diff --git a/static/ui.js b/static/ui.js
index 63535edc..b9b8871e 100644
--- a/static/ui.js
+++ b/static/ui.js
@@ -961,6 +961,7 @@ function _captureMessageViewportAnchor(){
         // anchor's topOffset is stale and realigning to it would yank a still reader
         // backward (issue #5637).
         scrollHeightAtCapture:container.scrollHeight,
+        inputGeneration:typeof _messageScrollInputGeneration==='number' ? _messageScrollInputGeneration : 0,
       };
     }
   }
@@ -5680,6 +5681,9 @@ let _lastMessageClientHeight=null;   // #4702: track scroller height to ignore i
 // window after load as suppressed.
 let _lastNonMessageScrollIntentMs=-Infinity;
 let _messageUserUnpinned=false;
+// A monotonic ownership token lets delayed restores distinguish reader input
+// that happened after a snapshot from input that merely happened recently.
+let _messageScrollInputGeneration=0;
 let _bottomSettleToken=0;
 let _settleRAF=0;
 let _settleRO=null;
@@ -5763,6 +5767,9 @@ function _recordNonMessageScrollIntent(e){
   const target=e&&e.target;
   if(!el||!target) return;
   if(!el.contains(target)){ _lastNonMessageScrollIntentMs=performance.now(); return; }
+  if(e.type==='touchmove'||(typeof e.deltaY==='number'&&e.deltaY!==0)){
+    _messageScrollInputGeneration++;
+  }
   // #4970: record ANY upward message-pane wheel motion as recent wheel intent,
   // including gentle low-delta trackpad wheels (e.g. deltaY:-5) that never reach
   // the decisive -30 sticky-unpin threshold below. The post-render artifact
@@ -5966,7 +5973,10 @@ if(typeof window!=='undefined'){
   const el=document.getElementById('messages');
   if(!el) return;
   el.addEventListener('pointerdown',(e)=>{
-    if(e.target===el&&e.offsetX>=el.clientWidth) _scrollbarDragActive=true;
+    if(e.target===el&&e.offsetX>=el.clientWidth){
+      _scrollbarDragActive=true;
+      _messageScrollInputGeneration++;
+    }
   },{passive:true});
   window.addEventListener('pointerup',()=>{
     if(!_scrollbarDragActive) return;
@@ -6012,6 +6022,7 @@ if(typeof window!=='undefined'){
     // contains the focus, or the pointer is over it (keyboard scroll w/o focus).
     if(a===el||el.contains(a)||el.matches(':hover')){
       const now=performance.now();
+      _messageScrollInputGeneration++;
       _lastMessageKeyScrollIntentMs=now;
       const bottomDistance=el.scrollHeight-el.scrollTop-el.clientHeight;
       if(bottomDistance>120) _lastMessageScrollIntentMs=now;
@@ -14985,10 +14996,24 @@ function _captureMessageScrollSnapshot(){
     top:el.scrollTop,
     bottom,
     scrollHeight:el.scrollHeight,
+    inputGeneration:typeof _messageScrollInputGeneration==='number' ? _messageScrollInputGeneration : 0,
     pinned:readerAwayFromBottom?false:_shouldFollowMessagesOnDomReplace(),
     userUnpinned:readerAwayFromBottom?true:_messageUserUnpinned,
   };
 }
+function _messageScrollSnapshotInputChanged(snapshot){
+  if(!snapshot||snapshot.pinned===true) return false;
+  const captured=Number(snapshot.inputGeneration);
+  const current=typeof _messageScrollInputGeneration==='number' ? _messageScrollInputGeneration : captured;
+  return Number.isFinite(captured)&&Number.isFinite(current)&&current!==captured;
+}
+function _abandonMessageScrollSnapshot(){
+  _lastScrollTop=$('messages')?.scrollTop||0;
+  _lastMessageClientHeight=$('messages')?.clientHeight||0;
+  _messageUserUnpinned=true;
+  _scrollPinned=false;
+  _nearBottomCount=0;
+}
 function _restorePinnedMessageScrollSnapshot(snapshot){
   const el=$('messages');
   if(!el||!snapshot||snapshot.pinned!==true||snapshot.userUnpinned===true) return false;
@@ -15016,6 +15041,10 @@ function _restoreMessageScrollSnapshot(snapshot){
   // pinned streaming transcript upward. Semantic anchors remain for manual
   // unpinned reading positions below.
   if(_restorePinnedMessageScrollSnapshot(snapshot)) return;
+  if(_messageScrollSnapshotInputChanged(snapshot)){
+    _abandonMessageScrollSnapshot();
+    return;
+  }
   let restoredViaAnchor=(snapshot.anchor&&typeof _restoreMessageViewportAnchor==='function')
     ? _restoreMessageViewportAnchor(snapshot.anchor,0)
     : false;
@@ -15234,6 +15263,13 @@ function _restoreMessageScrollSnapshotSameFrame(snapshot){
   // streaming. Pinned followers must stay tail-relative here too; restoring the
   // semantic viewport anchor is only safe for explicitly unpinned readers.
   if(_restorePinnedMessageScrollSnapshot(snapshot)) return;
+  // A delayed rAF restore must not overwrite a position the reader changed
+  // after capture. Recent-intent timestamps are lossy; the generation is
+  // monotonic and therefore preserves snapshot ownership exactly.
+  if(_messageScrollSnapshotInputChanged(snapshot)){
+    _abandonMessageScrollSnapshot();
+    return;
+  }
   let restoredViaAnchor=(snapshot.anchor&&typeof _restoreMessageViewportAnchor==='function')
     ? _restoreMessageViewportAnchor(snapshot.anchor,0)
     : false;
diff --git a/tests/test_issue5637_stale_anchor_guard.py b/tests/test_issue5637_stale_anchor_guard.py
index e06e6c28..32c0055c 100644
--- a/tests/test_issue5637_stale_anchor_guard.py
+++ b/tests/test_issue5637_stale_anchor_guard.py
@@ -177,7 +177,8 @@ def _fallback_harness(*, snapshot_scroll_height, cur_scroll_height, snapshot_top
                       init_scroll_top: int = 90030,
                       snapshot_user_unpinned: bool = False,
                       anchor=None, anchor_row_content_pos=None, container_top: int = 0,
-                      top_pad_now=None) -> str:
+                      top_pad_now=None, input_generation: int = 0,
+                      delayed_input_generation=None) -> str:
     """Node harness for the absolute-fallback path of _restoreMessageScrollSnapshotSameFrame.
 
     SCROLL-DEPENDENT geometry (round-3 gate-cert requirement): the anchor row's
@@ -203,6 +204,7 @@ def _fallback_harness(*, snapshot_scroll_height, cur_scroll_height, snapshot_top
     return _extract_func_script(js) + f"""
 let writes = [];
 let stTop = {init_scroll_top};
+let _messageScrollInputGeneration = {input_generation};
 const CONTAINER_TOP = {container_top};
 const ROW_CONTENT_POS = {row_pos_js};
 const ROW_PRESENT = {"true" if row_present else "false"};
@@ -242,10 +244,13 @@ function _deferClearProgrammaticScroll(){{}}
 function requestAnimationFrame(cb){{ cb(); }}
 function setTimeout(cb){{ cb(); return 1; }}
 const snapshot = {{ anchor: {anchor_js}, top: {snapshot_top}, bottom: 40,
-  scrollHeight: {sh}, pinned: false, userUnpinned: {str(snapshot_user_unpinned).lower()} }};
+  scrollHeight: {sh}, inputGeneration: {input_generation}, pinned: false, userUnpinned: {str(snapshot_user_unpinned).lower()} }};
 eval(extractFunc('_desktopAnchorRealignDelta'));
+eval(extractFunc('_messageScrollSnapshotInputChanged'));
+eval(extractFunc('_abandonMessageScrollSnapshot'));
 eval(extractFunc('_restoreMessageScrollSnapshotSameFrame'));
 _restoreMessageScrollSnapshotSameFrame(snapshot);
+{f"stTop = 89000; _messageScrollInputGeneration = {delayed_input_generation}; _restoreMessageScrollSnapshotSameFrame(snapshot);" if delayed_input_generation is not None else ""}
 console.log(JSON.stringify({{ wrote: writes.length, writes,
   messageUserUnpinned: _messageUserUnpinned, scrollPinned: _scrollPinned, finalScrollTop: Math.round(stTop) }}));
 """
@@ -328,6 +333,20 @@ def test_unpinned_anchor_miss_restores_on_desktop_without_native_anchor():
     assert m["messageUserUnpinned"] is True and m["scrollPinned"] is False
 
 
+def test_delayed_restore_cannot_overwrite_new_desktop_input():
+    """The synchronous restore owns generation 0, then the reader moves to 89000
+    before the delayed rAF restore. The second call must abandon the stale snapshot
+    instead of writing its old 89577 target."""
+    m = json.loads(_run_node(_fallback_harness(
+        snapshot_scroll_height=90453, cur_scroll_height=90453, snapshot_top=89577,
+        active_intent=False, touch_like=False, snapshot_user_unpinned=True,
+        init_scroll_top=89577, input_generation=0, delayed_input_generation=1,
+    )))
+    assert m["writes"] == [89577]
+    assert m["finalScrollTop"] == 89000
+    assert m["messageUserUnpinned"] is True and m["scrollPinned"] is False
+
+
 # ---- round-3 desktop anchor-realign (PR #5742): app's own scrollTop += delta idiom -----
 # These use SCROLL-DEPENDENT rect mocks (rect.top = rowContentPos - scrollTop), so the
 # certified hold numbers are physically realizable in a real browser — the round-2