diff --git a/src/nitro/nitro_connection.test.ts b/src/nitro/nitro_connection.test.ts
index c8e79822..02bcff20 100644
--- a/src/nitro/nitro_connection.test.ts
+++ b/src/nitro/nitro_connection.test.ts
@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ describe('openNitroConnection — the dedicated read handle', () => {
     expect(lastReport().context).toContain('a reopen and a refetch');
   });
 
-  // An iOS CodePush reload replaces the JS runtime inside the running process, so `openConnections` comes back empty
+  // A JS reload replaces the JS runtime inside the running process, so `openConnections` comes back empty
   // while nitro still holds every handle the previous runtime opened. The writer re-registers by name; the reader is
   // the one whose name is exclusive, and losing it is what puts the store's whole working set back on the JS heap.
   it('reclaims a reader handle a previous JS runtime left open, rather than giving it up', () => {
@@ -180,8 +180,9 @@ describe('openNitroConnection — the dedicated read handle', () => {
       throw handleInUse();
     });
     mockOpenSecondary.mockReturnValue(reader as never);
-    mockNativeClose.mockImplementationOnce(() => {
-      throw new Error('not ours to close');
+    // Keyed by name: the stale writer's close, which runs first when this runtime does not hold the name, goes through.
+    mockNativeClose.mockImplementation((handle: string) => {
+      if (handle === 'things:reader') throw new Error('not ours to close');
     });
 
     const conn = openNitroConnection('things', { dedicatedReader: true });
@@ -189,6 +190,7 @@ describe('openNitroConnection — the dedicated read handle', () => {
     expect(conn.reader).toBeDefined();
     expect(String(mockOpenSecondary.mock.lastCall?.[0].handle)).toMatch(/^things:reader:.+/);
     expect(captureException).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    mockNativeClose.mockImplementation(() => undefined);
   });
 });
 
@@ -327,6 +329,46 @@ describe('binding a store', () => {
  * untidy: they are what makes the *next* attempt — a retry, or a Fast Refresh re-running the same init — report a
  * handle collision on top of the failure that actually happened.
  */
+// The writer half of the same reload. nitro's `open` registers over a name it already holds without closing the old
+// handle, and every statement of a batch looks its handle up by name, so a batch the old runtime had in flight would
+// finish on the new handle and leave its `BEGIN EXCLUSIVE` open on the leaked one: every write after it fails as
+// `database is locked` until the app is killed.
+describe('openNitroConnection — the writer a previous JS runtime left open', () => {
+  it('closes it by name before opening its own, so it cannot keep the lock', () => {
+    mockOpen.mockReturnValue(fakeHandle() as never);
+
+    openNitroConnection('reloaded.db');
+
+    expect(mockNativeClose).toHaveBeenCalledWith('reloaded.db');
+    expect(mockNativeClose.mock.invocationCallOrder[0]).toBeLessThan(mockOpen.mock.invocationCallOrder[0]);
+  });
+
+  it('opens as usual when nothing is registered under the name, which is a cold start', () => {
+    mockOpen.mockReturnValue(fakeHandle() as never);
+    mockNativeClose.mockImplementationOnce(() => {
+      throw new Error('Database reloaded2.db is not open');
+    });
+
+    const conn = openNitroConnection('reloaded2.db');
+
+    expect(conn).toBeDefined();
+    expect(captureException).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
+  it('leaves the close to its own handles when this runtime already holds the name, as on a reopen', () => {
+    const first = fakeHandle();
+    mockOpen.mockReturnValue(first as never);
+    openNitroConnection('held.db');
+    mockNativeClose.mockClear();
+
+    mockOpen.mockReturnValue(fakeHandle() as never);
+    openNitroConnection('held.db');
+
+    expect(first.close).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(mockNativeClose).not.toHaveBeenCalledWith('held.db');
+  });
+});
+
 describe('binding a store — the handles a failure opened', () => {
   const failingBind = (name: string, writer: FakeHandle, reader: FakeHandle) => {
     mockOpen.mockReturnValue(writer as never);
diff --git a/src/nitro/nitro_connection.ts b/src/nitro/nitro_connection.ts
index 89c50fa1..c74d8a8b 100644
--- a/src/nitro/nitro_connection.ts
+++ b/src/nitro/nitro_connection.ts
@@ -140,10 +140,10 @@ function isHandleInUse(error: unknown): boolean {
  * Opens `name`'s dedicated reader, reclaiming the handle if a previous JS runtime left it open.
  *
  * {@linkcode closeNitroConnection} can only hand back handles this module's own map knows about, and that map lives in
- * the JS heap. An iOS CodePush reload replaces the JS runtime in the same native process, so the new runtime starts
- * with an empty map while nitro's registry still holds every handle the old one opened. The writer survives that,
- * because `open` addresses a database by name and re-registers it; a secondary handle's name is exclusive, so the
- * reader is the one that collides.
+ * the JS heap. A JS reload replaces the JS runtime in the same native process, so the new runtime starts
+ * with an empty map while nitro's registry still holds every handle the old one opened. `open` registers a writer over
+ * the old one without complaint, which leaks it ({@linkcode reclaimStaleWriter} closes it first); a secondary handle's
+ * name is exclusive, so the reader is the one that collides.
  *
  * Losing it is not the small thing it reads as. {@linkcode readRows} falls back to the writer handle, so the ranker's
  * multi statement `TEMP` work starts interleaving with an ingest's savepoint on one connection, SQLite refuses the
@@ -171,6 +171,15 @@ function openReader(name: string): ReturnType<typeof openSecondary> | undefined
   return openSecondary({ name, handle: `${preferred}:${Date.now().toString(36)}` });
 }
 
+/** A JS reload leaves the previous runtime's writer registered natively; close it before opening our own. */
+function reclaimStaleWriter(name: string): void {
+  try {
+    NitroSQLite.native.close(name);
+  } catch {
+    /* nothing registered under the name: a cold start */
+  }
+}
+
 /** Options for {@linkcode openNitroConnection}. */
 export interface NitroConnectionOptions {
   /**
@@ -193,7 +202,9 @@ export function openNitroConnection(name: string, opts?: NitroConnectionOptions)
   // Reopening a database this process already holds — a Fast Refresh re-running init, or a store rebound after a
   // schema change — has to hand the previous handles back first. Registering over them would leak them, and because a
   // secondary handle's name is exclusive, the reader is the one that would not come back.
+  const heldByThisRuntime = openConnections.has(name);
   closeNitroConnection(name);
+  if (!heldByThisRuntime) reclaimStaleWriter(name);
 
   const writer = open({ name });
   applyPragmas(writer, name);
diff --git a/src/tests/superseded_connection.test.ts b/src/tests/superseded_connection.test.ts
index 1e631d66..7b423507 100644
--- a/src/tests/superseded_connection.test.ts
+++ b/src/tests/superseded_connection.test.ts
@@ -49,8 +49,8 @@ const flush = () => new Promise<void>((resolve) => queueMicrotask(resolve));
 
 /**
  * A store on its in-memory fallback that a retry binds back onto its file still has the fallback's writes in flight.
- * Each resumes on the fallback's connection, and in the app on whatever nitro now holds under that name — such as a
- * fresh in-memory database with none of its `TEMP` tables (SLEEPER-PROD-84T1, SLEEPER-PROD-84GX).
+ * Each resumes on the fallback's connection, and on a device on whatever nitro now holds under that name — such as a
+ * fresh in-memory database with none of its `TEMP` tables.
  */
 describe('defineSqliteStore — a failure on a connection the store has moved off of', () => {
   beforeEach(() => {