diff --git a/src/app.cpp b/src/app.cpp
index dc1aefa..884208e 100644
--- a/src/app.cpp
+++ b/src/app.cpp
@@ -898,15 +898,19 @@ void App::update()
                             rescan_confirmed_active_ = true;
                             state_.sync.building_witnesses = true;
 
-                            // Which sub-phase is this batch? A "<n> remaining" token means the
-                            // cache walk (phase 2); otherwise per-tx "Setting Initial" lines are the
-                            // initial pass (phase 1). When both appear in one batch the walk wins —
-                            // it always runs after the initial pass within a BuildWitnessCache call.
-                            const int phase = (witnessRemaining >= 0) ? 2
-                                            : (!witnessTxids.empty() ? 1 : state_.sync.witness_phase);
+                            // Which sub-phase is this batch? A "<n> remaining" token means the cache
+                            // walk (phase 2); otherwise per-tx "Setting Initial" lines are the initial
+                            // pass (phase 1). The two INTERLEAVE during a rescan (the daemon does both
+                            // per block), so the phase is UPGRADE-ONLY: once the cache walk is seen it
+                            // never drops back to the initial pass. Otherwise an interleaved initial
+                            // line would flip the phase back and reset the bar every batch (thrash).
+                            int phase = state_.sync.witness_phase;
+                            if (witnessRemaining >= 0)                    phase = 2;
+                            else if (!witnessTxids.empty() && phase < 2)  phase = 1;
 
-                            // Entering a new sub-phase → reset its progress + accumulators so the bar
-                            // restarts from 0 instead of inheriting the previous phase's value.
+                            // Entering a higher sub-phase → reset its progress + accumulators so the
+                            // bar restarts from 0 (the two phases have different scales). Upgrade-only,
+                            // so this happens at most twice (→1, →2), never repeatedly.
                             if (phase != state_.sync.witness_phase) {
                                 state_.sync.witness_phase = phase;
                                 state_.sync.witness_progress = 0.0f;