diff --git a/app/src/main/java/com/droiddeck/launcher/SessionActivity.kt b/app/src/main/java/com/droiddeck/launcher/SessionActivity.kt
index ddda9c7dd..10a7c8087 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/com/droiddeck/launcher/SessionActivity.kt
+++ b/app/src/main/java/com/droiddeck/launcher/SessionActivity.kt
@@ -98,7 +98,19 @@ class SessionActivity : ComponentActivity(), SurfaceHolder.Callback {
     private var padMotion: com.droiddeck.launcher.input.PadMotion? = null
     /** Between onResume and onPause. */
     private var resumed = false
-    private val deckPadListener: () -> Unit = { uiHandler.post { updatePadMotion() } }
+    private val deckPadListener: () -> Unit = { uiHandler.post { updatePadMotion(); openDeckRing() } }
+
+    /**
+     * A Deck's controller is there from the moment it boots, and the client looks for it once, as
+     * it starts. The ring behind the Deck (libfakeinput's /dev/hidraw16) opens on the pad's first
+     * input otherwise - on a phone with nothing attached, the first touch of the on-screen
+     * controls, seconds after the client had looked, found no controller and never set the touch
+     * mode, so its interface took a finger as a mouse. Opened as soon as the session settles on a
+     * Deck instead.
+     */
+    private fun openDeckRing() {
+        if (SessionState.deckPad) padBridge?.start()
+    }
 
     /** Motion is read while the session shows and only if the pad is a Deck controller - which
      *  the service can decide after this activity has resumed (SessionState.deckPadListener). */
@@ -272,6 +284,7 @@ class SessionActivity : ComponentActivity(), SurfaceHolder.Callback {
             (if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 30) display else windowManager.defaultDisplay)?.rotation ?: android.view.Surface.ROTATION_0
         }
         SessionState.deckPadListener = deckPadListener
+        openDeckRing()
         // A player on the pad or the on-screen controls has no use for the mouse arrow; the next
         // touchpad or mouse move brings it back (showCursor), once the pad has been quiet a moment.
         bridge.setOnPlayerInput {
diff --git a/tools/linuxfs/overlay/usr/local/bin/bannerlator-session b/tools/linuxfs/overlay/usr/local/bin/bannerlator-session
index 01fb68198..92107b7fa 100755
--- a/tools/linuxfs/overlay/usr/local/bin/bannerlator-session
+++ b/tools/linuxfs/overlay/usr/local/bin/bannerlator-session
@@ -150,6 +150,11 @@ if [ -z "${BL_INSIDE:-}" ]; then
     args+=(-r "$BL_REFRESH")
   fi
   [ "$mode" = steam ] && args+=(-e)
+  # Touch passes through to the client as touch until the client says otherwise, as SteamOS's
+  # gamescope-session starts it (TOUCH_MODE=4). The client sets the mode itself (STEAM_TOUCH_CLICK_MODE)
+  # only once it has a controller; until then gamescope's own default made a finger a left-click
+  # mouse, so the Steam interface took taps but would not scroll on a phone with no pad attached.
+  [ "$mode" = steam ] && args+=(--default-touch-mode 4)
   # A game that resizes its own window when it loses focus (the Steam menu opening over it) comes
   # back smaller, and gamescope draws a window that is not flagged fullscreen at its own size in
   # the top-left corner. Forcing every window to the output's size keeps it filling the screen.