diff --git a/home-manager/fred.nix b/home-manager/fred.nix
index f5fdb37..ba3ebe8 100644
--- a/home-manager/fred.nix
+++ b/home-manager/fred.nix
@@ -74,6 +74,25 @@ in
         inherit src;
         hash = "sha256-CSZ5sZ+d7Jhi43ipaWXKupYPFgWCbCx4RMTQN8emu9o=";
       };
+      # Always claim playback on our own device at launch, instead of having to
+      # pick it from the device popup every time. Two upstream guards in
+      # client/mod.rs stop that from happening:
+      #   1. initialize_playback skips connecting entirely if any playback
+      #      already exists — a phone or web player holding a paused playback
+      #      is enough.
+      #   2. find_available_device returns the currently *active* device before
+      #      it ever gets to the "prefer the integrated device" branch.
+      # Disabling both leaves the integrated device as the startup target.
+      # The CLI can't do this from the outside: `connect --name` resolves names
+      # against the Web API device list, which usually doesn't contain our
+      # freshly registered librespot device at all.
+      postPatch = (old.postPatch or "") + ''
+        substituteInPlace spotify_player/src/client/mod.rs \
+          --replace-fail "if state.player.read().playback.is_some() {" \
+                         "if false {" \
+          --replace-fail "if let Some(d) = devices.iter().find(|d| d.is_active) {" \
+                         "if let Some(d) = devices.iter().find(|d| false && d.is_active) {"
+      '';
     });
     settings = {
       enable_audio_visualization = true;
@@ -88,23 +107,10 @@ in
   };
 
   # Upstream ships no .desktop file (TUI only), so the launcher can't find it.
-  # The launcher also force-connects to our own librespot device: upstream only
-  # auto-connects when *no* playback exists anywhere on the account
-  # (client/mod.rs `initialize_playback` bails out when playback.is_some()), so
-  # a phone or web player still holding a paused playback means we'd otherwise
-  # have to pick the device by hand every launch. Retry because the device takes
-  # a few seconds to register with Spotify.
   xdg.desktopEntries.spotify-player = lib.mkIf isDesktop {
     name = "Spotify Player";
     genericName = "Music Player";
-    exec = "ghostty --title=spotify-player -e ${pkgs.writeShellScript "spotify-player-connected" ''
-      sp=${config.programs.spotify-player.package}/bin/spotify_player
-      for _ in $(seq 15); do
-        sleep 2
-        "$sp" connect --name spotify-player && break
-      done &
-      exec "$sp"
-    ''}";
+    exec = "ghostty --title=spotify-player -e spotify_player";
     icon = "spotify";
     terminal = false;
     categories = [ "Audio" "Music" "Player" "AudioVideo" ];