diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 58ba78c..c918f89 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1468,6 +1468,9 @@ view would leave a wallet one click from deletion.
     - "Reveal" (wrong password) → full-sentence error on the error line, nothing
       revealed (no screen change)
     - "Back" → previous screen (AddressDetail)
+    - Settings gear → **Settings**, whose "Back" goes to AddressDetail: leaving
+      drops the address the screen was showing, so it also takes the screen off
+      the Back stack
 - **Secret handling**: nothing is decrypted, no key is derived, and nothing is
   written into the page until the password is accepted; the key is never stored
   in state, and it is wiped from the page whenever the screen is left by any
@@ -1795,6 +1798,9 @@ view would leave a wallet one click from deletion.
     - "Reveal" (wrong password) → full-sentence error, nothing revealed (no
       screen change)
     - "Back" → previous screen (Settings)
+    - Settings gear → **Settings**, whose "Back" never lands back on this
+      screen: leaving drops the wallet the screen was showing, so it also takes
+      the screen off the Back stack
 - **Secret handling**: nothing is decrypted or written into the page until the
   password is accepted; the phrase is never stored in state, and it is wiped
   from the page whenever the screen is left by any route, including the Settings
diff --git a/TODO.md b/TODO.md
index 646cb03..a14785d 100644
--- a/TODO.md
+++ b/TODO.md
@@ -45,6 +45,15 @@ but the review is broader than any of them.
 
 # Completed Steps
 
+- 2026-10-06: Back from Settings no longer lands on the private key export or
+  recovery phrase screen after either was left by the settings gear
+  ([#461](https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/AutistMask/issues/461)). Leaving drops the
+  screen's selection, so its leave handler now also takes it off the Back stack,
+  as a reopened popup already does. `tests/exportPrivkey.test.js` and
+  `tests/showPhrase.test.js` drive the gear and then Back, and
+  `leavePrivkeyScreen()` in `tests/e2e/run.js` expects the address screen after
+  Settings.
+
 - 2026-10-06: The private key export screen opens again in the same popup
   session ([#460](https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/AutistMask/issues/460)). `show()`
   found the address line through the element inside it, which its own rendering
diff --git a/src/popup/views/exportPrivkey.js b/src/popup/views/exportPrivkey.js
index 5daa7ed..b027c13 100644
--- a/src/popup/views/exportPrivkey.js
+++ b/src/popup/views/exportPrivkey.js
@@ -152,7 +152,16 @@ async function reveal() {
 }
 
 function init() {
-    onViewLeave(VIEW, clear);
+    // Leaving drops the address selection, so the screen also comes off the
+    // Back stack, where the settings gear has just put it: Back from Settings
+    // must not land on a password prompt that can only fail. A reopened popup
+    // drops it from the stack the same way
+    // (https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/AutistMask/issues/461).
+    onViewLeave(VIEW, () => {
+        clear();
+        const stack = state.viewStack;
+        if (stack[stack.length - 1] === VIEW) stack.pop();
+    });
 
     // No wipe here: goBack() routes through showView(), which runs the
     // leave hook. A per-button wipe would only cover this one path.
diff --git a/src/popup/views/showPhrase.js b/src/popup/views/showPhrase.js
index d8962c2..839cf67 100644
--- a/src/popup/views/showPhrase.js
+++ b/src/popup/views/showPhrase.js
@@ -134,7 +134,16 @@ async function reveal() {
 }
 
 function init() {
-    onViewLeave(VIEW, clear);
+    // Leaving drops the wallet selection, so the screen also comes off the
+    // Back stack, where the settings gear has just put it: Back from Settings
+    // must not land on a password prompt that can only fail. A reopened popup
+    // drops it from the stack the same way
+    // (https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/AutistMask/issues/461).
+    onViewLeave(VIEW, () => {
+        clear();
+        const stack = state.viewStack;
+        if (stack[stack.length - 1] === VIEW) stack.pop();
+    });
 
     $("btn-show-phrase-back").addEventListener("click", () => {
         goBack();
diff --git a/tests/e2e/run.js b/tests/e2e/run.js
index 47f76a0..5951dfc 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/run.js
+++ b/tests/e2e/run.js
@@ -1037,13 +1037,13 @@ async function revealPrivkey(page) {
 }
 
 // Leave the export screen, or the Settings screen the gear left it for, for
-// Home. The gear put the export screen on the Back stack, so from Settings the
-// way home passes through it, already emptied
+// Home. Leaving takes the export screen off the Back stack, so from Settings
+// Back goes to the address screen it was opened from
 // (https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/AutistMask/issues/461).
 async function leavePrivkeyScreen(page) {
     if (await page.isVisible("#view-settings")) {
         await page.click("#btn-settings-back");
-        await visible(page, "#view-export-privkey");
+        await visible(page, "#view-address");
     }
     if (await page.isVisible("#view-export-privkey")) {
         await page.click("#btn-export-privkey-back");
diff --git a/tests/exportPrivkey.test.js b/tests/exportPrivkey.test.js
index 48eb0a3..8629431 100644
--- a/tests/exportPrivkey.test.js
+++ b/tests/exportPrivkey.test.js
@@ -336,6 +336,36 @@ describe("opening the screen again in the same popup session", () => {
     });
 });
 
+describe("Back from Settings after leaving by the settings gear", () => {
+    // https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/AutistMask/issues/461: leaving drops the
+    // address selection, so Back onto this screen showed a password prompt
+    // that could only answer "No address is selected."
+    test("goes to the address screen it was opened from", () => {
+        const { helpers, state, exportPrivkey } = load();
+        state.viewStack = ["main"];
+        exportPrivkey.show(0, 0);
+        // The settings gear: push the current view, then show Settings.
+        helpers.pushCurrentView();
+        helpers.showView("settings");
+
+        helpers.goBack();
+
+        expect(state.currentView).toBe("address");
+        expect(state.viewStack).toEqual(["main"]);
+    });
+
+    test("its own Back button leaves the rest of the stack alone", async () => {
+        const { state, exportPrivkey } = load();
+        state.viewStack = ["main"];
+        exportPrivkey.show(0, 0);
+
+        await click("btn-export-privkey-back");
+
+        expect(state.currentView).toBe("address");
+        expect(state.viewStack).toEqual(["main"]);
+    });
+});
+
 describe("views the popup may reopen onto", () => {
     // Restoring onto this screen would put a private key on display with no
     // password prompt in front of it, on a popup reopened by accident.
diff --git a/tests/showPhrase.test.js b/tests/showPhrase.test.js
index 4a76499..db675c8 100644
--- a/tests/showPhrase.test.js
+++ b/tests/showPhrase.test.js
@@ -1,12 +1,17 @@
 // Tests for the recovery phrase display (issue #161).
 //
-// These cover the parts that do not need a DOM: which wallet types may be
-// offered the action at all, the exclusion of the screen from the set of
-// views the popup may reopen onto, and the absence of any path from this
-// module to the logger. The DOM behaviour it guards — nothing rendered
-// before the password is accepted, a wrong password revealing nothing, and
-// the wipe on leaving — is driven against the real popup in a real browser
-// by tests/e2e/run.js, which is where every other view behaviour is tested.
+// These cover which wallet types may be offered the action at all, the
+// exclusion of the screen from the set of views the popup may reopen onto,
+// the absence of any path from this module to the logger, and, against a
+// minimal DOM stub, where Back goes after the screen is left by the settings
+// gear. The rest of the DOM behaviour it guards — nothing rendered before the
+// password is accepted, a wrong password revealing nothing, and the wipe on
+// leaving — is driven against the real popup in a real browser by
+// tests/e2e/run.js, which is where every other view behaviour is tested.
+
+jest.mock("../src/shared/vault", () => ({
+    decryptWithPassword: jest.fn(),
+}));
 
 const fs = require("fs");
 const path = require("path");
@@ -74,6 +79,64 @@ describe("views the popup may reopen onto", () => {
     });
 });
 
+// Just enough document for helpers.showView() and this view: every element
+// is made on first lookup and keeps what the view writes to it.
+function makeDocument() {
+    const els = new Map();
+    function makeElement() {
+        const classes = new Set();
+        return {
+            textContent: "",
+            value: "",
+            style: {},
+            classList: {
+                add: (name) => classes.add(name),
+                remove: (name) => classes.delete(name),
+                contains: (name) => classes.has(name),
+                toggle: (name, on) =>
+                    on ? classes.add(name) : classes.delete(name),
+            },
+            addEventListener: () => {},
+        };
+    }
+    return {
+        getElementById(id) {
+            // Created on demand by helpers.js; absent on a mainnet popup
+            // that is not a debug build.
+            if (id === "debug-banner") return null;
+            if (!els.has(id)) els.set(id, makeElement());
+            return els.get(id);
+        },
+    };
+}
+
+describe("Back from Settings after leaving by the settings gear", () => {
+    // https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/AutistMask/issues/461: leaving drops the
+    // wallet selection, so Back onto this screen showed a password prompt
+    // that could only answer "No wallet is selected."
+    test("does not land on the recovery phrase screen", () => {
+        jest.resetModules();
+        globalThis.document = makeDocument();
+        const helpers = loadHelpers();
+        const { state } = require("../src/shared/state");
+        const showPhrase = require("../src/popup/views/showPhrase");
+        showPhrase.init();
+        state.wallets = [{ name: "Wallet 1", type: "hd", addresses: [] }];
+        state.currentView = "settings";
+        state.viewStack = ["main"];
+
+        // Opened from the wallet list in Settings, then left by the gear:
+        // push the current view, then show Settings.
+        showPhrase.show(0);
+        helpers.pushCurrentView();
+        helpers.showView("settings");
+
+        expect(state.viewStack).toEqual(["main", "settings"]);
+        helpers.goBack();
+        expect(state.currentView).not.toBe(SHOW_PHRASE_VIEW);
+    });
+});
+
 describe("the phrase cannot reach the logger", () => {
     const source = fs.readFileSync(
         path.join(__dirname, "..", "src", "popup", "views", "showPhrase.js"),