diff --git a/desktop/src/features/messages/ui/MessageTimeline.tsx b/desktop/src/features/messages/ui/MessageTimeline.tsx
index 1fa347a20..b02c921d8 100644
--- a/desktop/src/features/messages/ui/MessageTimeline.tsx
+++ b/desktop/src/features/messages/ui/MessageTimeline.tsx
@@ -137,7 +137,6 @@ export const MessageTimeline = React.memo(function MessageTimeline({
     highlightedMessageId,
     isAtBottom,
     newMessageCount,
-    restoreScrollPosition,
     scrollToBottom,
     syncScrollState,
   } = useTimelineScrollManager({
@@ -177,7 +176,6 @@ export const MessageTimeline = React.memo(function MessageTimeline({
     fetchOlder,
     hasOlderMessages,
     isLoading,
-    restoreScrollPosition,
     scrollContainerRef,
     sentinelRef: topSentinelRef,
   });
diff --git a/desktop/src/features/messages/ui/useLoadOlderOnScroll.ts b/desktop/src/features/messages/ui/useLoadOlderOnScroll.ts
index 73efbd3fc..86ea47d1c 100644
--- a/desktop/src/features/messages/ui/useLoadOlderOnScroll.ts
+++ b/desktop/src/features/messages/ui/useLoadOlderOnScroll.ts
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ type UseLoadOlderOnScrollOptions = {
   fetchOlder?: () => Promise<void>;
   hasOlderMessages: boolean;
   isLoading: boolean;
-  restoreScrollPosition: (scrollTop: number) => void;
   scrollContainerRef: React.RefObject<HTMLDivElement | null>;
   sentinelRef: React.RefObject<HTMLDivElement | null>;
 };
@@ -18,13 +17,39 @@ export function useLoadOlderOnScroll({
   fetchOlder,
   hasOlderMessages,
   isLoading,
-  restoreScrollPosition,
   scrollContainerRef,
   sentinelRef,
 }: UseLoadOlderOnScrollOptions) {
-  const restoreScrollPositionRef = React.useRef(restoreScrollPosition);
-  React.useEffect(() => {
-    restoreScrollPositionRef.current = restoreScrollPosition;
+  const [, scheduleRestore] = React.useReducer((count: number) => count + 1, 0);
+  const pendingRestoreRef = React.useRef<{
+    messageId: string;
+    top: number;
+  } | null>(null);
+
+  React.useLayoutEffect(() => {
+    const pendingRestore = pendingRestoreRef.current;
+    const container = scrollContainerRef.current;
+    if (!pendingRestore || !container) {
+      return;
+    }
+
+    pendingRestoreRef.current = null;
+    const anchor = container.querySelector<HTMLElement>(
+      `[data-message-id="${pendingRestore.messageId}"]`,
+    );
+    if (!anchor) {
+      return;
+    }
+
+    const delta = anchor.getBoundingClientRect().top - pendingRestore.top;
+    if (delta !== 0) {
+      // Single synchronous pre-paint write. We deliberately do NOT route this
+      // through useTimelineScrollManager.restoreScrollPosition: that helper
+      // schedules a 2-rAF locked-write loop (correct for ResizeObserver-driven
+      // resizes that may settle across frames, wrong for prepend), which
+      // fights live wheel input for 2–3 frames after every fetchOlder.
+      container.scrollTop = container.scrollTop + delta;
+    }
   });
 
   React.useEffect(() => {
@@ -56,20 +81,20 @@ export function useLoadOlderOnScroll({
 
           currentObserver?.disconnect();
 
-          const previousHeight = container.scrollHeight;
-          const previousScrollTop = container.scrollTop;
-          void fetchOlder().then(() => {
-            requestAnimationFrame(() => {
-              requestAnimationFrame(() => {
-                const newHeight = container.scrollHeight;
-                const delta = newHeight - previousHeight;
-                if (delta > 0) {
-                  restoreScrollPositionRef.current(previousScrollTop + delta);
-                }
-                observe();
-              });
+          const anchor =
+            container.querySelector<HTMLElement>("[data-message-id]");
+          const messageId = anchor?.dataset.messageId;
+          const top = anchor?.getBoundingClientRect().top;
+          void fetchOlder()
+            .then(() => {
+              if (messageId && top !== undefined) {
+                pendingRestoreRef.current = { messageId, top };
+                scheduleRestore();
+              }
+            })
+            .finally(() => {
+              observe();
             });
-          });
         },
         { root: container, rootMargin: "200px 0px 0px 0px" },
       );
diff --git a/desktop/src/testing/e2eBridge.ts b/desktop/src/testing/e2eBridge.ts
index 6c6ad2128..d95db35fd 100644
--- a/desktop/src/testing/e2eBridge.ts
+++ b/desktop/src/testing/e2eBridge.ts
@@ -452,6 +452,9 @@ type MockFilter = {
   "#h"?: string[];
   authors?: string[];
   kinds?: number[];
+  limit?: number;
+  since?: number;
+  until?: number;
 };
 
 type MockSocket = {
@@ -574,6 +577,9 @@ declare global {
       kind?: number;
       mentionPubkeys?: string[];
       extraTags?: string[][];
+      createdAt?: number;
+      id?: string;
+      emitLive?: boolean;
     }) => RelayEvent;
     __BUZZ_E2E_EMIT_MOCK_TYPING__?: (input: {
       channelName: string;
@@ -2163,9 +2169,29 @@ function getMockMessageStore(channelId: string): RelayEvent[] {
   return seeded;
 }
 
-function emitMockHistory(socket: MockSocket, subId: string, channelId: string) {
-  const events = getMockMessageStore(channelId);
-  for (const event of events) {
+function filterMockHistory(channelId: string, filter: MockFilter) {
+  return getMockMessageStore(channelId)
+    .filter((event) =>
+      filter.kinds ? filter.kinds.includes(event.kind) : true,
+    )
+    .filter((event) =>
+      filter.since !== undefined ? event.created_at >= filter.since : true,
+    )
+    .filter((event) =>
+      filter.until !== undefined ? event.created_at <= filter.until : true,
+    )
+    .sort((left, right) => right.created_at - left.created_at)
+    .slice(0, filter.limit ?? 50)
+    .sort((left, right) => left.created_at - right.created_at);
+}
+
+function emitMockHistory(
+  socket: MockSocket,
+  subId: string,
+  channelId: string,
+  filter: MockFilter,
+) {
+  for (const event of filterMockHistory(channelId, filter)) {
     sendWsText(socket.handler, ["EVENT", subId, event]);
   }
   sendWsText(socket.handler, ["EOSE", subId]);
@@ -2275,6 +2301,9 @@ function emitMockChannelMessage(
   kind?: number,
   mentionPubkeys?: string[],
   extraTags?: string[][],
+  createdAt?: number,
+  id?: string,
+  emitLive = true,
 ) {
   const eventKind = kind ?? 9;
   if (!parentEventId) {
@@ -2284,9 +2313,18 @@ function emitMockChannelMessage(
       pubkey ?? DEFAULT_MOCK_IDENTITY.pubkey,
     );
     if (extraTags) tags.push(...extraTags);
-    const event = createMockEvent(eventKind, content, tags, pubkey);
+    const event = createMockEvent(
+      eventKind,
+      content,
+      tags,
+      pubkey,
+      createdAt,
+      id,
+    );
     recordMockMessage(channelId, event);
-    emitMockLiveEvent(channelId, event);
+    if (emitLive) {
+      emitMockLiveEvent(channelId, event);
+    }
     return event;
   }
 
@@ -2309,9 +2347,18 @@ function emitMockChannelMessage(
     mentionPubkeys,
   );
   if (extraTags) tags.push(...extraTags);
-  const event = createMockEvent(eventKind, content, tags, authorPubkey);
+  const event = createMockEvent(
+    eventKind,
+    content,
+    tags,
+    authorPubkey,
+    createdAt,
+    id,
+  );
   recordMockMessage(channelId, event);
-  emitMockLiveEvent(channelId, event);
+  if (emitLive) {
+    emitMockLiveEvent(channelId, event);
+  }
   return event;
 }
 
@@ -5644,7 +5691,7 @@ function sendToMockSocket(args: {
       return;
     }
 
-    emitMockHistory(socket, subId, channelId);
+    emitMockHistory(socket, subId, channelId, filter);
     return;
   }
 
@@ -5785,6 +5832,9 @@ export function maybeInstallE2eTauriMocks() {
     kind,
     mentionPubkeys,
     extraTags,
+    createdAt,
+    id,
+    emitLive = true,
   }) => {
     const channel = mockChannels.find(
       (candidate) => candidate.name === channelName,
@@ -5801,6 +5851,9 @@ export function maybeInstallE2eTauriMocks() {
       kind,
       mentionPubkeys,
       extraTags,
+      createdAt,
+      id,
+      emitLive,
     );
   };
   window.__BUZZ_E2E_EMIT_MOCK_TYPING__ = ({ channelName, pubkey }) => {
diff --git a/desktop/tests/e2e/smoke.spec.ts b/desktop/tests/e2e/smoke.spec.ts
index 85d2ccc6b..f57d1db30 100644
--- a/desktop/tests/e2e/smoke.spec.ts
+++ b/desktop/tests/e2e/smoke.spec.ts
@@ -388,6 +388,115 @@ test("supports multiline drafts with Ctrl+Enter and sends with Enter", async ({
   );
 });
 
+test("keeps viewport anchored when older messages load above", async ({
+  page,
+}) => {
+  const baseTimestamp = Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000) - 10_000;
+
+  await page.goto("/");
+  await page.evaluate((base) => {
+    const emit = (
+      window as Window & {
+        __BUZZ_E2E_EMIT_MOCK_MESSAGE__?: (input: {
+          channelName: string;
+          content: string;
+          createdAt?: number;
+          emitLive?: boolean;
+          id?: string;
+        }) => void;
+      }
+    ).__BUZZ_E2E_EMIT_MOCK_MESSAGE__;
+
+    if (!emit) {
+      throw new Error("Mock message emitter is unavailable.");
+    }
+
+    for (let index = 0; index < 260; index += 1) {
+      emit({
+        channelName: "general",
+        content: `Paged history seed ${index.toString().padStart(3, "0")}`,
+        createdAt: base + index,
+        emitLive: false,
+        id: `paged-history-${index.toString().padStart(3, "0")}`,
+      });
+    }
+  }, baseTimestamp);
+
+  await page.getByTestId("channel-general").click();
+  await expect(page.getByTestId("chat-title")).toHaveText("general");
+  await expect(page.getByText("Paged history seed 259")).toBeVisible();
+
+  const timeline = page.getByTestId("message-timeline");
+  await expect(timeline).not.toContainText("Paged history seed 000");
+  const flickerMaxDelta = await timeline.evaluate(async (element) => {
+    const scrollContainer = element as HTMLDivElement;
+    const anchor = scrollContainer.querySelector<HTMLElement>(
+      '[data-message-id="paged-history-160"]',
+    );
+    if (!anchor) {
+      throw new Error("Oldest loaded message was not rendered.");
+    }
+
+    scrollContainer.scrollTop = 0;
+    scrollContainer.dispatchEvent(new Event("scroll", { bubbles: true }));
+
+    const startTop = anchor.getBoundingClientRect().top;
+    let maxDelta = 0;
+    let pendingFrame = false;
+    const sampleAnchor = () => {
+      pendingFrame = false;
+      const currentAnchor = scrollContainer.querySelector<HTMLElement>(
+        '[data-message-id="paged-history-160"]',
+      );
+      if (!currentAnchor) {
+        return;
+      }
+      const top = currentAnchor.getBoundingClientRect().top;
+      maxDelta = Math.max(maxDelta, Math.abs(top - startTop));
+    };
+    const observer = new MutationObserver(() => {
+      if (pendingFrame) {
+        return;
+      }
+      pendingFrame = true;
+      requestAnimationFrame(sampleAnchor);
+    });
+    observer.observe(scrollContainer, { childList: true, subtree: true });
+
+    await new Promise<void>((resolve) => {
+      const deadline = performance.now() + 1_000;
+      const waitForOlderHistory = () => {
+        if (
+          scrollContainer.textContent?.includes("Paged history seed 000") ||
+          performance.now() >= deadline
+        ) {
+          resolve();
+          return;
+        }
+        requestAnimationFrame(waitForOlderHistory);
+      };
+      requestAnimationFrame(waitForOlderHistory);
+    });
+    await new Promise<void>((resolve) =>
+      requestAnimationFrame(() => resolve()),
+    );
+    await new Promise<void>((resolve) =>
+      requestAnimationFrame(() => resolve()),
+    );
+    observer.disconnect();
+
+    return {
+      maxDelta,
+      scrollTop: scrollContainer.scrollTop,
+    };
+  });
+
+  await expect(timeline).toContainText("Paged history seed 000");
+
+  expect(flickerMaxDelta.scrollTop).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+  expect(flickerMaxDelta.maxDelta).toBeLessThanOrEqual(2);
+});
+
 test("does not shift the timeline when the composer grows", async ({
   page,
 }) => {