diff --git a/scripts/ci/ios-sim/avatar.swift b/scripts/ci/ios-sim/avatar.swift
index 9a7e239516..e1b0925335 100644
--- a/scripts/ci/ios-sim/avatar.swift
+++ b/scripts/ci/ios-sim/avatar.swift
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 // a JPEG at quality 0.85 drawn at scale 1, shrunk by sqrt(size / 12500), at most halved per step,
 // until its data URI is at most 12500 characters. The picture is synthetic and photo-like: a gradient,
 // discs and noise, with more noise for a higher detail.
-// Usage: avatar <seed> <detail 0...1> <output file>
+// Usage: avatar <seed> <detail 0...1> <output file> [side in pixels, default 1024]
 
 import CoreGraphics
 import Foundation
@@ -70,12 +70,12 @@ func reduced(_ image: CGImage, ratio: Double) -> CGImage {
 }
 
 let args = CommandLine.arguments
-guard args.count == 4, let seed = UInt64(args[1]), let detail = Double(args[2]) else {
-    print("usage: avatar <seed> <detail 0...1> <output file>")
+guard args.count == 4 || args.count == 5, let seed = UInt64(args[1]), let detail = Double(args[2]), let side = Int(args.count == 5 ? args[4] : "1024") else {
+    print("usage: avatar <seed> <detail 0...1> <output file> [side in pixels, default 1024]")
     exit(1)
 }
 var generator = Random(state: seed)
-var image = picture(side: 1024, detail: detail, random: &generator)
+var image = picture(side: side, detail: detail, random: &generator)
 var uri = jpegDataURI(image)
 var steps = 0
 while uri.count > maxDataSize {
diff --git a/scripts/ci/ios-sim/backend.sh b/scripts/ci/ios-sim/backend.sh
index 32f497f1b6..cdffa46973 100755
--- a/scripts/ci/ios-sim/backend.sh
+++ b/scripts/ci/ios-sim/backend.sh
@@ -224,13 +224,17 @@ new_address() {
   esac
 }
 
-# Avatars at the size the app makes them (avatar.swift), with different amounts of detail.
+# Avatars at the size the app makes them (avatar.swift), with different amounts of detail;
+# and small ones for the smoke test's entries, so that its two search results still arrive in one response.
 make_avatars() {
   xcrun swiftc -O -o "$work/avatar" "$(dirname "$0")/avatar.swift"
   local i
   for i in 1 2 3 4 5 6; do
     "$work/avatar" "$i" "0.$((i + 2))" "$work/avatar-$i.txt"
   done
+  for i in 7 8 9; do
+    "$work/avatar" "$i" 0 "$work/avatar-$i.txt" 64
+  done
 }
 
 seed_avatars() {
@@ -402,7 +406,8 @@ write_seed() {
     echo
     echo "| Search with | Entries | Seeded for |"
     echo "|---|---|---|"
-    echo "| \`$search_text\` | ci_group (group, no avatar), ci_channel (channel, no avatar) | the smoke test; results on one page |"
+    echo "| \`$search_text\` | ci_group (group), ci_channel (channel), each with a small avatar (64 px) | the smoke test; results on one page |"
+    echo "| \`ci cards\` | ci_cards (channel, with a small avatar) | the smoke test joins it, so that the chat list shows its cards |"
     echo "| \`$avatar_search_text\` | ci_avatar_g1…3 (groups), ci_avatar_c1…3 (channels), each with an avatar the size the app makes | avatars and the response size limit: about one entry per page |"
     echo "| \`ci long\` | $long_name (group): a long name and a two-line description | D3 |"
     echo "| \`ci markdown\` | ci_markdown (group): markdown in the description | D5 |"
@@ -446,9 +451,10 @@ start() {
   start_directory "0:nobody"
   trap dump_directory EXIT
   connect_admin
-  seed_group ci_group "CI seed group"
+  seed_group ci_group "CI seed group" "$work/avatar-7.txt"
   setup_relay
-  seed_channel ci_channel "CI seed channel"
+  seed_channel ci_channel "CI seed channel" "$work/avatar-8.txt"
+  seed_channel ci_cards "CI cards channel" "$work/avatar-9.txt"
   seed_avatars
   seed_group "$long_name" "CI long entry: a description long enough to take two lines in the directory results, to check how the row truncates"
   seed_group ci_markdown "CI markdown *bold* _italic_ [x](https://example.com)"
@@ -456,6 +462,7 @@ start() {
   probe_search
   probe_names
   write_seed
+  probe_pages "$search_text" 2
   probe_pages "$avatar_search_text" 6
 }