diff --git a/client/ui/CLAUDE.md b/client/ui/CLAUDE.md
index b8586214e..a1b8bcb0d 100644
--- a/client/ui/CLAUDE.md
+++ b/client/ui/CLAUDE.md
@@ -141,6 +141,8 @@ User-actionable operation failures (config save, profile switch, debug bundle, u
 
 The tray uses Wails' built-in `notifications` service. One `notifications.NotificationService` is created in `main.go` and passed into `TrayServices.Notifier`. Notification IDs are prefixed for coalescing: `netbird-update-<version>`, `netbird-event-<id>`, `netbird-tray-error`, `netbird-session-expired`. Notifications are gated by the user's "Notifications" toggle (cached in `Tray.notificationsEnabled`, seeded from `Settings.GetConfig` at boot). `Severity == "critical"` events bypass the gate, mirroring the legacy Fyne `event.Manager`.
 
+**All sends go through `safeSendNotification` (`tray_notify.go`)** — never call `Notifier.SendNotification`/`SendNotificationWithActions` directly. It swallows both errors *and panics*. The panic guard is load-bearing on Linux: Wails' notifier connects to the session bus in its `ServiceStartup`, and when that connect fails (headless box, no/unreachable `DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS`, UI launched outside a desktop session) Wails logs the error but leaves the service registered with a **nil `*dbus.Conn`**. The next send then nil-derefs deep inside godbus (`Conn.getSerial`), and because sends run on a Wails event-dispatch goroutine the panic is fatal to the whole process — observed as a "catastrophic failure" crash on a Linux Mint VM when an update toast fired (`tray_update.go sendUpdateNotification`). `recover()` turns it into a logged no-op. The `tray_session.go` plain-notification fallback keys off the returned error, so a recovered panic (returns nil) correctly skips the fallback — the bus is dead, the plain send would panic too.
+
 ### Profile switching invariants
 
 `ProfileSwitcher.SwitchActive` is the only switch path on the TS side — `ProfileContext.switchProfile` is the single TS wrapper, and `modules/profiles/ProfilesTab.tsx` + the header `ProfileDropdown` both go through it. The Go side captures `prevStatus`, drives the optimistic-Connecting paint via `Peers.BeginProfileSwitch`, mirrors into the user-side `profilemanager`, and conditionally fires Down/Up per the reconnect-policy table above.
diff --git a/client/ui/main.go b/client/ui/main.go
index c91f363ac..afe5f63dd 100644
--- a/client/ui/main.go
+++ b/client/ui/main.go
@@ -190,7 +190,20 @@ func main() {
 	})
 	listenForShowSignal(context.Background(), tray)
 
-	daemonFeed.Watch(context.Background())
+	// Start the daemon event feed only after Wails has run every service's
+	// ServiceStartup. The very first daemon SubscribeEvents message replays
+	// the cached state (status + available update) synchronously, which fans
+	// out through app.Event into the tray's update-state listener and fires an
+	// OS notification. If Watch ran before app.Run, that send could beat the
+	// notifications service's ServiceStartup — on Linux the Wails notifier
+	// connects to the session bus there, so its *dbus.Conn would still be nil
+	// and SendNotification would nil-deref (fatal panic on the event-dispatch
+	// goroutine; observed on Linux Mint). ApplicationStarted fires inside
+	// app.Run after the synchronous service-startup loop, so the bus is up by
+	// the time the first event lands.
+	app.Event.OnApplicationEvent(events.Common.ApplicationStarted, func(*application.ApplicationEvent) {
+		daemonFeed.Watch(context.Background())
+	})
 
 	if err := app.Run(); err != nil {
 		log.Fatal(err)
diff --git a/client/ui/tray.go b/client/ui/tray.go
index dd54cfda5..e1d93e431 100644
--- a/client/ui/tray.go
+++ b/client/ui/tray.go
@@ -637,13 +637,11 @@ func (t *Tray) notify(title, body, id string) {
 	if t.svc.Notifier == nil {
 		return
 	}
-	if err := t.svc.Notifier.SendNotification(notifications.NotificationOptions{
+	_ = safeSendNotification(t.svc.Notifier.SendNotification, title, notifications.NotificationOptions{
 		ID:    id,
 		Title: title,
 		Body:  body,
-	}); err != nil {
-		log.Debugf("notify %q: %v", title, err)
-	}
+	})
 }
 
 // notifyError fires a generic "Error" notification for tray-driven action
diff --git a/client/ui/tray_notify.go b/client/ui/tray_notify.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1a4a030b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/client/ui/tray_notify.go
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+//go:build !android && !ios && !freebsd && !js
+
+package main
+
+import (
+	log "github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
+	"github.com/wailsapp/wails/v3/pkg/services/notifications"
+)
+
+// sendFn is either NotificationService.SendNotification or
+// SendNotificationWithActions — both share the same signature.
+type sendFn func(notifications.NotificationOptions) error
+
+// safeSendNotification dispatches an OS notification, swallowing both errors
+// and panics. OS toasts are best-effort: a missing or broken session bus must
+// never crash the app.
+//
+// The panic guard is load-bearing on Linux. Wails' notifier connects to the
+// session bus in its ServiceStartup; when that connect fails (headless box,
+// no/unreachable DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS, a UI launched outside a desktop
+// session), Wails logs the error but leaves the service registered with a nil
+// *dbus.Conn. The next SendNotification then nil-derefs deep inside
+// godbus (Conn.getSerial) and, because the send runs on a Wails event-dispatch
+// goroutine, the panic is fatal to the whole process rather than to one event
+// listener. recover() turns that into a logged no-op. See
+// notifications_linux.go in wails v3.
+func safeSendNotification(send sendFn, what string, opts notifications.NotificationOptions) (err error) {
+	defer func() {
+		if r := recover(); r != nil {
+			log.Errorf("notify %s: recovered from panic (notification bus unavailable): %v", what, r)
+			err = nil
+		}
+	}()
+	if err := send(opts); err != nil {
+		log.Errorf("notify %s: %v", what, err)
+		return err
+	}
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/client/ui/tray_session.go b/client/ui/tray_session.go
index 55b7e6394..aa6643f73 100644
--- a/client/ui/tray_session.go
+++ b/client/ui/tray_session.go
@@ -224,16 +224,17 @@ func (t *Tray) notifySessionWarning(title, body string) {
 	if t.svc.Notifier == nil {
 		return
 	}
-	err := t.svc.Notifier.SendNotificationWithActions(notifications.NotificationOptions{
+	err := safeSendNotification(t.svc.Notifier.SendNotificationWithActions, "session-warning with actions", notifications.NotificationOptions{
 		ID:         notifyIDSessionWarning,
 		Title:      title,
 		Body:       body,
 		CategoryID: notifyCategorySessionWarning,
 	})
 	if err != nil {
-		log.Debugf("notify session-warning with actions: %v", err)
 		// Fall back to a plain notification so the user at least gets
-		// the warning text, even without buttons.
+		// the warning text, even without buttons. (A nil err here also
+		// covers the panic-recovered case, where the bus is dead and the
+		// plain fallback would fail too — so we correctly skip it.)
 		t.notify(title, body, notifyIDSessionWarning)
 	}
 }
diff --git a/client/ui/tray_update.go b/client/ui/tray_update.go
index 8fcf90da2..c3da3812f 100644
--- a/client/ui/tray_update.go
+++ b/client/ui/tray_update.go
@@ -202,13 +202,11 @@ func (u *trayUpdater) sendUpdateNotification(st updater.State) {
 	if st.Enforced {
 		body += u.loc.T("notify.update.enforcedSuffix")
 	}
-	if err := u.notifier.SendNotification(notifications.NotificationOptions{
+	_ = safeSendNotification(u.notifier.SendNotification, "update", notifications.NotificationOptions{
 		ID:    notifyIDUpdatePrefix + st.Version,
 		Title: u.loc.T("notify.update.title"),
 		Body:  body,
-	}); err != nil {
-		log.Debugf("send update notification: %v", err)
-	}
+	})
 }
 
 // openProgressWindow points the main window at the /update progress page