diff --git a/flutter_client/lib/cache/metadata_prefetcher.dart b/flutter_client/lib/cache/metadata_prefetcher.dart
index b60cc08e..2eef60cb 100644
--- a/flutter_client/lib/cache/metadata_prefetcher.dart
+++ b/flutter_client/lib/cache/metadata_prefetcher.dart
@@ -4,14 +4,13 @@ import 'package:flutter_riverpod/flutter_riverpod.dart';
 import '../library/library_providers.dart';
 import '../models/home_data.dart';
 
-/// Pre-warms the drift cache for entities the user is most likely to
-/// tap. The home prefetch fires when /api/home returns. Library
-/// tabs and artist detail expose `warmAlbums` / `warmArtists` so they
-/// can fan out reads from their own AsyncNotifier callbacks.
-///
-/// All reads are unawaited and idempotent — providers that already
-/// have a cached value short-circuit. Readers/writers don't conflict
-/// because each provider de-duplicates concurrent subscribers.
+/// Pre-warms the drift cache for likely-tap targets. Conservative on
+/// purpose: only warms artistProvider rows (single row, single round
+/// trip per id) and only ever fires once per id per session. Album
+/// detail is NOT prewarmed — the albumProvider auto-fetches its track
+/// list when missing, and pre-warming N albums fans out N parallel
+/// "fetch tracks" round trips that compete with the user's actual
+/// playback request for bandwidth.
 class MetadataPrefetcher {
   MetadataPrefetcher(this._ref) {
     _ref.listen<AsyncValue<HomeData>>(homeProvider, (_, next) {
@@ -21,28 +20,21 @@ class MetadataPrefetcher {
 
   final Ref _ref;
 
-  /// Cap per section so a 50-album recently-added row doesn't fan
-  /// out 50 fetches the moment the screen appears. Top-N covers what
-  /// the user can see without scrolling on a typical phone.
+  /// Per-session dedupe so re-rendering a screen (every UI rebuild
+  /// fires the data: callback) doesn't trigger N more fetches for
+  /// ids we've already warmed.
+  final Set<String> _warmedArtists = {};
+
+  /// Cap per section. Covers what fits on screen without scrolling.
   static const _topN = 8;
 
-  /// Pre-warm drift for each album id (no-op past the first dedup).
-  /// Called from the library Albums tab + artist detail album grid.
-  void warmAlbums(Iterable<String> ids) {
-    var n = 0;
-    for (final id in ids) {
-      if (id.isEmpty) continue;
-      if (n++ >= _topN) break;
-      _swallow(_ref.read(albumProvider(id).future));
-    }
-    if (n > 0) debugPrint('metadataPrefetcher: warming $n albums');
-  }
-
-  /// Pre-warm drift for each artist id.
+  /// Pre-warm artists. Albums are intentionally not pre-warmed —
+  /// see class comment.
   void warmArtists(Iterable<String> ids) {
     var n = 0;
     for (final id in ids) {
       if (id.isEmpty) continue;
+      if (!_warmedArtists.add(id)) continue; // already warmed
       if (n++ >= _topN) break;
       _swallow(_ref.read(artistProvider(id).future));
     }
@@ -50,15 +42,11 @@ class MetadataPrefetcher {
   }
 
   void _warmHome(HomeData h) {
-    final albumIds = <String>{};
     final artistIds = <String>{};
-
     for (final a in h.recentlyAddedAlbums.take(_topN)) {
-      if (a.id.isNotEmpty) albumIds.add(a.id);
       if (a.artistId.isNotEmpty) artistIds.add(a.artistId);
     }
     for (final a in h.rediscoverAlbums.take(_topN)) {
-      if (a.id.isNotEmpty) albumIds.add(a.id);
       if (a.artistId.isNotEmpty) artistIds.add(a.artistId);
     }
     for (final ar in h.rediscoverArtists.take(_topN)) {
@@ -68,19 +56,9 @@ class MetadataPrefetcher {
       if (ar.id.isNotEmpty) artistIds.add(ar.id);
     }
     for (final t in h.mostPlayedTracks.take(_topN)) {
-      if (t.albumId.isNotEmpty) albumIds.add(t.albumId);
       if (t.artistId.isNotEmpty) artistIds.add(t.artistId);
     }
-
-    debugPrint(
-        'metadataPrefetcher: warming ${albumIds.length} albums + ${artistIds.length} artists');
-
-    for (final id in albumIds) {
-      _swallow(_ref.read(albumProvider(id).future));
-    }
-    for (final id in artistIds) {
-      _swallow(_ref.read(artistProvider(id).future));
-    }
+    warmArtists(artistIds);
   }
 
   /// Discards the return value and any error from a fire-and-forget
diff --git a/flutter_client/lib/library/artist_detail_screen.dart b/flutter_client/lib/library/artist_detail_screen.dart
index 2430bf78..004ea9e1 100644
--- a/flutter_client/lib/library/artist_detail_screen.dart
+++ b/flutter_client/lib/library/artist_detail_screen.dart
@@ -135,9 +135,6 @@ class ArtistDetailScreen extends ConsumerWidget {
             error: (e, _) => Center(child: Text('$e', style: TextStyle(color: fs.error))),
             loading: () => const Padding(padding: EdgeInsets.all(16), child: Center(child: CircularProgressIndicator())),
             data: (list) {
-              ref
-                  .read(metadataPrefetcherProvider)
-                  .warmAlbums(list.map((a) => a.id));
               return LayoutBuilder(builder: (ctx, constraints) {
               const cols = 3;
               const sidePad = 8.0;
diff --git a/flutter_client/lib/library/library_providers.dart b/flutter_client/lib/library/library_providers.dart
index 202b5bf4..28e0a296 100644
--- a/flutter_client/lib/library/library_providers.dart
+++ b/flutter_client/lib/library/library_providers.dart
@@ -66,9 +66,10 @@ final artistProvider =
     isOnline: () async => (await ref
         .read(connectivityProvider.future)
         .timeout(const Duration(seconds: 3), onTimeout: () => true)),
-    // SWR: yield cache instantly on hit, refresh in the background so
-    // the row catches up to server state without making the user wait.
-    alwaysRefresh: true,
+    // No alwaysRefresh: artist rows don't change frequently, and the
+    // metadata prefetcher creates many subscriptions in parallel —
+    // each silently re-fetching once would saturate the request
+    // pipeline behind the user's actual playback request.
     tag: 'artist($id)',
   );
 });
@@ -100,7 +101,6 @@ final artistAlbumsProvider =
     isOnline: () async => (await ref
         .read(connectivityProvider.future)
         .timeout(const Duration(seconds: 3), onTimeout: () => true)),
-    alwaysRefresh: true,
     tag: 'artistAlbums($artistId)',
   );
 });
@@ -137,7 +137,6 @@ final artistTracksProvider =
     isOnline: () async => (await ref
         .read(connectivityProvider.future)
         .timeout(const Duration(seconds: 3), onTimeout: () => true)),
-    alwaysRefresh: true,
     tag: 'artistTracks($artistId)',
   );
 });
@@ -169,10 +168,7 @@ final albumProvider = StreamProvider.family<
   // Once-per-subscription guard so we don't re-fetch in a loop if the
   // server genuinely returns zero tracks (or if the fetch fails).
   var fetchAttempted = false;
-  // SWR revalidation guard — fire one background refresh per
-  // subscription on the first complete cache hit, so the displayed
-  // data catches up to server state without making the user wait.
-  var revalidated = false;
+  // (revalidated flag removed; see SWR note below the yield.)
 
   Future<bool> isOnline() async {
     try {
@@ -303,15 +299,13 @@ final albumProvider = StreamProvider.family<
       );
     }).toList();
 
-    // SWR: first complete cache hit triggers one background refresh
-    // so we don't show stale data indefinitely. Drift watch re-emits
-    // on success and the next iteration yields the fresh data.
-    if (!revalidated && trackRows.isNotEmpty) {
-      revalidated = true;
-      if (await isOnline()) {
-        unawaited(fetchAndPopulate());
-      }
-    }
+    // Note: NO SWR here on purpose. Prior code kicked a background
+    // refresh on every first cache hit, which combined with the
+    // metadata prefetcher meant every prewarmed album id triggered
+    // an extra fetch even when drift was already populated. Tracks
+    // and album metadata don't change on the same timescale as
+    // playlists; a stale read is fine until the user invalidates
+    // (pull-to-refresh) or the album is genuinely re-fetched.
 
     yield (album: album, tracks: tracks);
   }
diff --git a/flutter_client/lib/library/library_screen.dart b/flutter_client/lib/library/library_screen.dart
index 145e7cbf..80b4a762 100644
--- a/flutter_client/lib/library/library_screen.dart
+++ b/flutter_client/lib/library/library_screen.dart
@@ -269,9 +269,6 @@ class _AlbumsTab extends ConsumerWidget {
           loading: () => const Center(child: CircularProgressIndicator()),
           error: (e, _) => Center(child: Text('$e', style: TextStyle(color: fs.error))),
           data: (page) {
-            ref
-                .read(metadataPrefetcherProvider)
-                .warmAlbums(page.items.map((a) => a.id));
             return page.items.isEmpty
               ? Center(child: Text("No albums yet — scan a library folder via the server's config.", style: TextStyle(color: fs.ash), textAlign: TextAlign.center))
               : RefreshIndicator(
diff --git a/flutter_client/lib/playlists/playlists_provider.dart b/flutter_client/lib/playlists/playlists_provider.dart
index 52fa1c51..dc4105d0 100644
--- a/flutter_client/lib/playlists/playlists_provider.dart
+++ b/flutter_client/lib/playlists/playlists_provider.dart
@@ -289,7 +289,6 @@ final playlistDetailProvider =
   // Once-per-subscription guard so an empty server response doesn't
   // cause repeated re-fetches.
   var fetchAttempted = false;
-  var revalidated = false;
 
   await for (final playlistRows in playlistQuery.watch()) {
     if (playlistRows.isEmpty) {
@@ -348,13 +347,12 @@ final playlistDetailProvider =
 
     yield PlaylistDetail(playlist: playlist, tracks: tracks);
 
-    // SWR: first complete cache hit kicks one background refresh.
-    if (!revalidated && trackRows.isNotEmpty) {
-      revalidated = true;
-      if (await isOnline()) {
-        unawaited(fetchAndPopulate());
-      }
-    }
+    // No SWR refresh here. The aggregate playlistsListProvider does
+    // alwaysRefresh (system playlists rotate UUIDs), but per-detail
+    // refresh on every visit was multiplying with the prefetcher's
+    // parallel fetches and starving user-initiated playback. Pull-
+    // to-refresh on the detail page invalidates the provider, which
+    // is the right path for an explicit refresh.
   }
 });