diff --git a/hooks/__tests__/use-bluesky-archive-import.test.ts b/hooks/__tests__/use-bluesky-archive-import.test.ts
index d5b0d5b..0c96bf2 100644
--- a/hooks/__tests__/use-bluesky-archive-import.test.ts
+++ b/hooks/__tests__/use-bluesky-archive-import.test.ts
@@ -163,4 +163,49 @@ describe("importing a Cyd Bluesky archive from the menu", () => {
     expect(result.current.state.status).toBe("idle");
     expect(fs.readdirSync(harness.stagingParent)).toEqual([]);
   });
+
+  /**
+   * Intake keeps a verified partial extraction so a killed import can be
+   * resumed (ADR 0006), and nothing in Mobile offers to resume one — so
+   * without this, every import the operating system interrupts leaves an
+   * archive-sized directory behind until the app is uninstalled.
+   */
+  it("clears staging an earlier launch abandoned", async () => {
+    fs.mkdirSync(path.join(harness.stagingParent, "abandoned-with-nothing"), {
+      recursive: true,
+    });
+    const halfDone = path.join(harness.stagingParent, "abandoned-part-way");
+    fs.mkdirSync(halfDone, { recursive: true });
+    fs.writeFileSync(
+      path.join(halfDone, "intake.json"),
+      JSON.stringify({
+        sourceUri: "file:///fixtures/complete.cyd",
+        sourceBytes: 1,
+        phase: "extracting",
+        confirmedLargeArchive: false,
+        totalBytes: 1,
+        metadata: null,
+        payloads: [],
+        extracted: [],
+        updatedAt: new Date().toISOString(),
+      }),
+    );
+
+    const { result } = renderHook(() =>
+      useBlueskyArchiveImport({
+        runtime: harness.runtime,
+      }),
+    );
+
+    await act(async () => {
+      await result.current.start();
+    });
+
+    expect(fs.existsSync(halfDone)).toBe(false);
+    expect(
+      fs.readdirSync(harness.stagingParent).filter((name) =>
+        name.startsWith("abandoned-"),
+      ),
+    ).toEqual([]);
+  });
 });
diff --git a/hooks/use-bluesky-archive-import.ts b/hooks/use-bluesky-archive-import.ts
index 8d3894b..c2cd87f 100644
--- a/hooks/use-bluesky-archive-import.ts
+++ b/hooks/use-bluesky-archive-import.ts
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import { useCallback, useRef, useState } from "react";
 import {
   cancelBlueskyArchiveIntake,
   createBlueskyArchiveIntakeEnvironment,
+  listResumableBlueskyArchiveIntakes,
   openBlueskyArchiveByteReader,
   runBlueskyArchiveIntake,
   type BlueskyArchiveIntakeEnvironment,
@@ -128,6 +129,33 @@ function messageFor(error: unknown): string {
     : "Cyd could not import that archive.";
 }
 
+/**
+ * Clear staging that an earlier launch left behind.
+ *
+ * Intake keeps a verified partial extraction on purpose, so that an import
+ * killed by the operating system can be picked up rather than started over
+ * (ADR 0006). Nothing in Mobile offers to pick one up, so what that policy
+ * actually produces is a directory per abandoned import, each the size of the
+ * archive it was reading, kept until the app is uninstalled.
+ *
+ * Starting an import is the moment to sweep them: it is the only thing that
+ * creates them, the person is right there, and anything still in flight
+ * belongs to a generation this one has already moved past. The day something
+ * offers to resume an import, this is what it replaces.
+ */
+function discardAbandonedStaging(
+  intake: BlueskyArchiveIntakeEnvironment,
+): void {
+  try {
+    for (const abandoned of listResumableBlueskyArchiveIntakes(intake)) {
+      cancelBlueskyArchiveIntake(intake, abandoned.intakeId);
+    }
+  } catch (error) {
+    // Debris nobody can see is not worth failing an import over.
+    console.warn("[archive-import] could not clear old staging", error);
+  }
+}
+
 function plural(count: number, noun: string): string {
   return `${count.toLocaleString()} ${noun}${count === 1 ? "" : "s"}`;
 }
@@ -409,6 +437,7 @@ export function useBlueskyArchiveImport(
   const start = useCallback(async (): Promise<void> => {
     const generation = (generationRef.current += 1);
     try {
+      discardAbandonedStaging(importRuntime().intake);
       const picked = await importRuntime().pickArchive();
       if (!picked) {
         return;