diff --git a/android/app/src/main/java/com/fabledsword/minstrel/player/PlayerController.kt b/android/app/src/main/java/com/fabledsword/minstrel/player/PlayerController.kt
index b84b55b0..5e200171 100644
--- a/android/app/src/main/java/com/fabledsword/minstrel/player/PlayerController.kt
+++ b/android/app/src/main/java/com/fabledsword/minstrel/player/PlayerController.kt
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ import androidx.media3.session.MediaController
 import androidx.media3.session.SessionToken
 import com.fabledsword.minstrel.di.ApplicationScope
 import com.fabledsword.minstrel.models.TrackRef
+import com.fabledsword.minstrel.playlists.data.PlaylistsRepository
+import com.fabledsword.minstrel.playlists.data.toPlayableTrackRefs
 import com.fabledsword.minstrel.shared.resolveServerUrl
 import dagger.hilt.android.qualifiers.ApplicationContext
 import kotlinx.coroutines.CoroutineScope
@@ -63,6 +65,7 @@ class PlayerController @Inject constructor(
     @ApplicationContext private val context: Context,
     @ApplicationScope private val scope: CoroutineScope,
     private val radio: RadioController,
+    private val playlists: PlaylistsRepository,
     private val playerFactory: PlayerFactory,
     private val activeUpnpHolder: com.fabledsword.minstrel.player.output.ActiveUpnpHolder,
     private val remoteState: RemotePlayerState,
@@ -111,6 +114,13 @@ class PlayerController @Inject constructor(
      */
     private var lastEvaluatedItemIndex: Int = -1
 
+    /**
+     * #968: self-heal budget — re-pulls of a stale refreshable queue since
+     * the last successful play. Capped so a still-broken refresh can't loop;
+     * reset when any track loads with real audio.
+     */
+    private var selfHealAttempts = 0
+
     /**
      * Stable queue snapshot kept in sync with the player's MediaItems —
      * the player's own getMediaItem(index) returns Media3 types; we keep
@@ -351,7 +361,12 @@ class PlayerController @Inject constructor(
         if (current == null || upnpEngaged) return
         val duration = controller.duration
         val isZeroDuration = duration <= 0L || duration == androidx.media3.common.C.TIME_UNSET
-        if (!isZeroDuration) return
+        if (!isZeroDuration) {
+            // A track loaded with real audio — clear the self-heal budget so
+            // a later stale queue can recover again.
+            selfHealAttempts = 0
+            return
+        }
         playbackErrorEventsChannel.trySend(
             PlaybackErrorEvent(
                 trackId = current.id,
@@ -367,6 +382,58 @@ class PlayerController @Inject constructor(
         }
     }
 
+    /**
+     * #968: the queue is fully unplayable (every track failed to load). If it
+     * came from a refreshable source — a system playlist (bare-variant source)
+     * or radio ("radio:<seed>") — the snapshot is probably stale (app/tab left
+     * open across the daily rebuild); re-pull it and resume instead of stopping.
+     * Bounded by [selfHealAttempts]. Album / artist / user-playlist / offline
+     * sources have nothing to refresh — stop.
+     */
+    private fun selfHealOrStop(controller: MediaController) {
+        val source = controller.currentMediaItem
+            ?.mediaMetadata?.extras?.getString(MINSTREL_SOURCE_KEY)
+        if (source == null || selfHealAttempts >= MAX_SELF_HEAL_ATTEMPTS) {
+            controller.stop()
+            return
+        }
+        when {
+            source.startsWith("radio:") -> {
+                selfHealAttempts++
+                scope.launch { selfHealRadio(source.removePrefix("radio:")) }
+            }
+            !source.contains(':') -> { // bare variant = refreshable system playlist
+                selfHealAttempts++
+                scope.launch { selfHealSystem(source) }
+            }
+            else -> controller.stop()
+        }
+    }
+
+    private suspend fun selfHealSystem(variant: String) {
+        val refs = runCatching { playlists.systemShuffle(variant).tracks.toPlayableTrackRefs() }
+            .getOrDefault(emptyList())
+        if (refs.isEmpty()) {
+            stopOnControllerThread()
+            return
+        }
+        setQueue(refs, initialIndex = 0, source = variant)
+    }
+
+    private suspend fun selfHealRadio(seedTrackId: String) {
+        val refs = runCatching { radio.seed(seedTrackId) }.getOrDefault(emptyList())
+        if (refs.isEmpty()) {
+            stopOnControllerThread()
+            return
+        }
+        setQueue(refs, initialIndex = 0, source = "radio:$seedTrackId")
+    }
+
+    private fun stopOnControllerThread() {
+        val controller = mediaController ?: return
+        runOnControllerThread(controller) { controller.stop() }
+    }
+
     // ── Internal: async connect + Listener-driven UI state sync ──────────
 
     private suspend fun connectAndObserve() {
@@ -419,13 +486,14 @@ class PlayerController @Inject constructor(
                     )
                     // A failed load leaves the player IDLE; advance past the bad
                     // track and re-prepare so one unplayable item doesn't strand
-                    // playback (mirrors the zero_duration skip). Forward-only —
-                    // stop at the end — bounds a fully-unplayable queue.
+                    // playback (mirrors the zero_duration skip). At the end of a
+                    // fully-unplayable queue, try to self-heal a stale refreshable
+                    // source before stopping.
                     if (controller.hasNextMediaItem()) {
                         controller.seekToNextMediaItem()
                         controller.prepare()
                     } else {
-                        controller.stop()
+                        selfHealOrStop(controller)
                     }
                 }
 
@@ -773,6 +841,10 @@ class PlayerController @Inject constructor(
 // they don't need this poll.
 private const val POSITION_POLL_INTERVAL_MS = 500L
 
+// #968: at most one stale-queue self-heal re-pull per exhaustion (reset on
+// the next successful play) so a still-broken refresh can't loop.
+private const val MAX_SELF_HEAL_ATTEMPTS = 1
+
 /**
  * Structured playback failure event for [PlaybackErrorReporter]. Drives
  * both the user-facing snackbar ("Couldn't play X — skipping") and the