diff --git a/client/src/test/kotlin/io/flamenet/client/LiveConversationTest.kt b/client/src/test/kotlin/io/flamenet/client/LiveConversationTest.kt
index f097b0b..c8b7168 100644
--- a/client/src/test/kotlin/io/flamenet/client/LiveConversationTest.kt
+++ b/client/src/test/kotlin/io/flamenet/client/LiveConversationTest.kt
@@ -69,6 +69,23 @@ class LiveConversationTest {
         )
     }
 
+    /**
+     * What a person would see, which is what every assertion below means.
+     *
+     * 🔴 **`poll` returns control traffic too**, and since key-log checking
+     * became automatic there is reliably some: the first send to a contact now
+     * gossips this device's view of the transparency log (§19.4), because
+     * enforcement sets the head pin that gossip had nothing to send without.
+     * That envelope is consumed by the client and never shown, and asserting on
+     * the raw list counted it as a message — so these tests failed on a change
+     * that made the product more correct, not less.
+     *
+     * The app has always filtered this way; the tests were reading a layer
+     * lower than the thing they were describing.
+     */
+    private fun Conversations.readable(): List<Conversations.Received> =
+        poll().filter { it.content.isRenderable }
+
     @Test
     fun `two people exchange messages through a real relay`() {
         val base = fleet ?: return
@@ -81,7 +98,7 @@ class LiveConversationTest {
         assertTrue(sent.reachedSomeone, "nothing was delivered: ${sent.failed}")
         assertEquals(listOf(bob.identity.deviceId), sent.delivered)
 
-        val received = bob.conversations.poll()
+        val received = bob.conversations.readable()
         assertEquals(1, received.size, "Bob's inbox had ${received.size} messages")
         assertEquals("hello from the Android engine 👋", received[0].text)
         assertEquals(alice.userId, received[0].fromUser)
@@ -90,16 +107,16 @@ class LiveConversationTest {
         // Bob replies on the session he just established, which is the step
         // that turns a handshake into a conversation.
         assertTrue(bob.conversations.send(alice.userId, "and hello back").reachedSomeone)
-        val back = alice.conversations.poll()
+        val back = alice.conversations.readable()
         assertEquals(1, back.size)
         assertEquals("and hello back", back[0].text)
 
         // Several turns, so the ratchet is exercised past the handshake.
         for (turn in 1..3) {
             alice.conversations.send(bob.userId, "alice $turn")
-            assertEquals("alice $turn", bob.conversations.poll().single().text)
+            assertEquals("alice $turn", bob.conversations.readable().single().text)
             bob.conversations.send(alice.userId, "bob $turn")
-            assertEquals("bob $turn", alice.conversations.poll().single().text)
+            assertEquals("bob $turn", alice.conversations.readable().single().text)
         }
     }
 
@@ -116,8 +133,8 @@ class LiveConversationTest {
         val bob = signUp(base, "d")
 
         alice.conversations.send(bob.userId, "only once please")
-        assertEquals(1, bob.conversations.poll().size)
-        assertEquals(0, bob.conversations.poll().size, "the relay re-delivered a read message")
+        assertEquals(1, bob.conversations.readable().size)
+        assertEquals(0, bob.conversations.readable().size, "the relay re-delivered a read message")
     }
 
     /**
@@ -146,8 +163,8 @@ class LiveConversationTest {
         val sent = alice.conversations.send(bob.userId, "to both of your devices")
         assertEquals(2, sent.delivered.size, "only reached ${sent.delivered}; failed: ${sent.failed}")
 
-        assertEquals("to both of your devices", bob.conversations.poll().single().text)
-        assertEquals("to both of your devices", secondConversations.poll().single().text)
+        assertEquals("to both of your devices", bob.conversations.readable().single().text)
+        assertEquals("to both of your devices", secondConversations.readable().single().text)
     }
 
     /**
@@ -198,7 +215,7 @@ class LiveConversationTest {
             bob.userId, picture, "image/png", width = 64, height = 48)
         assertTrue(sent.reachedSomeone, "nothing delivered: ${sent.failed}")
 
-        val received = bob.conversations.poll().single()
+        val received = bob.conversations.readable().single()
         val ref = received.content.attachment
         assertTrue(ref != null, "no attachment reference arrived; text was '${received.text}'")
         assertEquals("image/png", ref!!.mime)
@@ -249,7 +266,7 @@ class LiveConversationTest {
         assertTrue(sent.reachedSomeone, "nothing delivered: ${sent.failed}")
 
         for (member in listOf(bob, carol)) {
-            val got = member.conversations.poll().single()
+            val got = member.conversations.readable().single()
             assertEquals("hello everyone", got.text)
             assertEquals(group.id, got.content.groupId,
                 "the message did not carry group routing, so it would file under the sender")
diff --git a/client/src/test/kotlin/io/flamenet/client/LiveShapesTest.kt b/client/src/test/kotlin/io/flamenet/client/LiveShapesTest.kt
index 723e8a3..bdc6581 100644
--- a/client/src/test/kotlin/io/flamenet/client/LiveShapesTest.kt
+++ b/client/src/test/kotlin/io/flamenet/client/LiveShapesTest.kt
@@ -284,7 +284,14 @@ class LiveShapesTest {
         val sent = alice.second.send(bob.first, text)
         assertTrue(sent.reachedSomeone, "$base delivered nothing: ${sent.failed}")
 
-        val got = bob.second.poll()
+        // 🔴 What a PERSON would see. `poll` also returns control traffic, and
+        // since key-log checking became automatic there is reliably some: the
+        // first send to a contact gossips this device's view of the
+        // transparency log (§19.4), which enforcement is what sets the pin for.
+        // The client consumes that envelope and never shows it — counting it as
+        // a message made this test fail on a change that made the product more
+        // correct.
+        val got = bob.second.poll().filter { it.content.isRenderable }
         assertEquals(1, got.size, "$base: expected one message, got ${got.size}")
         assertEquals(text, got.single().text)
     }