diff --git a/changelog.d/browser-checks-wait-for-what-they-read.md b/changelog.d/browser-checks-wait-for-what-they-read.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6a18a55ee2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/browser-checks-wait-for-what-they-read.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+### Maintenance
+- Four browser checks no longer fail on a slow run: the terminal input check waits for the
+  connection before it asks for a liveness probe, the update line and plan-limit checks count a
+  request once it has been answered or by the page that made it, and the phone transcript check
+  reads the transcript's style in one step.
diff --git a/scripts/mobile-viewport-regression.ts b/scripts/mobile-viewport-regression.ts
index e22074aaa2..7e4f870451 100644
--- a/scripts/mobile-viewport-regression.ts
+++ b/scripts/mobile-viewport-regression.ts
@@ -34,7 +34,9 @@ export async function checkMobileViewport(browser: Browser, origin: string, pane
     await page.getByTitle("Chat transcript (⌘⇧J)", { exact: true }).click();
     const composer = page.getByRole("textbox", { name: "Message", exact: true });
     await composer.waitFor();
-    assert.equal(await page.locator(".chat-view").evaluate((node) => getComputedStyle(node).overscrollBehaviorY), "contain",
+    // read in one step: the transcript's first node is replaced as the conversation loads, and a node
+    // found before that and read after it is out of the document, with no style at all
+    assert.equal(await page.evaluate(() => { const view = document.querySelector(".chat-view"); return view ? getComputedStyle(view).overscrollBehaviorY : "no .chat-view"; }), "contain",
       "a drag past the transcript's top stays in the transcript, or Android Chrome reloads the app");
     assert.deepEqual(await page.evaluate(() => [document.documentElement, document.body].map((node) => getComputedStyle(node).overscrollBehaviorY)),
       ["contain", "contain"], "a drag on a surface with nothing to scroll reaches the page, which Android Chrome before 144 reloads unless html and body contain it");
diff --git a/scripts/terminal-input-regression.ts b/scripts/terminal-input-regression.ts
index 8afa7a845c..386ae76bf1 100644
--- a/scripts/terminal-input-regression.ts
+++ b/scripts/terminal-input-regression.ts
@@ -75,6 +75,9 @@ export async function checkTerminalInput(browser: Browser, origin: string, pane:
     // A liveness probe refuses input without a frame to say so: on a quiet pane the 1 s poll reads
     // it, so the terminal shows it waits instead of looking ready while typing goes to the draft.
     const waiting = page.locator(".terminal-banner", { hasText: "Waiting for terminal input…" });
+    // the banner is drawn only on a connected pane: before the socket opens it is absent too, and
+    // a wake then finds nothing to probe
+    await page.locator(".conn-live").waitFor();
     await waiting.waitFor({ state: "hidden" });
     holdPings = true;
     await page.evaluate(() => window.dispatchEvent(new Event("online")));
diff --git a/scripts/update-notice-regression.ts b/scripts/update-notice-regression.ts
index ac44e9fc2c..79cdbd2e64 100644
--- a/scripts/update-notice-regression.ts
+++ b/scripts/update-notice-regression.ts
@@ -69,8 +69,12 @@ export async function checkUpdateNotice(browser: Browser, origin: string, shots?
     await fits("available");
     await oneLine("available");
     await shot("1-available");
+    // the line says it started as the button is pressed, before the request it sends is counted here
+    const installAnswered = () => page.waitForResponse((response) => new URL(response.url()).pathname === "/api/updates/install");
+    const firstInstall = installAnswered();
     await page.getByRole("button", { name: "Update", exact: true }).click();
     await page.getByText("Starting the update…", { exact: true }).waitFor();
+    await firstInstall;
     assert.equal(installs, 1, "one tap asks for the install");
     assert.equal(await page.getByRole("dialog", { name: "Settings" }).count(), 0, "Settings stays closed");
 
@@ -93,8 +97,10 @@ export async function checkUpdateNotice(browser: Browser, origin: string, shots?
     await page.getByRole("button", { name: "Details", exact: true }).click();
     await page.getByRole("dialog", { name: "Settings" }).getByText("bun run build failed: fixture").waitFor();
     await page.getByRole("button", { name: "Close settings", exact: true }).click();
+    const secondInstall = installAnswered();
     await page.getByRole("button", { name: "Try again", exact: true }).click();
     await page.getByText("Starting the update…", { exact: true }).waitFor();
+    await secondInstall;
     assert.equal(installs, 2, "Try again asks for the install again");
     // the check an install starts with fails: nothing is available any more, and the line still says so
     status = { ...status, phase: "error", available: false, error: "git fetch failed: fixture" };
diff --git a/scripts/usage-regression.ts b/scripts/usage-regression.ts
index d09acf8f62..b53bd26441 100644
--- a/scripts/usage-regression.ts
+++ b/scripts/usage-regression.ts
@@ -31,19 +31,24 @@ const report = (): UsageReport => ({
   ],
 });
 
-async function staged(context: BrowserContext): Promise<string[]> {
+/** a header the check puts on every request of the page it reloads: what that page asked for, whenever it is counted */
+const RELOADED = "x-usage-qa-reloaded";
+
+async function staged(context: BrowserContext): Promise<{ asked: string[]; afterReload: string[] }> {
   const asked: string[] = [];
+  const afterReload: string[] = [];
   await context.route("**/api/usage*", (route) => {
     asked.push(new URL(route.request().url()).search);
+    if (route.request().headers()[RELOADED]) afterReload.push(route.request().url());
     return route.fulfill({ json: report() });
   });
-  return asked;
+  return { asked, afterReload };
 }
 
 export async function checkUsageMeters(browser: Browser, origin: string): Promise<void> {
   const context = await browser.newContext({ viewport: { width: 1280, height: 800 }, locale: "en-US" });
   try {
-    const asked = await staged(context);
+    const { asked, afterReload } = await staged(context);
     const page = await context.newPage();
     const errors: string[] = [];
     page.on("pageerror", (error) => errors.push(error.message));
@@ -151,10 +156,13 @@ export async function checkUsageMeters(browser: Browser, origin: string): Promis
     await openSettingsPage(page, "Subscription usage");
     await toggle.click();
     await strip.waitFor({ state: "detached" });
-    const before = asked.length;
+    // a request Settings made before the switch can still be on its way here, so the count is of
+    // the reloaded page's own requests, not of what arrives after the reload
+    await context.setExtraHTTPHeaders({ [RELOADED]: "1" });
     await page.reload();
     await page.locator(".sidebar-footer").waitFor();
-    assert.equal(asked.length, before, "a hidden strip asks for nothing");
+    assert.deepEqual(afterReload, [], "a hidden strip asks for nothing");
+    await context.setExtraHTTPHeaders({});
     assert.deepEqual(errors, []);
   } finally {
     await context.close();