diff --git a/apps/multiplatform/common/src/androidMain/kotlin/chat/simplex/common/platform/Modifier.android.kt b/apps/multiplatform/common/src/androidMain/kotlin/chat/simplex/common/platform/Modifier.android.kt
index 5d07aae088..8bee171157 100644
--- a/apps/multiplatform/common/src/androidMain/kotlin/chat/simplex/common/platform/Modifier.android.kt
+++ b/apps/multiplatform/common/src/androidMain/kotlin/chat/simplex/common/platform/Modifier.android.kt
@@ -17,4 +17,6 @@ actual fun Modifier.onRightClick(action: () -> Unit): Modifier = this
 
 actual fun Modifier.desktopPointerHoverIconHand(): Modifier = this
 
+actual fun desktopSetHoverCursor(hand: Boolean) {}
+
 actual fun Modifier.desktopOnHovered(action: (Boolean) -> Unit): Modifier = Modifier
diff --git a/apps/multiplatform/common/src/commonMain/kotlin/chat/simplex/common/platform/Modifier.kt b/apps/multiplatform/common/src/commonMain/kotlin/chat/simplex/common/platform/Modifier.kt
index be7022ca80..76b98990d6 100644
--- a/apps/multiplatform/common/src/commonMain/kotlin/chat/simplex/common/platform/Modifier.kt
+++ b/apps/multiplatform/common/src/commonMain/kotlin/chat/simplex/common/platform/Modifier.kt
@@ -26,6 +26,15 @@ expect fun Modifier.onRightClick(action: () -> Unit): Modifier
 
 expect fun Modifier.desktopPointerHoverIconHand(): Modifier
 
+/**
+ * Directly sets the mouse cursor (hand or text) on desktop, bypassing Compose's pointerHoverIcon.
+ * pointerHoverIcon is edge-triggered (it displays the icon only on a per-node Enter event, or on an
+ * icon change while the node is marked in-bounds) and those edges can be silently lost when chat
+ * items shift/recompose under the cursor, leaving a stale cursor. Calling this on every hover move
+ * keeps the cursor self-correcting. No-op on Android.
+ */
+expect fun desktopSetHoverCursor(hand: Boolean)
+
 expect fun Modifier.desktopOnHovered(action: (Boolean) -> Unit): Modifier
 
 @Composable
diff --git a/apps/multiplatform/common/src/commonMain/kotlin/chat/simplex/common/views/chat/item/TextItemView.kt b/apps/multiplatform/common/src/commonMain/kotlin/chat/simplex/common/views/chat/item/TextItemView.kt
index c7c96cd731..3b50441b21 100644
--- a/apps/multiplatform/common/src/commonMain/kotlin/chat/simplex/common/views/chat/item/TextItemView.kt
+++ b/apps/multiplatform/common/src/commonMain/kotlin/chat/simplex/common/views/chat/item/TextItemView.kt
@@ -356,12 +356,10 @@ fun MarkdownText (
           },
           onHover = { offset ->
             val hasAnnotation: (String) -> Boolean = { tag -> annotatedText.hasStringAnnotations(tag, start = offset, end = offset) }
-            icon.value =
-              if (hasAnnotation("WEB_URL") || hasAnnotation("SIMPLEX_URL") || hasAnnotation("OTHER_URL") || hasAnnotation("SIMPLEX_NAME") || hasAnnotation("SECRET") || hasAnnotation("COMMAND")) {
-                PointerIcon.Hand
-              } else {
-                PointerIcon.Text
-              }
+            val hand = hasAnnotation("WEB_URL") || hasAnnotation("SIMPLEX_URL") || hasAnnotation("OTHER_URL") || hasAnnotation("SIMPLEX_NAME") || hasAnnotation("SECRET") || hasAnnotation("COMMAND")
+            icon.value = if (hand) PointerIcon.Hand else PointerIcon.Text
+            // pointerHoverIcon alone loses updates when items shift/recompose under the cursor, see desktopSetHoverCursor
+            desktopSetHoverCursor(hand)
           },
           shouldConsumeEvent = { offset ->
             annotatedText.hasStringAnnotations(tag = "WEB_URL", start = offset, end = offset)
diff --git a/apps/multiplatform/common/src/desktopMain/kotlin/chat/simplex/common/platform/Modifier.desktop.kt b/apps/multiplatform/common/src/desktopMain/kotlin/chat/simplex/common/platform/Modifier.desktop.kt
index b090e301d5..0a5101236e 100644
--- a/apps/multiplatform/common/src/desktopMain/kotlin/chat/simplex/common/platform/Modifier.desktop.kt
+++ b/apps/multiplatform/common/src/desktopMain/kotlin/chat/simplex/common/platform/Modifier.desktop.kt
@@ -8,7 +8,12 @@ import androidx.compose.ui.*
 import androidx.compose.ui.draganddrop.*
 import androidx.compose.ui.draganddrop.DragData
 import androidx.compose.ui.input.pointer.*
+import chat.simplex.common.simplexWindowState
+import java.awt.Component
+import java.awt.Container
+import java.awt.Cursor
 import java.awt.Image
+import javax.swing.SwingUtilities
 import java.awt.datatransfer.DataFlavor
 import java.awt.datatransfer.Transferable
 import java.awt.image.BufferedImage
@@ -81,6 +86,30 @@ actual fun Modifier.onRightClick(action: () -> Unit): Modifier = contextMenuOpen
 
 actual fun Modifier.desktopPointerHoverIconHand(): Modifier = Modifier.pointerHoverIcon(PointerIcon.Hand)
 
+// This runs on every mouse move over clickable text, so the canvas lookup is cached:
+// steady-state cost is a parent-chain check plus an int comparison, no allocations.
+private var cachedSkiaCanvas: Component? = null
+
+actual fun desktopSetHoverCursor(hand: Boolean) {
+  val window = simplexWindowState.window ?: return
+  val type = if (hand) Cursor.HAND_CURSOR else Cursor.TEXT_CURSOR
+  var canvas = cachedSkiaCanvas
+  if (canvas == null || !canvas.isDisplayable || SwingUtilities.getWindowAncestor(canvas) !== window) {
+    canvas = findSkiaCanvas(window) ?: return
+    cachedSkiaCanvas = canvas
+  }
+  if (canvas.cursor.type != type) canvas.cursor = Cursor.getPredefinedCursor(type)
+}
+
+// Compose writes the pointer icon to its skia canvas component (ComposeSceneMediator.setPointerIcon
+// -> contentComponent.cursor, a SkiaLayer/SkiaSwingLayer). Writing to the same component keeps
+// last-write-wins consistent with the framework's own cursor updates (e.g. reset to default on exit).
+private fun findSkiaCanvas(c: Component): Component? = when {
+  c.javaClass.name.contains("Skia") -> c
+  c is Container -> c.components.firstNotNullOfOrNull { findSkiaCanvas(it) }
+  else -> null
+}
+
 actual fun Modifier.desktopOnHovered(action: (Boolean) -> Unit): Modifier =
   this then Modifier
     .onPointerEvent(PointerEventType.Enter) { action(true) }