diff --git a/src/hooks/useWakeLock.ts b/src/hooks/useWakeLock.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..28edb93
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/hooks/useWakeLock.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+import { useCallback, useEffect, useRef } from 'react';
+
+// Minimal typing so we don't depend on the DOM lib shipping WakeLock types.
+interface WakeLockSentinelLike { release(): Promise<void> }
+interface WakeLockLike { request(type: 'screen'): Promise<WakeLockSentinelLike> }
+function getWakeLock(): WakeLockLike | undefined {
+  return (navigator as unknown as { wakeLock?: WakeLockLike }).wakeLock;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Keep the screen awake during a long operation (e.g. model download / inference)
+ * so the phone doesn't auto-lock — which on mobile can discard the tab and wipe
+ * in-memory state. The lock is auto-released by the browser when the page is
+ * hidden, so we re-acquire it on return to the foreground.
+ */
+export function useWakeLock() {
+  const sentinelRef = useRef<WakeLockSentinelLike | null>(null);
+  const wantedRef = useRef(false);
+
+  const acquire = useCallback(async () => {
+    const wl = getWakeLock();
+    if (!wl || sentinelRef.current) return;
+    try { sentinelRef.current = await wl.request('screen'); } catch { /* denied/unsupported */ }
+  }, []);
+
+  const request = useCallback(async () => { wantedRef.current = true; await acquire(); }, [acquire]);
+
+  const release = useCallback(() => {
+    wantedRef.current = false;
+    sentinelRef.current?.release().catch(() => {});
+    sentinelRef.current = null;
+  }, []);
+
+  useEffect(() => {
+    const onVisible = () => {
+      if (document.visibilityState === 'visible' && wantedRef.current && !sentinelRef.current) void acquire();
+    };
+    document.addEventListener('visibilitychange', onVisible);
+    return () => {
+      document.removeEventListener('visibilitychange', onVisible);
+      sentinelRef.current?.release().catch(() => {});
+      sentinelRef.current = null;
+    };
+  }, [acquire]);
+
+  return { request, release };
+}
diff --git a/src/islands/media/VoiceToText.tsx b/src/islands/media/VoiceToText.tsx
index 0e9ab34..cfb933c 100644
--- a/src/islands/media/VoiceToText.tsx
+++ b/src/islands/media/VoiceToText.tsx
@@ -7,8 +7,10 @@ import { ProgressBar } from '@/components/ui/ProgressBar';
 import { CopyButton } from '@/components/ui/CopyButton';
 import { downloadService } from '@/services/download';
 import { useAudioRecorder } from '@/hooks/useAudioRecorder';
+import { useWakeLock } from '@/hooks/useWakeLock';
 import { decodeToMono16k } from '@/tools/media/stt-audio.lib';
 import { transcribeInWorker } from '@/tools/media/stt.client';
+import { saveRecording, loadRecording } from '@/tools/media/recording-store';
 import { type SttModelId } from '@/tools/media/stt.engine';
 import {
   segmentsToText,
@@ -56,6 +58,8 @@ type Tab = 'text' | 'timestamped' | 'subtitles';
 
 export default function VoiceToText() {
   const recorder = useAudioRecorder();
+  const wakeLock = useWakeLock();
+  const [restored, setRestored] = useState(false);
   const [audioBlob, setAudioBlob] = useState<Blob | null>(null);
   const [audioUrl, setAudioUrl] = useState<string>('');
   const [model, setModel] = useState<SttModelId>('onnx-community/whisper-tiny.en');
@@ -94,7 +98,7 @@ export default function VoiceToText() {
     return () => clearInterval(id);
   }, [transcribing]);
 
-  const setAudio = (blob: Blob) => {
+  const setAudio = (blob: Blob, persist = true) => {
     if (urlRef.current) URL.revokeObjectURL(urlRef.current);
     const url = URL.createObjectURL(blob);
     urlRef.current = url;
@@ -102,8 +106,18 @@ export default function VoiceToText() {
     setAudioBlob(blob);
     setSegments(null);
     setError('');
+    if (persist) { setRestored(false); void saveRecording(blob); }
   };
 
+  // Restore the last recording (survives a mobile tab discard / reload).
+  useEffect(() => {
+    let cancelled = false;
+    loadRecording().then(blob => {
+      if (!cancelled && blob) { setAudio(blob, false); setRestored(true); }
+    });
+    return () => { cancelled = true; };
+  }, []);
+
   const onDrop = (files: File[]) => {
     const f = files.find(x => x.type.startsWith('audio/') || x.type.startsWith('video/'));
     if (f) setAudio(f);
@@ -138,6 +152,7 @@ export default function VoiceToText() {
     setSegments(null);
     setTranscribing(true);
     setModelProgress(null); // only shows once real download progress fires (first load)
+    void wakeLock.request(); // keep the screen on so the phone doesn't lock + discard the tab
     try {
       const audio = await decodeToMono16k(audioBlob);
       const isMultilingual = MODELS.find(m => m.value === model)?.multilingual;
@@ -156,6 +171,7 @@ export default function VoiceToText() {
     } finally {
       setTranscribing(false);
       setModelProgress(null);
+      wakeLock.release();
     }
   };
 
@@ -200,7 +216,10 @@ export default function VoiceToText() {
       {recorder.error && <Alert variant="error">{recorder.error.message}</Alert>}
 
       {audioUrl && (
-        <audio ref={audioRef} controls src={audioUrl} onLoadedMetadata={fixAudioDuration} className="w-full" />
+        <div className="space-y-1">
+          <audio ref={audioRef} controls src={audioUrl} onLoadedMetadata={fixAudioDuration} className="w-full" />
+          {restored && <p className="text-xs text-muted-foreground">Restored your last recording.</p>}
+        </div>
       )}
 
       {/* Model + run */}
diff --git a/src/tools/media/recording-store.ts b/src/tools/media/recording-store.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..eb4987b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/tools/media/recording-store.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+// Persist the last recorded/loaded audio clip in IndexedDB so it survives a page
+// reload — e.g. when a phone locks during a long transcription and the browser
+// discards the tab. Blobs can't go in localStorage, hence IndexedDB.
+
+const DB_NAME = 'gwt-voice';
+const STORE = 'recordings';
+const KEY = 'last';
+
+function openDb(): Promise<IDBDatabase> {
+  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+    const req = indexedDB.open(DB_NAME, 1);
+    req.onupgradeneeded = () => req.result.createObjectStore(STORE);
+    req.onsuccess = () => resolve(req.result);
+    req.onerror = () => reject(req.error);
+  });
+}
+
+export async function saveRecording(blob: Blob): Promise<void> {
+  try {
+    const db = await openDb();
+    await new Promise<void>((resolve, reject) => {
+      const tx = db.transaction(STORE, 'readwrite');
+      tx.objectStore(STORE).put(blob, KEY);
+      tx.oncomplete = () => resolve();
+      tx.onerror = () => reject(tx.error);
+    });
+    db.close();
+  } catch { /* best-effort */ }
+}
+
+export async function loadRecording(): Promise<Blob | null> {
+  try {
+    const db = await openDb();
+    const blob = await new Promise<Blob | null>((resolve, reject) => {
+      const tx = db.transaction(STORE, 'readonly');
+      const req = tx.objectStore(STORE).get(KEY);
+      req.onsuccess = () => resolve((req.result as Blob) ?? null);
+      req.onerror = () => reject(req.error);
+    });
+    db.close();
+    return blob instanceof Blob ? blob : null;
+  } catch {
+    return null;
+  }
+}
+
+export async function clearRecording(): Promise<void> {
+  try {
+    const db = await openDb();
+    await new Promise<void>(resolve => {
+      const tx = db.transaction(STORE, 'readwrite');
+      tx.objectStore(STORE).delete(KEY);
+      tx.oncomplete = () => resolve();
+      tx.onerror = () => resolve();
+    });
+    db.close();
+  } catch { /* best-effort */ }
+}