diff --git a/backend/src/lib/device-stream.js b/backend/src/lib/device-stream.js
index e922d7b..aeb39d9 100644
--- a/backend/src/lib/device-stream.js
+++ b/backend/src/lib/device-stream.js
@@ -17,14 +17,26 @@ export function removeStream(deviceId, res) {
   if (streams.get(deviceId)?.size === 0) streams.delete(deviceId)
 }
 
+// Returns true only if at least one write demonstrably succeeded (didn't
+// throw) — NOT just "a stream entry exists for this device". A stale-but-
+// not-yet-closed connection (tablet's WiFi silently drops mid-idle, common
+// enough to have caused a real stuck-busy device 2026-09-01 — see
+// project_checkin memory) can accept a write() without throwing even though
+// nothing will ever actually reach the far end, so "an entry exists" was
+// never a reliable signal on its own. This doesn't catch every dead-socket
+// case (a true network black hole can still succeed the write locally), but
+// it does catch the more common "connection already formally closed"
+// case, which is worth surfacing honestly rather than reporting delivered
+// regardless.
 function send(deviceId, event, data) {
   const set = streams.get(deviceId)
-  if (!set) return false
+  if (!set || !set.size) return false
   const payload = `event: ${event}\ndata: ${JSON.stringify(data)}\n\n`
+  let wroteAny = false
   for (const res of set) {
-    try { res.write(payload) } catch { /* dead connection, will be cleaned up on close */ }
+    try { res.write(payload); wroteAny = true } catch { /* dead connection, will be cleaned up on close */ }
   }
-  return true
+  return wroteAny
 }
 
 // Returns true if the device had a live connection to push to. staff.js still
diff --git a/backend/src/lib/push.js b/backend/src/lib/push.js
index ea2b28e..4a75189 100644
--- a/backend/src/lib/push.js
+++ b/backend/src/lib/push.js
@@ -16,10 +16,34 @@ export async function pushBookingToDevice(deviceId, bookingId) {
   // truth, not the SELECT above (which is only used for a friendly device
   // name in the 409 message), so two near-simultaneous pushes to the same
   // device can't both "win".
-  const { rows: claimed } = await pool.query(
+  let { rows: claimed } = await pool.query(
     `UPDATE devices SET status = 'busy' WHERE device_id = $1 AND status = 'idle' RETURNING *`,
     [deviceId]
   )
+
+  if (!claimed.length) {
+    // Self-healing fallback: a device can get stuck 'busy' with no live
+    // session behind it — e.g. the tablet's connection silently drops
+    // mid-push and the navigate event never actually reaches it (a real
+    // failure hit 2026-09-01, see project_checkin memory). Previously that
+    // needed an admin to manually click Reset before the device could be
+    // used again at all. Reclaim it here instead, still atomically (only
+    // succeeds if the device is 'busy' with no unexpired *unused* session
+    // at the exact moment of the UPDATE) — a genuinely in-progress guest
+    // check-in, still inside its session TTL, correctly keeps blocking a
+    // steal.
+    ;({ rows: claimed } = await pool.query(
+      `UPDATE devices SET status = 'busy'
+       WHERE device_id = $1 AND status = 'busy'
+         AND NOT EXISTS (
+           SELECT 1 FROM checkin_sessions
+           WHERE device_id = $1 AND used_at IS NULL AND expires_at > now()
+         )
+       RETURNING *`,
+      [deviceId]
+    ))
+  }
+
   if (!claimed.length) {
     return { ok: false, status: 409, error: `${existing[0].name} is busy with another check-in` }
   }
diff --git a/frontend/nginx.conf b/frontend/nginx.conf
index 08e4226..810f736 100644
--- a/frontend/nginx.conf
+++ b/frontend/nginx.conf
@@ -14,8 +14,20 @@ server {
     # SSE (devices/:id/stream) needs buffering off and no timeout — otherwise
     # nginx buffers the event-stream response and the tablet's idle page
     # never actually receives a push in real time.
-    location /tablet-checkin/api/devices/ {
-        proxy_pass http://backend:3001/api/devices/;
+    #
+    # No trailing slash on either the location pattern or the proxy_pass
+    # target — with one, nginx auto-redirects any request matching this
+    # prefix *without* the trailing slash (i.e. exactly
+    # /tablet-checkin/api/devices, the plain device-list endpoint) to add
+    # it. That redirect broke real usage 2026-09-01: this inner nginx sits
+    # behind NPM's TLS termination, forwarded as plain HTTP, so it built
+    # the redirect's Location header as http:// even though the original
+    # request was https:// — browsers block that as mixed content, which
+    # surfaced as a bare "Failed to fetch" with no other clue. Dropping the
+    # trailing slash keeps this a plain prefix match (still correctly
+    # covers every /devices/:id/... sub-route) with no auto-redirect at all.
+    location /tablet-checkin/api/devices {
+        proxy_pass http://backend:3001/api/devices;
         proxy_set_header Host $host;
         proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
         proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;