diff --git a/src/DodoSSH.Client.Android/Resources/values/styles.xml b/src/DodoSSH.Client.Android/Resources/values/styles.xml
index 551e59d..f2b81b0 100644
--- a/src/DodoSSH.Client.Android/Resources/values/styles.xml
+++ b/src/DodoSSH.Client.Android/Resources/values/styles.xml
@@ -1,6 +1,13 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
 <resources>
   <!--
+    The AppCompat parent is not a preference. Avalonia's AvaloniaMainActivity descends from AndroidX's
+    AppCompatActivity, which checks for its own theme attributes while inflating and throws
+    IllegalStateException — "You need to use a Theme.AppCompat theme (or descendant)" — before a single
+    Avalonia frame exists. The platform's own Theme.Material parents look right and crash on launch.
+
+    The dark variant rather than .Light, because everything below repaints the window near-black anyway.
+
     No action bar: this head draws its own header, because the design's header carries the vault name and
     the sync dot, which a system action bar has nowhere to put.
 
@@ -8,7 +15,7 @@
     strip is #7E8A84 text on near-black, and leaving this at its default renders dark-on-dark — legible
     on the mock-up and invisible on a device.
   -->
-  <style name="DodoTheme" parent="@android:style/Theme.Material.NoActionBar">
+  <style name="DodoTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.NoActionBar">
     <item name="android:windowBackground">@color/dodo_window</item>
     <item name="android:statusBarColor">@color/dodo_window</item>
     <item name="android:navigationBarColor">@color/dodo_window</item>