diff --git a/Flipcash/Core/Controllers/ConversationController.swift b/Flipcash/Core/Controllers/ConversationController.swift
index 0ead2db85..2a13af16b 100644
--- a/Flipcash/Core/Controllers/ConversationController.swift
+++ b/Flipcash/Core/Controllers/ConversationController.swift
@@ -79,7 +79,10 @@ final class ConversationController {
         do {
             let conversation = try await fetching.getChat(owner: owner, conversationID: conversationID)
             store.apply(.metadataRefresh(conversation))
-            persistConversation(conversationID)
+            // The server copy, not the store's: the store drops a tombstone preview, and the
+            // database wants the row so the repair below can tell the newest message was deleted.
+            persistConversation(conversation)
+            refreshFeedPreview(for: conversationID)
             return conversation
         } catch {
             logger.error("Failed to hydrate conversation on demand", metadata: [
@@ -465,7 +468,8 @@ final class ConversationController {
             do {
                 let conversation = try await fetching.getChat(owner: owner, conversationID: conversationID)
                 store.apply(.metadataRefresh(conversation))
-                persistConversation(conversationID)
+                persistConversation(conversation)
+                refreshFeedPreview(for: conversationID)
             } catch {
                 logger.error("Failed to hydrate conversation referenced by the event stream", metadata: [
                     "conversationID": "\(conversationID)",
@@ -504,6 +508,13 @@ final class ConversationController {
             store.setFeed(conversations, type: type)
             reconcileHidden()
             persist(operation: "replace-feed") { try database.replaceConversationFeed(conversations, type: type) }
+            // The store refuses a tombstone as a preview, so a chat whose newest message is deleted
+            // seats blank here. Fill it from the newest visible message already cached — the feed
+            // reloads on every launch and foreground, so without this the row stays blank until the
+            // transcript is opened.
+            for conversation in conversations where conversation.lastMessage?.isDeleted == true {
+                refreshFeedPreview(for: conversation.id)
+            }
             return conversations
         } catch {
             logger.error("Failed to load conversation feed", metadata: [
diff --git a/FlipcashCore/Sources/FlipcashCore/Models/Conversation/ConversationStore.swift b/FlipcashCore/Sources/FlipcashCore/Models/Conversation/ConversationStore.swift
index ac276feb2..64b24cc10 100644
--- a/FlipcashCore/Sources/FlipcashCore/Models/Conversation/ConversationStore.swift
+++ b/FlipcashCore/Sources/FlipcashCore/Models/Conversation/ConversationStore.swift
@@ -44,7 +44,9 @@ public struct ConversationStore: Sendable {
 
     /// Replace the feed from a paged load, sorted most-recent-activity first.
     public mutating func setFeed(_ conversations: [Conversation]) {
-        self.conversations = conversations.sorted { $0.lastActivity > $1.lastActivity }
+        self.conversations = conversations
+            .map { seated($0) }
+            .sorted { $0.lastActivity > $1.lastActivity }
     }
 
     /// Replace one type's conversations from that type's paged feed load,
@@ -380,6 +382,7 @@ public struct ConversationStore: Sendable {
     }
 
     private mutating func upsert(_ conversation: Conversation) {
+        let conversation = seated(conversation)
         if let index = conversations.firstIndex(where: { $0.id == conversation.id }) {
             conversations[index] = conversation
         } else {
@@ -388,6 +391,24 @@ public struct ConversationStore: Sendable {
         sort()
     }
 
+    /// `conversation` with a feed preview the row can actually draw: the newest message that still
+    /// has content. Server metadata reports the newest message whatever its state, so a delete
+    /// arrives here as a tombstone — which renders as a blank row with an unread splat beside it.
+    /// It falls back to the visible preview the row already carries, and to nothing when there is
+    /// none; ``setFeedPreview(_:in:force:)`` then fills it from the database.
+    ///
+    /// The fallback is skipped when the tombstone replaces the very message the row was previewing,
+    /// which would leave deleted content on screen.
+    private func seated(_ conversation: Conversation) -> Conversation {
+        guard let tombstone = conversation.lastMessage, tombstone.isDeleted else { return conversation }
+        var conversation = conversation
+        let current = conversations.first { $0.id == conversation.id }?.lastMessage
+        conversation.lastMessage = current.flatMap { current in
+            !current.isDeleted && current.id != tombstone.id ? current : nil
+        }
+        return conversation
+    }
+
     private mutating func sort() {
         conversations.sort { $0.lastActivity > $1.lastActivity }
     }
diff --git a/FlipcashCore/Tests/FlipcashCoreTests/ConversationStoreTests.swift b/FlipcashCore/Tests/FlipcashCoreTests/ConversationStoreTests.swift
index aa2da6faf..717d8a0d3 100644
--- a/FlipcashCore/Tests/FlipcashCoreTests/ConversationStoreTests.swift
+++ b/FlipcashCore/Tests/FlipcashCoreTests/ConversationStoreTests.swift
@@ -33,6 +33,14 @@ struct ConversationStoreTests {
         ConversationMessage(id: MessageID(value: id), senderID: nil, content: .text(text), date: Date(timeIntervalSince1970: at), unreadSeq: 0, eventSequence: eventSequence)
     }
 
+    private func tombstone(_ id: UInt64, at: TimeInterval = 0, eventSequence: UInt64 = 0) -> ConversationMessage {
+        ConversationMessage(
+            id: MessageID(value: id), senderID: nil,
+            content: .deleted(.init(deletedBy: nil, deletedAt: Date(timeIntervalSince1970: at))),
+            date: Date(timeIntervalSince1970: at), unreadSeq: 0, eventSequence: eventSequence
+        )
+    }
+
     private func pending(_ clientID: UUID, _ text: String, sender: UserID? = nil, at: TimeInterval = 0, status: SendStatus = .sending) -> ConversationMessage {
         ConversationMessage(id: MessageID(value: .max), senderID: sender, content: .text(text), date: Date(timeIntervalSince1970: at), unreadSeq: 0, status: status, clientMessageID: clientID)
     }
@@ -110,6 +118,58 @@ struct ConversationStoreTests {
         #expect(store.conversations.first?.lastMessage?.id.value == 9)
     }
 
+    // MARK: - Deleted-message previews
+
+    @Test("A metadata refresh whose newest message was deleted keeps the visible preview the row shows")
+    func metadataRefreshDoesNotBlankTheRowWithATombstone() {
+        var store = ConversationStore()
+        store.setFeed([conversation(1, lastActivity: 100)])
+        store.setFeedPreview(message(9, "still here"), in: conversationID(1))
+
+        // The server reports the newest message whatever its state, so a delete arrives as a
+        // tombstone at a *higher* id than the visible message the row falls back to.
+        store.apply(.metadataRefresh(Conversation(
+            id: conversationID(1), members: [], lastMessage: tombstone(10),
+            lastActivity: Date(timeIntervalSince1970: 100)
+        )))
+
+        #expect(store.conversations.first?.lastMessage?.id.value == 9)
+    }
+
+    @Test("A feed load previewing a tombstone seats no preview, so no unread splat sits beside a blank row")
+    func feedLoadDropsATombstonePreview() {
+        let me = UUID()
+        var store = ConversationStore()
+        // Nothing cached to fall back to: the only message in the chat was deleted.
+        store.setFeed([Conversation(
+            id: conversationID(1),
+            members: [ConversationMember(userID: me, displayName: "", readPointer: MessageID(value: 1))],
+            lastMessage: tombstone(10),
+            lastActivity: Date(timeIntervalSince1970: 100)
+        )])
+
+        #expect(store.conversations.first?.lastMessage == nil)
+        #expect(store.conversations.first?.hasUnread(for: me) == false)
+    }
+
+    @Test("A tombstone for the previewed message drops it rather than leaving deleted content on the row")
+    func deletingThePreviewedMessageClearsIt() {
+        var store = ConversationStore()
+        store.setFeed([conversation(1, lastActivity: 100)])
+        store.setFeedPreview(message(10, "about to go"), in: conversationID(1))
+
+        store.apply(.metadataRefresh(Conversation(
+            id: conversationID(1), members: [], lastMessage: tombstone(10),
+            lastActivity: Date(timeIntervalSince1970: 100)
+        )))
+        #expect(store.conversations.first?.lastMessage == nil)
+
+        // The database repair then supplies the message before it — reachable now that the guard has
+        // no newer preview to compare against.
+        store.setFeedPreview(message(9, "still here"), in: conversationID(1))
+        #expect(store.conversations.first?.lastMessage?.id.value == 9)
+    }
+
     @Test("setFeedPreview does not re-sort the feed — activity stays feed-owned")
     func previewDoesNotResort() {
         var store = ConversationStore()
diff --git a/FlipcashTests/ConversationControllerTests.swift b/FlipcashTests/ConversationControllerTests.swift
index 772e3ed43..4d0792c74 100644
--- a/FlipcashTests/ConversationControllerTests.swift
+++ b/FlipcashTests/ConversationControllerTests.swift
@@ -731,6 +731,31 @@ struct ConversationControllerTests {
         #expect(controller.messages(for: ConversationID.test(1)).map(\.id.value) == [3, 4])
     }
 
+    @Test("a feed reporting a deleted newest message previews the message before it, not a blank row")
+    func feedLoadFallsBackPastATombstone() async throws {
+        let mock = MockConversations()
+        let visible = ConversationMessage(id: MessageID(value: 9), senderID: nil, content: .text("hi"), date: Date(timeIntervalSince1970: 90), unreadSeq: 9, eventSequence: 9)
+        mock.feed = [Conversation(id: ConversationID.test(1), members: [], lastMessage: visible, lastActivity: Date(timeIntervalSince1970: 100))]
+        mock.messages = [visible]
+        let controller = makeController(mock)
+        await controller.loadFeed()
+
+        // The counterpart's newest message is deleted while the chat is closed, so the client never
+        // sees the event — the delete reaches it only as feed metadata, whose `lastMessage` is the
+        // tombstone. Seating that verbatim leaves the row blank until the transcript is opened.
+        let tombstone = ConversationMessage(
+            id: MessageID(value: 10), senderID: nil,
+            content: .deleted(.init(deletedBy: nil, deletedAt: Date(timeIntervalSince1970: 100))),
+            date: Date(timeIntervalSince1970: 100), unreadSeq: 10, eventSequence: 10
+        )
+        mock.feed = [Conversation(id: ConversationID.test(1), members: [], lastMessage: tombstone, lastActivity: Date(timeIntervalSince1970: 100))]
+        await controller.loadFeed()
+
+        let conversation = try #require(controller.conversation(withID: .test(1)))
+        #expect(conversation.lastMessage?.id.value == 9)
+        #expect(controller.lastMessagePreview(for: conversation) { _ in nil } == "hi")
+    }
+
     @Test("a second feed load leaves an already-cached transcript alone")
     func loadFeedSkipsCachedConversation() async {
         let mock = MockConversations()