diff --git a/src/app/recorder.tsx b/src/app/recorder.tsx
index 8b800a4..2c12856 100644
--- a/src/app/recorder.tsx
+++ b/src/app/recorder.tsx
@@ -72,6 +72,7 @@ export default function RecorderScreen() {
     appActive,
     reportMicPriorityError,
     onCameraReady,
+    onSessionConfigured,
     toggleRecording,
     finalizeRecording,
     importClip,
@@ -419,6 +420,7 @@ export default function RecorderScreen() {
           // setting for video, so refocus pulls look cinematic instead of "hunting". Gated on
           // device support so it never throws; tap-to-focus stays snappy via `responsiveness`.
           enableSmoothAutoFocus={device?.supportsSmoothAutoFocus ?? false}
+          onConfigured={onSessionConfigured}
           onStarted={onCameraReady}
           onError={onCameraError}
         />
diff --git a/src/features/recorder/use-recorder.ts b/src/features/recorder/use-recorder.ts
index 699634a..552741b 100644
--- a/src/features/recorder/use-recorder.ts
+++ b/src/features/recorder/use-recorder.ts
@@ -112,20 +112,23 @@ export function useRecorder(initialDraftId?: string) {
   });
 
   // Force H.264 (iOS only — Android's CameraX camcorder profiles are already AVC, and its
-  // setOutputSettings is a native no-op). Applied once per output *instance*: the enableAudio
-  // flip above rebuilds the output, silently reverting the codec to the HEVC default, so this
-  // re-applies whenever the identity changes. Gated on cameraReady && !isRecording because
+  // setOutputSettings is a native no-op). Natively the codec is applied PER-CONNECTION
+  // (output.setOutputSettings(settings, for: connection)), and a connection is torn down and
+  // re-formed whenever the session reconfigures — an enableAudio output rebuild, or a camera
+  // flip swapping the device input. So the pin is re-applied once per *connection epoch*:
+  // `onConfigured` (VisionCamera's "connections are formed" hook, wired in recorder.tsx) bumps
+  // the epoch AFTER the new connection exists, which is the only ordering that can't lose the
+  // pin to a reconfigure that lands later. Gated on cameraReady && !isRecording because
   // mutating the settings of a session that is actively capturing is what crashed the recorder
-  // historically; running post-ready also means the connection exists, unlike the configure-time
-  // bitrate path above. setOutputSettings preserves whatever compression settings are present
+  // historically. setOutputSettings preserves whatever compression settings are present
   // (it only swaps the codec key). Failure is non-fatal — worst case that clip records HEVC,
   // exactly today's behavior, and the merge engine still handles it.
   // The ref is committed only when the native call RESOLVES: setOutputSettings runs on the
-  // output's own queue and throws while the rebuilt output is not yet connected — the session
-  // reconfigure that attaches it runs on a different queue, so on every enableAudio rebuild the
-  // first attempt can race it and reject. Committing eagerly would let that rejection
-  // permanently pin the instance to HEVC; instead a short bounded retry rides out the
-  // reconfigure window, and the effect cleanup cancels retries if a recording starts.
+  // output's own queue and throws while a rebuilt output is not yet connected — the session
+  // reconfigure that attaches it runs on a different queue, so the first attempt can race it
+  // and reject. Committing eagerly would let that rejection permanently pin the epoch to HEVC;
+  // instead a short bounded retry rides out the reconfigure window, and the effect cleanup
+  // cancels retries if a recording starts or another reconfigure supersedes this epoch.
   // A pin that is still in flight when recording starts cannot corrupt the capture:
   // setOutputSettings and createRecorder both run on the output's own serial queue
   // (Promise.parallel(queue) in HybridCameraVideoOutput), so the mutation and the recorder
@@ -134,17 +137,19 @@ export function useRecorder(initialDraftId?: string) {
   // NOTE: raw per-clip files are still written moov-at-end — AVCaptureMovieFileOutput (what
   // createRecorder actually wraps) has no faststart API, so faststart for uploads is owned by
   // the merge/export layer (fork's +faststart), the upload gate (#142), and the server backstop.
-  const h264OutputRef = useRef<typeof videoOutput | null>(null);
+  const [connectionEpoch, setConnectionEpoch] = useState(0);
+  const h264PinnedRef = useRef<{ output: typeof videoOutput; epoch: number } | null>(null);
   useEffect(() => {
     if (Platform.OS !== 'ios' || !cameraReady || isRecording) return;
     const output = videoOutput;
-    if (h264OutputRef.current === output) return;
+    const pinned = h264PinnedRef.current;
+    if (pinned && pinned.output === output && pinned.epoch === connectionEpoch) return;
     let cancelled = false;
     let timer: ReturnType<typeof setTimeout> | null = null;
     const attempt = (retriesLeft: number) => {
       output.setOutputSettings({ codec: 'h264' }).then(
         () => {
-          if (!cancelled) h264OutputRef.current = output;
+          if (!cancelled) h264PinnedRef.current = { output, epoch: connectionEpoch };
         },
         (e: unknown) => {
           if (cancelled) return;
@@ -163,7 +168,7 @@ export function useRecorder(initialDraftId?: string) {
       cancelled = true;
       if (timer) clearTimeout(timer);
     };
-  }, [videoOutput, cameraReady, isRecording]);
+  }, [videoOutput, cameraReady, isRecording, connectionEpoch]);
 
   const { data: segments } = useLiveQuery(segmentsForDraft(draftId ?? ''), [draftId]);
 
@@ -500,10 +505,19 @@ export function useRecorder(initialDraftId?: string) {
   }
 
   function flipCamera() {
-    // Re-gate zoom/torch until the flipped session has started (`onStarted` refires per device
-    // bind). Without this, torchMode lands on the outgoing camera mid-rebind — on Android that
-    // throws IllegalStateException("No flash unit") when the front camera is still bound.
-    setCameraReady(false);
+    // Re-gate zoom/torch until the flipped session has started — ANDROID ONLY. The reset exists
+    // for CameraX: torchMode landing on the outgoing camera mid-rebind throws
+    // IllegalStateException("No flash unit") when the torch-less front camera is still bound,
+    // and CameraX re-fires `onStarted` per device bind so the gate re-arms (verified in #133).
+    // On iOS the flip is an input swap inside beginConfiguration/commitConfiguration on a
+    // RUNNING session — didStartRunningNotification never fires, so `onStarted` never re-fires
+    // and a reset here would stick cameraReady=false forever, permanently disabling the record
+    // gestures. (Before the mic un-gating in #150 this was masked: the flip rebuilt the video
+    // output via micWanted, which restarted the session and re-armed the gate by accident.)
+    // iOS also doesn't need the gate: its zoom/torch props bind ungated (see recorder.tsx).
+    // Matched to 'android' explicitly (not "everything but iOS") — the guard exists for
+    // CameraX, and any other platform would inherit iOS's stuck-gate failure mode instead.
+    if (Platform.OS === 'android') setCameraReady(false);
     setFacing((prev) => {
       const next = prev === 'back' ? 'front' : 'back';
       if (next === 'front') setTorch(false);
@@ -536,6 +550,11 @@ export function useRecorder(initialDraftId?: string) {
     appActive,
     reportMicPriorityError,
     onCameraReady: () => setCameraReady(true),
+    // Wire to <Camera onConfigured>: fires whenever the session's connections are (re)formed —
+    // cold open, enableAudio output rebuild, camera flip. Bumping the epoch re-arms the H.264
+    // pin for the NEW video connection (the codec is applied per-connection natively, so it
+    // dies with the old one on every reconfigure).
+    onSessionConfigured: () => setConnectionEpoch((prev) => prev + 1),
     toggleRecording,
     finalizeRecording,
     importClip: () => void importClip(),