diff --git a/src/user/chat.rs b/src/user/chat.rs
index 800bf2a..3d2a2b6 100644
--- a/src/user/chat.rs
+++ b/src/user/chat.rs
@@ -902,9 +902,8 @@ impl InteractScreen {
 
         // Draw status bar with live activity indicator
         let timer = if !app.activity.is_empty() {
-            let total = self.turn_started.map(|t| t.elapsed().as_secs()).unwrap_or(0);
-            let call = self.call_started.map(|t| t.elapsed().as_secs()).unwrap_or(0);
-            format!(" {}s, {}/{}s", total, call, self.call_timeout_secs)
+            let elapsed = app.activity_started.map(|t| t.elapsed().as_secs()).unwrap_or(0);
+            format!(" {}s", elapsed)
         } else {
             String::new()
         };
@@ -1057,6 +1056,8 @@ impl ScreenView for InteractScreen {
             app.activity = st.activities.last()
                 .map(|a| a.label.clone())
                 .unwrap_or_default();
+            app.activity_started = st.activities.last()
+                .map(|a| a.started);
         }
         if let Ok(ctx) = self.agent.context.try_lock() {
             let window = crate::agent::context::context_window();
diff --git a/src/user/mod.rs b/src/user/mod.rs
index 8904dcd..6904234 100644
--- a/src/user/mod.rs
+++ b/src/user/mod.rs
@@ -358,7 +358,11 @@ async fn run(
     let mut startup_done = false;
     let mut dirty = true; // render on first loop
 
+    let mut activity_tick = tokio::time::interval(std::time::Duration::from_secs(1));
+    activity_tick.set_missed_tick_behavior(tokio::time::MissedTickBehavior::Skip);
+
     loop {
+        let has_activity = !app.activity.is_empty();
         tokio::select! {
             biased;
 
@@ -380,6 +384,10 @@ async fn run(
             Some(channels) = channel_rx.recv() => {
                 app.set_channel_status(channels);
             }
+
+            _ = activity_tick.tick(), if has_activity => {
+                dirty = true;
+            }
         }
 
         // State sync on every wake