diff --git a/src/DodoSSH.Client.Shell/ViewModels/TransfersViewModel.cs b/src/DodoSSH.Client.Shell/ViewModels/TransfersViewModel.cs
index c63bfd8..4af48e5 100644
--- a/src/DodoSSH.Client.Shell/ViewModels/TransfersViewModel.cs
+++ b/src/DodoSSH.Client.Shell/ViewModels/TransfersViewModel.cs
@@ -620,6 +620,19 @@ internal sealed partial class TransfersViewModel : ObservableObject, IAsyncDispo
     [ObservableProperty]
     private string? connectedCipher;
 
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Whether there is a live SFTP connection this session would lose by dying — the phone's foreground-
+    /// service question, not the desktop's.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// <see cref="ConnectedCipher"/> is already the fact that tells a host apart from a bucket, because only
+    /// a host set it — a bucket is HTTP, per-request, and closes nothing a dying process would have kept
+    /// open, so it answers false here even while <see cref="IsConnected"/> is true. Android reads this to
+    /// decide whether an idle Files screen with no transfer moving still needs the process kept alive; the
+    /// desktop has no such question because nothing stops its process for having gone quiet.
+    /// </remarks>
+    internal bool HasLiveFileSession => IsConnected && ConnectedCipher is not null;
+
     /// <summary>The accepted host key's algorithm, e.g. <c>ssh-ed25519</c>. See <see cref="ConnectedCipher"/>.</summary>
     [ObservableProperty]
     private string? connectedHostKeyAlgorithm;
@@ -745,13 +758,18 @@ internal sealed partial class TransfersViewModel : ObservableObject, IAsyncDispo
 
     internal ObservableCollection<TransferRowViewModel> Transfers { get; } = [];
 
-    /// <summary>Raised on the UI thread whenever a transfer appears or changes state.</summary>
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Raised on the UI thread whenever a transfer appears or changes state, or a host or bucket connects or
+    /// disconnects.
+    /// </summary>
     /// <remarks>
     /// For a head that has to tell the operating system what this process is doing — Android's foreground
-    /// service, which must be up for as long as bytes are moving and down afterwards. An event rather than
-    /// letting that head watch <see cref="Transfers"/> itself: the collection announces rows arriving and
-    /// leaving, and the transition that matters most is neither of those but a row going from RUNNING to
-    /// DONE without moving.
+    /// service, which must be up for as long as bytes are moving, or a host session sits open, and down
+    /// afterwards. An event rather than letting that head watch <see cref="Transfers"/> itself: the
+    /// collection announces rows arriving and leaving, and the transition that matters most is neither of
+    /// those but a row going from RUNNING to DONE without moving. Connecting and disconnecting are the other
+    /// two transitions the service cares about — see <see cref="HasLiveFileSession"/> — and neither touches
+    /// <see cref="Transfers"/> at all, so they need this same announcement made by hand.
     /// </remarks>
     internal event EventHandler? ActivityChanged;
 
@@ -1075,6 +1093,13 @@ internal sealed partial class TransfersViewModel : ObservableObject, IAsyncDispo
         // far as the remote's own auth.log is concerned, so a log of ours that omitted it would disagree with
         // the host's — and anybody comparing the two would be right to believe the host.
         connected = (ConnectedTo, row.Label, row.EntityId, TimeProvider.System.GetUtcNow());
+
+        // Raised here rather than from OnIsConnectedChanged, on purpose: IsConnected is set first, above,
+        // and ConnectedCipher second — a partial method firing off the first assignment would read
+        // HasLiveFileSession against a ConnectedCipher still holding whatever the previous session left
+        // there. Only at the end of this method are both facts actually true together.
+        OnPropertyChanged(nameof(HasLiveFileSession));
+        ActivityChanged?.Invoke(this, EventArgs.Empty);
     }
 
     /// <summary>
@@ -1856,6 +1881,11 @@ internal sealed partial class TransfersViewModel : ObservableObject, IAsyncDispo
         RemoteTrail.Clear();
         SelectedRemoteEntry = null;
 
+        // Same ordering reason as the raise at the end of MarkHostConnected: both properties this reads are
+        // already null above, so the raise belongs after them rather than in OnIsConnectedChanged. This also
+        // covers OpenBucketAsync, which calls this method first and never itself turns HasLiveFileSession on.
+        OnPropertyChanged(nameof(HasLiveFileSession));
+        ActivityChanged?.Invoke(this, EventArgs.Empty);
     }
 
     /// <remarks>
diff --git a/tests/DodoSSH.Client.App.Tests/ShellFlowTests.cs b/tests/DodoSSH.Client.App.Tests/ShellFlowTests.cs
index 6f24e3a..9cb60be 100644
--- a/tests/DodoSSH.Client.App.Tests/ShellFlowTests.cs
+++ b/tests/DodoSSH.Client.App.Tests/ShellFlowTests.cs
@@ -8114,6 +8114,57 @@ public sealed class ShellFlowTests : IAsyncLifetime
         shell.Transfers.HasConnectedPins.ShouldBeFalse();
     }
 
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// The phone's foreground-service question, proven at the view model rather than through Android: a
+    /// connect that opens an SFTP session is exactly the transition <c>SessionKeepAlive</c> needs to hear
+    /// about even when no transfer ever moves — see <see cref="TransfersViewModel.ActivityChanged"/>'s own
+    /// remark for why the queue's own raise, in <c>OnTransferChanged</c>, cannot cover a connect that never
+    /// touches <c>Transfers</c> at all.
+    /// </remarks>
+    [Fact]
+    public async Task ConnectingATransfersHost_RaisesActivityChangedAndTurnsOnHasLiveFileSession()
+    {
+        var vault = await ReadyToConnectAsync();
+
+        shell.Transfers.Attach(vault, knownHosts);
+        shell.Transfers.SelectedHost = shell.Transfers.Hosts[0];
+
+        var raised = 0;
+        shell.Transfers.ActivityChanged += (_, _) => raised++;
+
+        await shell.Transfers.ConnectCommand.ExecuteAsync(null);
+
+        shell.Transfers.IsConnected.ShouldBeTrue(shell.Transfers.Status);
+        shell.Transfers.HasLiveFileSession.ShouldBeTrue();
+        raised.ShouldBeGreaterThan(0);
+    }
+
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// The other half: a disconnect is as much a transition the service must hear about as a connect is,
+    /// because it is the moment the connection <see cref="TransfersViewModel.HasLiveFileSession"/> promised
+    /// was open stops being true — and the foreground service would otherwise keep the process alive over a
+    /// session that has already closed.
+    /// </remarks>
+    [Fact]
+    public async Task DisconnectingTheTransfersScreen_RaisesActivityChangedAndTurnsOffHasLiveFileSession()
+    {
+        var vault = await ReadyToConnectAsync();
+
+        shell.Transfers.Attach(vault, knownHosts);
+        shell.Transfers.SelectedHost = shell.Transfers.Hosts[0];
+
+        await shell.Transfers.ConnectCommand.ExecuteAsync(null);
+        shell.Transfers.HasLiveFileSession.ShouldBeTrue();
+
+        var raised = 0;
+        shell.Transfers.ActivityChanged += (_, _) => raised++;
+
+        await shell.Transfers.DisconnectCommand.ExecuteAsync(null);
+
+        shell.Transfers.HasLiveFileSession.ShouldBeFalse();
+        raised.ShouldBeGreaterThan(0);
+    }
+
     /// <remarks>
     /// A bucket is an <c>IRemoteFileStore</c> with no <c>HostSecret</c> underneath it, so there is no
     /// <c>PinnedPaths</c> to read at all — see <see cref="TransfersViewModel.OpenBucketAsync"/>'s own remark.
@@ -8137,15 +8188,56 @@ public sealed class ShellFlowTests : IAsyncLifetime
         vault.BucketEditorRegion = "eu-west-1";
         await vault.SaveObjectStoreCommand.ExecuteAsync(null);
 
+        // Remote is what ConnectAsync branches on, and Attach's RefreshHosts has already auto-selected the
+        // host ReadyToConnectAsync left in the picker — without this line the command below dialled that
+        // host, and every assertion here passed only because that host happens to have no pins either. The
+        // ConnectedTo check is the proof the bucket path was actually taken.
+        shell.Transfers.Remote = RemoteKind.Bucket;
         shell.Transfers.SelectedBucket = shell.Transfers.Buckets[0];
 
         await shell.Transfers.ConnectCommand.ExecuteAsync(null);
 
+        shell.Transfers.ConnectedTo.ShouldBe("s3://backups");
         shell.Transfers.IsConnected.ShouldBeTrue(shell.Transfers.Status);
         shell.Transfers.ConnectedPinnedPaths.ShouldBeEmpty();
         shell.Transfers.HasConnectedPins.ShouldBeFalse();
     }
 
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// A bucket is HTTP, per-request, with nothing open that a dying process would lose — see
+    /// <see cref="TransfersViewModel.HasLiveFileSession"/>'s own remark. <c>IsConnected</c> alone would have
+    /// answered this wrongly, which is exactly why the flag reads <c>ConnectedCipher</c> as well: nothing
+    /// underneath a bucket ever sets it.
+    /// </remarks>
+    [Fact]
+    public async Task ConnectingABucket_LeavesHasLiveFileSessionOff()
+    {
+        var vault = await ReadyToConnectAsync();
+
+        shell.Transfers.Attach(vault, knownHosts, buckets: new FakeObjectStoreFactory());
+
+        vault.NewObjectStoreCommand.Execute(null);
+        vault.BucketEditorLabel = "Backups";
+        vault.BucketEditorBucket = "backups";
+        vault.BucketEditorAccessKeyId = "AKIAEXAMPLE";
+        vault.BucketEditorSecretAccessKey = "a-secret-access-key";
+        vault.BucketEditorRegion = "eu-west-1";
+        await vault.SaveObjectStoreCommand.ExecuteAsync(null);
+
+        // ReadyToConnectAsync already left a host in the picker, and Attach's own RefreshHosts auto-selects
+        // it — so without this the CONNECT command below would dial that host rather than open the bucket,
+        // and a host with no pins would make ConnectedPinnedPathsEmpty-style assertions pass for the wrong
+        // reason. Remote is what ConnectAsync actually branches on.
+        shell.Transfers.Remote = RemoteKind.Bucket;
+        shell.Transfers.SelectedBucket = shell.Transfers.Buckets[0];
+
+        await shell.Transfers.ConnectCommand.ExecuteAsync(null);
+
+        shell.Transfers.ConnectedTo.ShouldBe("s3://backups", "proof this opened the bucket rather than the host");
+        shell.Transfers.IsConnected.ShouldBeTrue(shell.Transfers.Status);
+        shell.Transfers.HasLiveFileSession.ShouldBeFalse();
+    }
+
     /// <summary>A bucket that opens and lists as empty, so a bucket connect can be proven with no network.</summary>
     private sealed class FakeObjectStoreFactory : IObjectStoreFactory
     {