diff --git a/python/exporter/icloud.py b/python/exporter/icloud.py
index 2eea938d..a1c15fe1 100644
--- a/python/exporter/icloud.py
+++ b/python/exporter/icloud.py
@@ -163,6 +163,24 @@ class ClientIdentity:
 """The desktop exporter's, and the default for every entry point here."""
 
 
+LOGIN_TIMEOUT_SECONDS = 30
+"""
+Seconds any one request may take, in place of FindMy.py's default of five.
+
+**Five is a per-request cap, and this makes far more than one request.** Signing in is several
+round trips, and what follows it - escrow recovery, then the CloudKit fetches that carry the
+actual keys - is heavier than the login. A link slow enough to spend five seconds on any one of
+them fails partway through with a bare timeout that names no cause.
+
+Local ADI is the default here and generates its Anisette on this machine, so that part is not
+waiting on anybody. It is Apple's own hosts that this is about - and `--anisette-url`, for anyone
+who does point it at a server.
+
+Thirty rather than a larger number because it is what the Android app settled on for the same
+sign-in, and the two should not disagree about how patient this protocol needs somebody to be.
+"""
+
+
 def make_account(
     anisette_url: str | None = None,
     libs_path: str | None = None,
@@ -200,7 +218,8 @@ def make_account(
         provider = _make_provider(anisette_url, libs_path, stored, identity)
 
     if stored is None:
-        return AsyncAppleAccount(provider, device_name=identity.device_name)
+        return AsyncAppleAccount(
+            provider, device_name=identity.device_name, timeout=LOGIN_TIMEOUT_SECONDS)
 
     # Only the ids are restored. The rest of the shape has to be there because the library reads
     # it, and every field of it is empty on purpose - this is a logged-out account that happens to
@@ -215,7 +234,12 @@ def make_account(
 
     logger.info("Reusing the stored device identity, so this is not a new device to Apple")
 
-    return AsyncAppleAccount(provider, state_info=state, device_name=identity.device_name)
+    return AsyncAppleAccount(
+        provider,
+        state_info=state,
+        device_name=identity.device_name,
+        timeout=LOGIN_TIMEOUT_SECONDS,
+    )
 
 
 def _make_provider(
@@ -226,7 +250,11 @@ def _make_provider(
 ) -> LocalAnisetteProvider | RemoteAnisetteProvider:
     """Build the Anisette provider, restoring its provisioning data if there is any."""
     if anisette_url is not None:
-        return RemoteAnisetteProvider(anisette_url, serial=identity.serial)
+        # Its own session, so raising the account's does nothing for this one: the Anisette fetch
+        # happens inside the login but from the provider's own client. The local provider below
+        # takes no timeout, because there is no HTTP in it to spend one on.
+        return RemoteAnisetteProvider(
+            anisette_url, serial=identity.serial, timeout=LOGIN_TIMEOUT_SECONDS)
 
     saved = (stored or {}).get("anisette")
     state_blob = None
diff --git a/python/test/test_login_timeout.py b/python/test/test_login_timeout.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..853a8330
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/test/test_login_timeout.py
@@ -0,0 +1,103 @@
+"""
+How long the exporter is prepared to wait for one request.
+
+FindMy.py's default is five seconds per request, which is a desktop assumption about a single
+call. This makes many: a sign-in is several round trips, and escrow recovery and the CloudKit
+fetches after it are heavier than the sign-in. A link slow enough to spend five seconds on any one
+of them fails partway through with a bare timeout that names no cause.
+
+**Asserted on what the call passes, not on FindMy.py's internals.** The timeout ends up on a
+private session attribute with no accessor, and a test reaching in there breaks on a rename that
+changed nothing real. What can actually regress here is this module forgetting to pass it - which
+is the whole bug, since the default is silent.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from typing import Any
+
+import pytest
+
+from exporter import device, icloud
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def built(monkeypatch):
+    """Record what `make_account` hands to the library, instead of building a real account."""
+    seen: dict[str, Any] = {}
+
+    class RecordingAccount:
+        def __init__(self, provider, **kwargs):
+            seen["provider"] = provider
+            seen["kwargs"] = kwargs
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(icloud, "AsyncAppleAccount", RecordingAccount)
+
+    return seen
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def no_stored_identity(monkeypatch):
+    monkeypatch.setattr(device, "load", lambda *_args, **_kwargs: None)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(icloud.device, "load", lambda *_args, **_kwargs: None)
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def a_stored_identity(monkeypatch):
+    """An install that has run before, which is the path that is easy to miss."""
+    stored = {"uid": "a-uid", "devid": "a-devid", "anisette": None}
+    monkeypatch.setattr(icloud.device, "load", lambda *_args, **_kwargs: stored)
+
+    return stored
+
+
+class TestTheAccount:
+    def test_a_first_run_gets_the_raised_timeout(self, built, no_stored_identity):
+        icloud.make_account(provider=object())
+
+        assert built["kwargs"]["timeout"] == icloud.LOGIN_TIMEOUT_SECONDS
+
+    def test_a_later_run_gets_it_too(self, built, a_stored_identity):
+        # Two constructions of the same object, and only one of them was reached by the fix that
+        # first added a keyword here. The second is the one nearly every export takes.
+        icloud.make_account(provider=_JsonableProvider())
+
+        assert built["kwargs"]["timeout"] == icloud.LOGIN_TIMEOUT_SECONDS
+
+    def test_it_is_longer_than_the_library_default(self):
+        from findmy.util.http import DEFAULT_TIMEOUT
+
+        # If upstream ever raises its own default past this, passing ours would be a downgrade
+        # rather than a fix, and nothing else here would notice.
+        assert icloud.LOGIN_TIMEOUT_SECONDS > DEFAULT_TIMEOUT
+
+
+class TestTheAnisetteProvider:
+    """
+    Its own session, so raising the account's does nothing for this one.
+
+    The Anisette fetch happens inside the login but from the provider's own client. Asserted
+    through `to_json`, which is the only place the value is visible without reaching into a
+    private attribute - it is carried there precisely so a restored session keeps it.
+    """
+
+    def test_a_remote_server_gets_the_raised_timeout(self):
+        provider = icloud._make_provider("https://ani.example.invalid", None, None)
+
+        assert provider.to_json()["timeout"] == icloud.LOGIN_TIMEOUT_SECONDS
+
+    def test_a_restored_session_keeps_it(self):
+        # `to_json` omits the timeout when it equals the default, so a session restored from a
+        # blob written without one silently goes back to five seconds.
+        original = icloud._make_provider("https://ani.example.invalid", None, None)
+
+        restored = type(original).from_json(original.to_json())
+
+        assert restored.to_json()["timeout"] == icloud.LOGIN_TIMEOUT_SECONDS
+
+
+class _JsonableProvider:
+    """Stands in for an Anisette provider, which `make_account` serialises into the state blob."""
+
+    def to_json(self):
+        return {"type": "aniLocal"}