diff --git a/src/web/public/terminal-ui.js b/src/web/public/terminal-ui.js
index 83c2282d..76049505 100644
--- a/src/web/public/terminal-ui.js
+++ b/src/web/public/terminal-ui.js
@@ -650,6 +650,7 @@ Object.assign(CodemanApp.prototype, {
 
       let didScroll = false; // track whether touchmove fired (tap vs scroll)
       let touchStartY = 0;
+      let tapCanActivateTerminal = false;
       const TAP_THRESHOLD = 8; // px — ignore micro-drift to distinguish tap from scroll
       container.addEventListener(
         'touchstart',
@@ -662,6 +663,7 @@ Object.assign(CodemanApp.prototype, {
             pixelAccum = 0;
             isTouching = true;
             didScroll = false;
+            tapCanActivateTerminal = this._shouldForwardMobileTapToApp();
             lastTime = 0;
             if (scrollFrame) {
               cancelAnimationFrame(scrollFrame);
@@ -737,9 +739,13 @@ Object.assign(CodemanApp.prototype, {
             if (touch) {
               this._suppressTrustedTapMouseEvents();
             }
-            if (touch && mouseTrackingOn) {
+            if (touch && tapCanActivateTerminal && mouseTrackingOn) {
               this._dispatchSyntheticTerminalClick(touch.clientX, touch.clientY);
-            } else if (touch && this._sessionUsesServerMouseStrip()) {
+            } else if (
+              touch &&
+              tapCanActivateTerminal &&
+              this._sessionUsesServerMouseStrip()
+            ) {
               // The server strips mouse-tracking DECSETs from claude/codex/gemini
               // output (isAltScreenStripMode, session.ts) so the wheel keeps
               // scrolling scrollback — which leaves THIS xterm permanently at
@@ -759,6 +765,7 @@ Object.assign(CodemanApp.prototype, {
               this.terminal.focus();
             }
           }
+          tapCanActivateTerminal = false;
         },
         { passive: true }
       );
@@ -3363,6 +3370,26 @@ Object.assign(CodemanApp.prototype, {
     } catch {}
   },
 
+  /**
+   * A tap that opens the phone keyboard is focus-only. Forwarding that same
+   * gesture as a mouse click would activate the highlighted CLI menu option.
+   * Once the keyboard and terminal input were already active at touchstart,
+   * later taps may intentionally position the cursor or select a TUI row.
+   */
+  _shouldForwardMobileTapToApp() {
+    const keyboardVisible =
+      (typeof KeyboardHandler !== 'undefined' && KeyboardHandler.keyboardVisible) ||
+      document.body?.classList?.contains('keyboard-visible');
+    if (!keyboardVisible) return false;
+
+    const active = document.activeElement;
+    return (
+      active === this.terminal?.textarea ||
+      active?.classList?.contains('xterm-helper-textarea') ||
+      active?.id === 'cjkInput'
+    );
+  },
+
   // ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
   // Synthetic tap → mouse report
   // ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
diff --git a/test/mobile/keyboard.test.ts b/test/mobile/keyboard.test.ts
index 38dc5d22..ca6c1ba7 100644
--- a/test/mobile/keyboard.test.ts
+++ b/test/mobile/keyboard.test.ts
@@ -756,12 +756,16 @@ describe('Virtual Keyboard', () => {
 
     it('focuses the terminal helper textarea when the terminal is tapped', async () => {
       await page.evaluate(() => {
+        window.__sentInputs = [];
         app.activeSessionId = 'mobile-focus-visible-input-test';
         app.sessions.set('mobile-focus-visible-input-test', {
           id: 'mobile-focus-visible-input-test',
           mode: 'codex',
           status: 'running',
         });
+        app._sendInputAsync = (_sessionId: string, input: string) => {
+          window.__sentInputs.push(input);
+        };
         app.hideWelcome();
         const settings = app.loadAppSettingsFromStorage();
         settings.cjkInputEnabled = false;
@@ -771,8 +775,12 @@ describe('Virtual Keyboard', () => {
 
       await page.locator('#terminalContainer').tap({ position: { x: 40, y: 40 } });
 
-      const activeClass = await page.evaluate(() => document.activeElement?.className);
-      expect(activeClass).toContain('xterm-helper-textarea');
+      const state = await page.evaluate(() => ({
+        activeClass: document.activeElement?.className,
+        sentInputs: window.__sentInputs,
+      }));
+      expect(state.activeClass).toContain('xterm-helper-textarea');
+      expect(state.sentInputs).toEqual([]);
     });
 
     // Regression guard for the phone-keyboard blocker reduced in #173 and re-hit
diff --git a/test/terminal-touch-tap.test.ts b/test/terminal-touch-tap.test.ts
index 378ba1a7..528838d4 100644
--- a/test/terminal-touch-tap.test.ts
+++ b/test/terminal-touch-tap.test.ts
@@ -6,8 +6,16 @@ import { describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest';
 function loadTerminalUiHarness() {
   const CodemanApp = function CodemanApp(this: any) {};
   let now = 1_000;
+  let keyboardVisible = false;
+  let activeElement: unknown = null;
   const context = vm.createContext({
     window: {},
+    document: {
+      body: { classList: { contains: () => false } },
+      get activeElement() {
+        return activeElement;
+      },
+    },
     CodemanApp,
     console: { warn: vi.fn(), log: vi.fn() },
     _crashDiag: { log: vi.fn() },
@@ -25,6 +33,11 @@ function loadTerminalUiHarness() {
     MobileDetection: {
       isTouchDevice: () => true,
     },
+    KeyboardHandler: {
+      get keyboardVisible() {
+        return keyboardVisible;
+      },
+    },
     DEC_SYNC_STRIP_RE: /\x1b\[\?2026[hl]/g,
     TERMINAL_CHUNK_SIZE: 32 * 1024,
   });
@@ -38,6 +51,12 @@ function loadTerminalUiHarness() {
     setNow: (value: number) => {
       now = value;
     },
+    setKeyboardVisible: (visible: boolean) => {
+      keyboardVisible = visible;
+    },
+    setActiveElement: (element: unknown) => {
+      activeElement = element;
+    },
   };
 }
 
@@ -56,6 +75,19 @@ function createElementHarness() {
 }
 
 describe('terminal touch tap mouse guard', () => {
+  it('keeps the keyboard-opening tap focus-only', () => {
+    const { app, setActiveElement, setKeyboardVisible } = loadTerminalUiHarness();
+    const textarea = { classList: { contains: () => true } };
+    app.terminal = { textarea };
+    setActiveElement(textarea);
+
+    setKeyboardVisible(false);
+    expect(app._shouldForwardMobileTapToApp()).toBe(false);
+
+    setKeyboardVisible(true);
+    expect(app._shouldForwardMobileTapToApp()).toBe(true);
+  });
+
   it('suppresses browser trusted compatibility mouse events during the tap window', () => {
     const { app } = loadTerminalUiHarness();
     const { element, dispatch } = createElementHarness();