diff --git a/containers/libreportal/frontend/js/components/app/services-manager.js b/containers/libreportal/frontend/js/components/app/services-manager.js
index 5075f60..9601032 100644
--- a/containers/libreportal/frontend/js/components/app/services-manager.js
+++ b/containers/libreportal/frontend/js/components/app/services-manager.js
@@ -681,6 +681,11 @@ class ServicesManager {
     for (const [name] of this.openLogStreams) this._closeLogStream(name);
   }
 
+  // Public hook for the page lifecycle (pagehide). Closes every live log
+  // tail so the browser can BFCache-snapshot the page instead of being
+  // forced into a full reload on back/forward.
+  pauseStreams() { this._stopAllLogs(); }
+
   // ------------------------------------------------------------------
   // Status refresh loop (only updates dots/text, not full re-render)
   // ------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/containers/libreportal/frontend/js/spa.js b/containers/libreportal/frontend/js/spa.js
index 900c2a3..fd48dcb 100755
--- a/containers/libreportal/frontend/js/spa.js
+++ b/containers/libreportal/frontend/js/spa.js
@@ -170,6 +170,14 @@ class LibrePortalSPAClean {
       // Update browser history
       if (addToHistory) {
         history.pushState({ route: path }, '', path);
+      } else {
+        // Even for "don't add to history" navigations (initial route, back-compat
+        // rewrites) we stamp the current entry's state with the resolved route.
+        // Without this the very first history entry has state: null, so popstate
+        // back to it from a later pushState'd entry hits the null guard and
+        // does nothing — exactly the "back button doesn't work" symptom.
+        const here = window.location.pathname + window.location.search;
+        history.replaceState({ route: path }, '', here);
       }
 
       this.currentRoute = path;
@@ -373,7 +381,7 @@ class LibrePortalSPAClean {
       const taskId = url.searchParams.get('task');
       const canonical = window.appPath(appName, tab, sub, taskId);
       if (canonical !== url.pathname + url.search) {
-        window.history.replaceState({}, '', canonical);
+        window.history.replaceState({ route: canonical }, '', canonical);
       }
     }
 
@@ -612,11 +620,36 @@ window.navigateToRoute = function(href) {
   }
 };
 
-// Handle browser back/forward
+// Handle browser back/forward. Prefer the route stamped on the history
+// entry's state; fall back to the URL bar so entries that somehow lack
+// state (third-party history manipulation, very-early popstate before
+// init() finished) still re-render the right page instead of no-op'ing.
 window.addEventListener('popstate', (e) => {
-  if (e.state && e.state.route && window.spaClean) {
-    window.spaClean.navigate(e.state.route, false);
-  }
+  if (!window.spaClean) return;
+  const route = (e.state && e.state.route) || (window.location.pathname + window.location.search);
+  window.spaClean.navigate(route, false);
+});
+
+// Back-forward cache (BFCache) cooperation. Open SSE/WebSocket connections
+// block the browser from snapshotting the page, so the back button ends up
+// doing a full reload instead of restoring instantly. Closing every live
+// bus we own on pagehide lets the snapshot happen; on pageshow with
+// event.persisted === true the page just came back from BFCache and we
+// reopen them. Fresh loads also fire pageshow but with persisted=false —
+// we ignore those because the normal init paths already started everything.
+window.addEventListener('pagehide', () => {
+  try { window.taskEventBus && window.taskEventBus.stop(); } catch (_) {}
+  try { window.LiveSystem && window.LiveSystem.pause && window.LiveSystem.pause(); } catch (_) {}
+  try { window.servicesManager && window.servicesManager.pauseStreams && window.servicesManager.pauseStreams(); } catch (_) {}
+});
+
+window.addEventListener('pageshow', (e) => {
+  if (!e.persisted) return;
+  try { window.taskEventBus && window.taskEventBus.start(); } catch (_) {}
+  try { window.LiveSystem && window.LiveSystem.resume && window.LiveSystem.resume(); } catch (_) {}
+  // Service log tail streams aren't auto-resumed — the user can click
+  // Resume on the overlay if they were tailing a log. Most BFCache restores
+  // are "back to dashboard", so silently dropping the tail is fine.
 });
 
 // Handle internal link clicks
diff --git a/containers/libreportal/frontend/js/utils/system-live.js b/containers/libreportal/frontend/js/utils/system-live.js
index a65a5de..0842471 100644
--- a/containers/libreportal/frontend/js/utils/system-live.js
+++ b/containers/libreportal/frontend/js/utils/system-live.js
@@ -105,6 +105,18 @@ window.LiveSystem = (() => {
         // Fetch the last sample synchronously (or null if the stream hasn't
         // produced one yet). Useful for snapshot-style reads without a sub.
         get last() { return last; },
+        // Force-close the stream and cancel any pending reopen. Used by the
+        // page lifecycle (pagehide) so the browser can put the page into
+        // BFCache; the visibilitychange handler would normally do this too,
+        // but firing explicitly leaves nothing to race.
+        pause() {
+            close();
+            if (reopenTimer) { clearTimeout(reopenTimer); reopenTimer = null; }
+        },
+        // Reopen if anything is still subscribed and the document is visible.
+        // Called from pageshow(persisted=true) when the page is restored from
+        // BFCache.
+        resume() { open(); },
         // Test hook: count of active subscribers.
         get subCount() { return subs.size; }
     };