diff --git a/src/DodoSSH.Client.Android/Views/PendingScreen.axaml b/src/DodoSSH.Client.Android/Views/PendingScreen.axaml
index 8c6904e..c4b79c8 100644
--- a/src/DodoSSH.Client.Android/Views/PendingScreen.axaml
+++ b/src/DodoSSH.Client.Android/Views/PendingScreen.axaml
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
              xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
              xmlns:views="using:DodoSSH.Client.Android.Views"
              x:Class="DodoSSH.Client.Android.Views.PendingScreen"
-             x:DataType="views:PendingScreen"
              Background="{StaticResource Canvas}">
 
   <!--
@@ -12,6 +11,10 @@
 
     Two properties rather than a shared string, because the copy is written per state. "No items" would be
     the exact failure this control is here to avoid.
+
+    The two properties are read off this control by $parent rather than by binding to its DataContext, and
+    there is no x:DataType here for the same reason: this control must NOT own its data context. Setting one
+    is what broke the phone's navigation — see the code-behind, which is where that story is written down.
   -->
 
   <ScrollViewer>
@@ -24,11 +27,11 @@
                    HorizontalAlignment="Center" VerticalAlignment="Center" />
       </Border>
 
-      <TextBlock Text="{Binding Heading}" Foreground="{StaticResource Text}"
+      <TextBlock Text="{Binding $parent[views:PendingScreen].Heading}" Foreground="{StaticResource Text}"
                  FontFamily="{StaticResource MonoFont}" FontSize="14" FontWeight="SemiBold"
                  TextWrapping="Wrap" />
 
-      <TextBlock Text="{Binding Detail}" Foreground="{StaticResource TextDim}"
+      <TextBlock Text="{Binding $parent[views:PendingScreen].Detail}" Foreground="{StaticResource TextDim}"
                  FontFamily="{StaticResource MonoFont}" FontSize="11" LineHeight="19"
                  TextWrapping="Wrap" />
 
diff --git a/src/DodoSSH.Client.Android/Views/PendingScreen.axaml.cs b/src/DodoSSH.Client.Android/Views/PendingScreen.axaml.cs
index 7fe36ce..afb7644 100644
--- a/src/DodoSSH.Client.Android/Views/PendingScreen.axaml.cs
+++ b/src/DodoSSH.Client.Android/Views/PendingScreen.axaml.cs
@@ -8,8 +8,25 @@ namespace DodoSSH.Client.Android.Views;
 /// A state this head has not built, saying so in its own words.
 /// </summary>
 /// <remarks>
+/// <para>
 /// Styled properties rather than a view model: there is no state behind this control, and giving it one
 /// would make it look like a screen that might one day have data.
+/// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// <b>It must not set its own DataContext, and the two properties are read with <c>$parent</c> for exactly
+/// that reason.</b> This control once did <c>DataContext = this</c> so the properties could be bound as
+/// <c>{Binding Heading}</c>, and it cost the phone its navigation. A binding written by the <em>parent</em>
+/// on one of these — <c>IsVisible="{Binding IsPreferencesShowing}"</c> in PhoneShell — resolves against
+/// this control's own data context, so with one set here the binding looked for a shell property on a
+/// PendingScreen, found nothing, and left <c>IsVisible</c> at its default of true. The result was an opaque
+/// PREFERENCES panel permanently on top of the host list, over a bottom bar whose buttons all worked
+/// perfectly and changed nothing anybody could see.
+/// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// The desktop head carries the other half of this lesson in <c>MainWindow.axaml</c>, where the terminal's
+/// visibility is given a <c>FallbackValue</c> for the same reason: an unresolved <c>IsVisible</c> binding
+/// does not hide anything, it shows everything.
+/// </para>
 /// </remarks>
 internal sealed partial class PendingScreen : UserControl
 {
@@ -19,15 +36,7 @@ internal sealed partial class PendingScreen : UserControl
     public static readonly StyledProperty<string> DetailProperty =
         AvaloniaProperty.Register<PendingScreen, string>(nameof(Detail), string.Empty);
 
-    public PendingScreen()
-    {
-        AvaloniaXamlLoader.Load(this);
-
-        // Its own data context, so the two properties can be bound in XAML like anything else. Safe here
-        // and only here: this control deliberately shows nothing from the shell, so there is no inherited
-        // context worth keeping.
-        DataContext = this;
-    }
+    public PendingScreen() => AvaloniaXamlLoader.Load(this);
 
     public string Heading
     {