diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 287a69ca..5a3ee548 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ desktop/build/*
 !desktop/build/requirements-desktop.txt
 !desktop/build/build-backend.sh
 !desktop/build/entitlements.mac.plist
+!desktop/build/notarize-app.js
 
 # Icon authoring scratch dir: intermediate assets used to produce the final
 # icons. Only the finished icons under desktop/resources/ should be committed.
diff --git a/desktop/build/notarize-app.js b/desktop/build/notarize-app.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b8aeff26
--- /dev/null
+++ b/desktop/build/notarize-app.js
@@ -0,0 +1,123 @@
+/**
+ * electron-builder afterSign hook: notarize the signed .app ourselves.
+ *
+ * Why not electron-builder's built-in notarize (mac.notarize):
+ * it runs `notarytool submit --wait`, which aborts the whole build on ANY
+ * network blip during status polling (NSURLErrorDomain -1001 timeout / -1009
+ * offline), with no retry — and on failure it re-submits a fresh upload,
+ * piling up duplicate submissions. We saw arm64 get "Accepted" yet the build
+ * still failed because the poll request dropped.
+ *
+ * This hook runs after signing and BEFORE the dmg is built, so we:
+ *   1. zip the .app with ditto (the payload Apple actually accepts for this
+ *      large PyInstaller bundle — submitting the dmg got stuck In Progress),
+ *   2. `notarytool submit --no-wait` ONCE to get a submission id,
+ *   3. poll that SAME id until Accepted/Invalid — a failed poll (network) is
+ *      ignored and retried; we never re-submit,
+ *   4. staple the ticket onto the .app; electron-builder then packs the dmg.
+ *
+ * Requires env: APPLE_ID, APPLE_APP_SPECIFIC_PASSWORD, APPLE_TEAM_ID.
+ * If they're absent (unsigned/dry build) the hook is a no-op.
+ * Tunables: NOTARIZE_MAX_WAIT_MINUTES (default 180), NOTARIZE_POLL_SECONDS (default 30).
+ */
+const { execFileSync } = require('child_process')
+const fs = require('fs')
+const os = require('os')
+const path = require('path')
+
+function sh(cmd, args, opts = {}) {
+  return execFileSync(cmd, args, { encoding: 'utf8', ...opts })
+}
+
+exports.default = async function notarizeApp(context) {
+  const { electronPlatformName, appOutDir, packager } = context
+  if (electronPlatformName !== 'darwin') return
+
+  const appleId = process.env.APPLE_ID
+  const applePassword = process.env.APPLE_APP_SPECIFIC_PASSWORD
+  const teamId = process.env.APPLE_TEAM_ID
+  if (!appleId || !applePassword || !teamId) {
+    console.log('[notarize-app] APPLE_* env not set — skipping notarization')
+    return
+  }
+
+  const appName = packager.appInfo.productFilename
+  const appPath = path.join(appOutDir, `${appName}.app`)
+  if (!fs.existsSync(appPath)) {
+    console.log(`[notarize-app] no .app at ${appPath}, skipping`)
+    return
+  }
+
+  const auth = [
+    '--apple-id', appleId,
+    '--password', applePassword,
+    '--team-id', teamId,
+  ]
+
+  const maxWaitMin = parseInt(process.env.NOTARIZE_MAX_WAIT_MINUTES || '180', 10)
+  const pollSec = parseInt(process.env.NOTARIZE_POLL_SECONDS || '30', 10)
+
+  // 1) zip the .app (ditto preserves symlinks/metadata; --keepParent keeps .app).
+  const zipPath = path.join(os.tmpdir(), `${appName}-${context.arch}-notarize.zip`)
+  console.log(`[notarize-app] zipping ${appPath} -> ${zipPath}`)
+  sh('ditto', ['-c', '-k', '--sequesterRsrc', '--keepParent', appPath, zipPath], { stdio: 'inherit' })
+
+  // 2) submit ONCE, no --wait, capture the submission id.
+  console.log('[notarize-app] submitting to notary service (no-wait)...')
+  const submitOut = sh('xcrun', ['notarytool', 'submit', zipPath, ...auth, '--no-wait', '--output-format', 'json'])
+  let submissionId
+  try {
+    submissionId = JSON.parse(submitOut).id
+  } catch (e) {
+    throw new Error(`[notarize-app] could not parse submission id:\n${submitOut}`)
+  }
+  if (!submissionId) throw new Error(`[notarize-app] empty submission id:\n${submitOut}`)
+  console.log(`[notarize-app] submission id: ${submissionId} (polling same id, never resubmitting)`)
+
+  // 3) poll the SAME id; a failed poll (network) is ignored and retried.
+  const deadline = Date.now() + maxWaitMin * 60 * 1000
+  const sleep = (ms) => new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, ms))
+  for (;;) {
+    let status = ''
+    try {
+      const infoOut = sh('xcrun', ['notarytool', 'info', submissionId, ...auth, '--output-format', 'json'])
+      status = JSON.parse(infoOut).status || ''
+    } catch (e) {
+      status = '' // treat query failure as unknown; keep polling
+    }
+    const ts = new Date().toISOString().slice(11, 19)
+    console.log(`[notarize-app] [${ts}] status: ${status || '<query failed, retrying>'}`)
+
+    if (status === 'Accepted') break
+    if (status === 'Invalid' || status === 'Rejected') {
+      try {
+        console.log(sh('xcrun', ['notarytool', 'log', submissionId, ...auth]))
+      } catch {}
+      throw new Error(`[notarize-app] notarization ${status} (id: ${submissionId})`)
+    }
+    if (Date.now() >= deadline) {
+      throw new Error(
+        `[notarize-app] not finished after ${maxWaitMin} min (id: ${submissionId}). ` +
+        `NOT resubmitting. Check later: xcrun notarytool info ${submissionId}`
+      )
+    }
+    await sleep(pollSec * 1000)
+  }
+
+  // 4) staple the ticket onto the .app (dmg is built afterwards by electron-builder).
+  console.log('[notarize-app] Accepted; stapling ticket to .app')
+  let stapleTry = 1
+  for (;;) {
+    try {
+      sh('xcrun', ['stapler', 'staple', appPath], { stdio: 'inherit' })
+      break
+    } catch (e) {
+      if (stapleTry >= 3) throw e
+      console.log('[notarize-app] staple failed, retrying in 15s...')
+      await sleep(15000)
+      stapleTry++
+    }
+  }
+  try { fs.unlinkSync(zipPath) } catch {}
+  console.log('[notarize-app] notarization + staple complete')
+}
diff --git a/desktop/electron-builder.js b/desktop/electron-builder.js
index ccbea773..ea245531 100644
--- a/desktop/electron-builder.js
+++ b/desktop/electron-builder.js
@@ -71,13 +71,15 @@ function collectBackendBinaries() {
 if (process.platform === 'darwin') {
   const binaries = collectBackendBinaries()
   console.log(`[electron-builder.js] injecting ${binaries.length} backend binaries into mac.binaries`)
-  // Notarize via electron-builder's built-in flow, which zips the .app and
-  // submits THAT (then staples the .app and packs the dmg around it).
-  // Submitting the .app-zip is the path that actually gets Accepted by Apple's
-  // notary service; submitting the dmg directly got stuck "In Progress"
-  // indefinitely for this large PyInstaller bundle. notarize needs APPLE_ID /
-  // APPLE_APP_SPECIFIC_PASSWORD / APPLE_TEAM_ID in the environment.
-  config.mac = { ...config.mac, binaries, notarize: true }
+  // Disable the built-in notarize: it runs `notarytool submit --wait`, which
+  // aborts the whole build on any network blip during polling (-1001/-1009)
+  // and re-submits fresh uploads on failure. Instead we notarize in an
+  // afterSign hook (build/notarize-app.js) that zips the .app (the payload
+  // Apple accepts for this bundle), submits ONCE, and polls the same id with
+  // network-fault tolerance. The hook runs after signing, before the dmg is
+  // built, and staples the .app so the dmg ships an offline-valid ticket.
+  config.mac = { ...config.mac, binaries, notarize: false }
+  config.afterSign = 'build/notarize-app.js'
 }
 
 module.exports = config