diff --git a/desktop/src/stores/sessionStore.ts b/desktop/src/stores/sessionStore.ts
index ceeaaf82..439ec0d0 100644
--- a/desktop/src/stores/sessionStore.ts
+++ b/desktop/src/stores/sessionStore.ts
@@ -244,9 +244,10 @@ function mergeSessionList(
   for (const item of incoming) {
     const current = currentById.get(item.id)
     const candidate = preserveLocalTitle(current, item)
-    const existing = byId.get(candidate.id)
-    if (!existing || sessionModifiedTime(candidate) > sessionModifiedTime(existing)) {
-      byId.set(candidate.id, candidate)
+    const merged = preserveStaleModifiedAt(current, candidate)
+    const existing = byId.get(merged.id)
+    if (!existing || sessionModifiedTime(merged) > sessionModifiedTime(existing)) {
+      byId.set(merged.id, merged)
     }
   }
 
@@ -269,6 +270,21 @@ function preserveLocalTitle(
   return incoming
 }
 
+function preserveStaleModifiedAt(
+  current: SessionListItem | undefined,
+  incoming: SessionListItem,
+): SessionListItem {
+  if (!current) return incoming
+  // Preserve modifiedAt when the effective title hasn't changed — indicates no meaningful
+  // content change.  messageCount is NOT used here because listSessions always returns 0
+  // (a placeholder for performance), while fetchSessionSummary returns the real count,
+  // so comparing them would always fail and defeat the preservation logic.
+  if (current.title === incoming.title) {
+    return { ...incoming, modifiedAt: current.modifiedAt }
+  }
+  return incoming
+}
+
 function syncOpenSessionTabTitles(sessions: SessionListItem[]): void {
   const titleById = new Map(sessions.map((session) => [session.id, session.title]))
   const { tabs, updateTabTitle } = useTabStore.getState()