diff --git a/src/components/PlayerControls.tsx b/src/components/PlayerControls.tsx
index e1c93f9..c818b92 100644
--- a/src/components/PlayerControls.tsx
+++ b/src/components/PlayerControls.tsx
@@ -106,8 +106,10 @@ export default function PlayerControls({
   const [subs, setSubs] = useState<TextTrack[]>([]);
   const [, bump] = useState(0);
   const menuRef = useRef<HTMLDivElement>(null);
-  // Which video, and how many tracks, the preference was last applied to.
-  const applied = useRef("");
+  // The track that should be showing, and the set of tracks that choice was
+  // made for.
+  const desired = useRef<TextTrack | null>(null);
+  const decided = useRef("");
 
   // Tracks arrive with the manifest, after metadata rather than on mount.
   useEffect(() => {
@@ -116,37 +118,58 @@ export default function PlayerControls({
     const read = () => setSubs(listSubs(v));
     read();
 
-    // Subtitles follow the language chosen in Settings and nothing else.
-    // WebKit will otherwise switch on whatever matches the system language,
-    // which is the same unwanted auto-selection as a dubbed audio track.
-    // Applied once per set of tracks. Re-applying on every poll would undo a
-    // choice made in the menu a second after it was made.
-    applied.current = "";
-    const applyPreference = () => {
-      const tracks = Array.from(v.textTracks);
+    // Which track should be showing, or null for none. Decided once per set of
+    // tracks — from the preference, or from a choice made in the menu — and
+    // then held.
+    //
+    // Holding it is the point. Deciding once and walking away was not enough:
+    // WebKit switches a newly added track on by itself, following the system's
+    // caption settings, and it does so after the track is added. Off would come
+    // back on at the next video, and there was nothing watching to undo it.
+    decided.current = "";
+    let corrections = 0;
+
+    const enforce = () => {
+      // A cap, so that if something insists on its own choice the two do not
+      // sit there flipping it at each other forever.
+      if (corrections > 24) return;
+      let changed = false;
+      for (const t of Array.from(v.textTracks)) {
+        const want = t === desired.current ? "showing" : "disabled";
+        if (t.mode !== want) {
+          t.mode = want;
+          changed = true;
+        }
+      }
+      if (changed) corrections++;
+      read();
+    };
+
+    const decide = () => {
       // Keyed on the tracks themselves, not their number. Changing where
-      // subtitles sit re-cuts the same one track, and a count would not notice
-      // — leaving the fresh track disabled and the subtitles gone.
+      // subtitles sit re-cuts the same one track, and a count would not notice.
       const key = `${v.currentSrc}|${Array.from(v.querySelectorAll("track"))
         .map((el) => el.src)
         .join("|")}`;
-      if (key === applied.current) return;
-      applied.current = key;
-      const wanted =
-        subLang === "off"
-          ? undefined
-          : listSubs(v).find((t) =>
-              (t.language || "").toLowerCase().startsWith(subLang.toLowerCase()),
-            );
-      // Everything else off, in-band tracks included — otherwise the file's own
-      // copy renders underneath ours.
-      for (const t of tracks) t.mode = t === wanted ? "showing" : "disabled";
-      read();
+      if (key !== decided.current) {
+        decided.current = key;
+        corrections = 0;
+        desired.current =
+          subLang === "off"
+            ? null
+            : (listSubs(v).find((t) =>
+                (t.language || "").toLowerCase().startsWith(subLang.toLowerCase()),
+              ) ?? null);
+      }
+      enforce();
     };
-    applyPreference();
-    v.addEventListener("loadedmetadata", applyPreference);
-    // HLS subtitle renditions arrive after metadata, so re-apply as they land.
-    v.textTracks.addEventListener?.("addtrack", applyPreference);
+
+    decide();
+    v.addEventListener("loadedmetadata", decide);
+    // HLS subtitle renditions arrive after metadata, so decide as they land.
+    v.textTracks.addEventListener?.("addtrack", decide);
+    // And hold that decision against anything that changes a mode behind us.
+    v.textTracks.addEventListener?.("change", enforce);
 
     v.addEventListener("loadedmetadata", read);
     v.textTracks.addEventListener?.("addtrack", read);
@@ -154,8 +177,9 @@ export default function PlayerControls({
     const id = setInterval(read, 1000);
     const stop = setTimeout(() => clearInterval(id), 8000);
     return () => {
-      v.removeEventListener("loadedmetadata", applyPreference);
-      v.textTracks.removeEventListener?.("addtrack", applyPreference);
+      v.removeEventListener("loadedmetadata", decide);
+      v.textTracks.removeEventListener?.("addtrack", decide);
+      v.textTracks.removeEventListener?.("change", enforce);
       v.removeEventListener("loadedmetadata", read);
       v.textTracks.removeEventListener?.("addtrack", read);
       clearInterval(id);
@@ -176,6 +200,8 @@ export default function PlayerControls({
   const chooseSub = (track: TextTrack | null) => {
     const v = videoRef.current;
     if (!v) return;
+    // Recorded first, so the holding above enforces this rather than undoing it.
+    desired.current = track;
     for (const t of Array.from(v.textTracks)) {
       t.mode = t === track ? "showing" : "disabled";
     }