sensor
 
 test('full-screen phone surfaces clear every inset edge, landscape sides included', () => {
   for (const selector of [
-    '.zn-mobile.zn-phone .zn-app-shell',
     '.zn-mobile.zn-phone .z-palette > [role=\'dialog\']',
     '.zn-mobile.zn-phone [data-zn-settings]'
   ]) {
@@ -68,11 +67,43 @@ test('full-screen phone surfaces clear every inset edge, landscape sides include
       assert.ok(padding.includes(`env(safe-area-inset-${edge})`), `${selector} ${edge}`)
     }
   }
+  const shell = declaration('.zn-mobile.zn-phone .zn-app-shell', 'padding') ?? ''
+  for (const edge of ['top', 'right', 'left']) {
+    assert.ok(shell.includes(`env(safe-area-inset-${edge})`), `app shell ${edge}`)
+  }
   for (const selector of ['.zn-mobile-sheet', '.zn-phone .zn-mobile-drawer', '.zn-onboard']) {
     assert.ok(declaration(selector, 'padding')?.includes('env(safe-area-inset-left)'), selector)
   }
 })
 
+// Padding the shell's bottom left a blank strip under every view, above the
+// home indicator (ZenNotes/zennotes#1035). Views run to the screen edge and
+// their scrollers end with the clearance, so the last line still scrolls
+// clear; sheets that pad the indicator themselves add none.
+test('views run under the home indicator and their scrollers end clear of it', () => {
+  const shell = '.zn-mobile.zn-phone .zn-app-shell'
+  assert.ok(!(declaration(shell, 'padding') ?? '').includes('safe-area-inset-bottom'))
+  assert.equal(declaration(shell, '--zn-shell-bottom'), 'calc(0.75rem + env(safe-area-inset-bottom))')
+  for (const scroller of [
+    `${shell} [class~='flex-1'][class*='overflow-y-auto']::after`,
+    `${shell} [class~='flex-1'][class~='overflow-auto']::after`,
+    `${shell} [data-preview-scroll]::after`
+  ]) {
+    assert.equal(declaration(scroller, 'height'), 'var(--zn-shell-bottom)', scroller)
+  }
+  assert.equal(declaration('.zn-mobile.zn-phone section.glass-column', '--zn-shell-bottom'), '0px')
+  assert.equal(declaration('.zn-mobile.zn-phone [data-connections-panel]', '--zn-shell-bottom'), '0px')
+  assert.equal(declaration('.zn-mobile.zn-phone.zn-kb-open .zn-app-shell', '--zn-shell-bottom'), '0px')
+  // Cloud's attention row is the last thing in the shell: it carries the
+  // clearance under its 44px, so its action stays where the circle expects it.
+  let row = false
+  css.walkRules((rule) => {
+    if (!rule.selector.includes('div.h-8.shrink-0.justify-between.text-xs:has(')) return
+    rule.walkDecls('padding-bottom', (decl) => { row = decl.value === 'var(--zn-shell-bottom, 0px)' })
+  })
+  assert.ok(row, 'the Cloud row pads the home indicator itself')
+})
+
 test('a select row stacked in a column keeps its height; one on a toolbar line still fills it', () => {
   assert.equal(declaration('.zn-mobile.zn-phone .zn-app-shell div:has(> select)', 'flex'), '1')
   assert.equal(declaration('.zn-mobile.zn-phone .zn-app-shell .flex-col > div:has(> select)', 'flex'), 'none')
diff --git a/src/ui-mobile/mobile.css b/src/ui-mobile/mobile.css
index c4339bb..d452b9e 100644
--- a/src/ui-mobile/mobile.css
+++ b/src/ui-mobile/mobile.css
@@ -659,10 +659,36 @@
 /* The side insets are 0 in portrait. In landscape they hold the sensor
    housing (notch or Dynamic Island) on one side and its mirror on the other;
    the page draws edge to edge (viewport-fit=cover, contentInset never), so
-   without them the editor's lines ran under the island. */
+   without them the editor's lines ran under the island.
+   The bottom is not padded: views run under the home indicator to the screen
+   edge, the way iOS lists and documents do, and each view's scroller ends
+   with the clearance instead, so its last line still scrolls clear of the
+   indicator. Padding the shell left a blank strip under every view
+   (ZenNotes/zennotes#1035). */
 .zn-mobile.zn-phone .zn-app-shell {
-  padding: env(safe-area-inset-top) env(safe-area-inset-right)
-    calc(0.75rem + env(safe-area-inset-bottom)) env(safe-area-inset-left);
+  --zn-shell-bottom: calc(0.75rem + env(safe-area-inset-bottom));
+  padding: env(safe-area-inset-top) env(safe-area-inset-right) 0 env(safe-area-inset-left);
+}
+
+/* A view's main scroller is a flex-1 overflow element (Home, a note in Read
+   mode, Tasks, Tags, the collections, a database's table). The editor's
+   scroller is not, and core already ends it with a fifth of the screen. */
+.zn-mobile.zn-phone .zn-app-shell [class~='flex-1'][class*='overflow-y-auto']::after,
+.zn-mobile.zn-phone .zn-app-shell [class~='flex-1'][class~='overflow-auto']::after,
+.zn-mobile.zn-phone .zn-app-shell [data-preview-scroll]::after {
+  content: '';
+  display: block;
+  flex: none;
+  grid-column: 1 / -1;
+  height: var(--zn-shell-bottom);
+}
+
+/* The Kanban board scrolls sideways; its columns are panels, so they stop
+   short of the indicator as before, and the card lists inside them need no
+   clearance of their own. */
+.zn-mobile.zn-phone .zn-app-shell [class*='overflow-x-auto']:has(> [data-kanban-column-id]) {
+  --zn-shell-bottom: 0px;
+  padding-bottom: calc(1.5rem + env(safe-area-inset-bottom));
 }
 
 .zn-phone .zn-mobile-fab,
@@ -724,7 +750,9 @@
    the core's data-cloud-sync-* hooks, never on its Tailwind tone classes.
    Same geometry as the Android shell's Cloud row: 44px row, 44px action, FAB
    lifted by --zn-cloud-footer-height (see .zn-mobile-fab). While the
-   keyboard is up the format toolbar owns that strip, so the row stays out. */
+   keyboard is up the format toolbar owns that strip, so the row stays out.
+   The row is the last thing in the shell, which no longer pads the home
+   indicator, so it carries that clearance under its 44px itself. */
 .zn-mobile.zn-phone:has(
     [data-cloud-sync-phase='attention'],
     [data-cloud-sync-phase='error'],
@@ -740,7 +768,8 @@
     [data-cloud-sync-review]
   ) {
   display: flex;
-  height: var(--zn-cloud-footer-height);
+  height: calc(var(--zn-cloud-footer-height) + var(--zn-shell-bottom, 0px));
+  padding-bottom: var(--zn-shell-bottom, 0px);
 }
 
 .zn-mobile.zn-phone [data-cloud-sync-action] {
@@ -1239,6 +1268,8 @@
   padding-top: env(safe-area-inset-top);
   padding-bottom: calc(0.75rem + env(safe-area-inset-bottom));
   padding-left: env(safe-area-inset-left);
+  /* The column pads the indicator itself; its list adds none. */
+  --zn-shell-bottom: 0px;
   background: rgb(var(--z-bg));
   box-shadow: 12px 0 40px -18px rgb(var(--z-shadow) / 0.5);
 }
@@ -1265,6 +1296,8 @@
   z-index: 47;
   padding-top: calc(env(safe-area-inset-top) + 2.75rem);
   padding-bottom: calc(0.75rem + env(safe-area-inset-bottom));
+  /* The sheet pads the indicator itself; its scrollers add none. */
+  --zn-shell-bottom: 0px;
   background: rgb(var(--z-bg));
   animation: zn-slide-in-right 0.24s cubic-bezier(0.32, 0.72, 0.22, 1);
 }
@@ -2629,7 +2662,7 @@
 }
 
 .zn-mobile.zn-phone.zn-kb-open .zn-app-shell {
-  padding-bottom: 0;
+  --zn-shell-bottom: 0px;
 }
 
 /* ---- First-open onboarding ------------------------------------------------- */