diff --git a/src/MyMesh.cpp b/src/MyMesh.cpp
index 58ab5d6..de358a1 100644
--- a/src/MyMesh.cpp
+++ b/src/MyMesh.cpp
@@ -3257,15 +3257,8 @@ void MyMesh::popChannelScope() {
   _chan_scope_pushed = false;
 }
 
-#define MESHMEM(tag) do { \
-    multi_heap_info_t _h{}; heap_caps_get_info(&_h, MALLOC_CAP_INTERNAL | MALLOC_CAP_8BIT); \
-    Serial.printf("[MESHMEM] %-12s free=%6u psram=%7u\n", tag, \
-                  (unsigned)_h.total_free_bytes, (unsigned)ESP.getFreePsram()); Serial.flush(); } while (0)
-
 void MyMesh::begin(bool has_display) {
-  MESHMEM("enter");
   BaseChatMesh::begin();
-  MESHMEM("post-base");
 
   if (!_store->loadMainIdentity(self_id)) {
     self_id = radio_new_identity(); // create new random identity
@@ -3288,9 +3281,7 @@ void MyMesh::begin(bool has_display) {
 #endif
 
   // load persisted prefs
-  MESHMEM("pre-prefs");
   _store->loadPrefs(_prefs, sensors.node_lat, sensors.node_lon);
-  MESHMEM("post-prefs");
 
   // sanitise bad pref values
   _prefs.rx_delay_base = constrain(_prefs.rx_delay_base, 0, 20.0f);
@@ -3332,13 +3323,10 @@ void MyMesh::begin(bool has_display) {
 #endif
 
   resetContacts();
-  MESHMEM("pre-contacts");
   _store->loadContacts(this);
-  MESHMEM("post-contacts");
   bootstrapRTCfromContacts();
   addChannel("Public", PUBLIC_GROUP_PSK); // pre-configure Andy's public channel
   _store->loadChannels(this);
-  MESHMEM("post-channels");
 
   applyRadioFromPrefs();   // freq/bw/sf/cr + TX power + RX-boost (shared with the live UI apply)
 #if defined(DISPLAY_CLASS)
diff --git a/src/main.cpp b/src/main.cpp
index 1a71e76..ada7dd1 100644
--- a/src/main.cpp
+++ b/src/main.cpp
@@ -276,15 +276,6 @@ void meshcomodClearSdMigLatch() {
 #endif
 
 
-// Boot memory trace: 175 KB of internal RAM is gone before the UI starts, and
-// nothing said where. Print free/largest at each init step so the consumer
-// names itself instead of being guessed at.
-#define BOOTMEM(tag) do { \
-    multi_heap_info_t _h{}; heap_caps_get_info(&_h, MALLOC_CAP_INTERNAL | MALLOC_CAP_8BIT); \
-    Serial.printf("[BOOTMEM] %-12s free=%6u largest=%6u psram=%7u\n", tag, \
-                  (unsigned)_h.total_free_bytes, (unsigned)_h.largest_free_block, \
-                  (unsigned)ESP.getFreePsram()); Serial.flush(); } while (0)
-
 void setup() {
   Serial.begin(115200);
 #if defined(HAS_RAK_TAP_V2)
@@ -293,7 +284,6 @@ void setup() {
   delay(200);
 #endif
   Serial.println("[BOOT] setup start");
-  BOOTMEM("setup-start");
   // The SDK ships CONFIG_SPIRAM_MALLOC_ALWAYSINTERNAL=4096: every allocation
   // under 4 KB is forced into internal DRAM even when PSRAM is free. On the V4
   // that is why internal sat at ~99% while 800+ KB of PSRAM went unused. Lower
@@ -301,7 +291,6 @@ void setup() {
   // genuinely needs internal/DMA memory asks for it by capability and is
   // unaffected. Tunable — raise it if something misbehaves.
   heap_caps_malloc_extmem_enable(256);
-  BOOTMEM("post-extmem");
 
   // Widen the task-watchdog grace period. The ~5 s default trips during a legitimate-but-slow flash
   // burst — a SPIFFS garbage-collect, or a bulk save (DataStore issues ~12 flash ops per contact,
@@ -344,7 +333,6 @@ void setup() {
 
   board.begin();
   Serial.println("[BOOT] board ok");
-  BOOTMEM("post-board");
 
 #if defined(HAS_RAK_TAP_V2)
   // Quick PSRAM sanity check — silent crash before SPIFFS could be bad PSRAM config
@@ -392,9 +380,7 @@ void setup() {
   }
 #endif
 
-  BOOTMEM("pre-radio");
   if (!radio_init()) { halt(); }
-  BOOTMEM("post-radio");
   Serial.println("[BOOT] radio ok");
 
   fast_rng.begin(radio_driver.getRngSeed());
@@ -440,10 +426,7 @@ void setup() {
       ExtraFS.begin();
   #endif
   #endif
-  BOOTMEM("pre-store");
   store.begin();
-  BOOTMEM("post-store");
-  BOOTMEM("pre-mesh");
   the_mesh.begin(
     #ifdef DISPLAY_CLASS
         disp != NULL
@@ -457,15 +440,10 @@ void setup() {
 #else
   serial_interface.begin(Serial);
 #endif
-  BOOTMEM("pre-iface");
   the_mesh.startInterface(serial_interface);
-  BOOTMEM("post-iface");
 #elif defined(RP2040_PLATFORM)
   LittleFS.begin();
-  BOOTMEM("pre-store");
   store.begin();
-  BOOTMEM("post-store");
-  BOOTMEM("pre-mesh");
   the_mesh.begin(
     #ifdef DISPLAY_CLASS
         disp != NULL
@@ -488,18 +466,14 @@ void setup() {
   #else
     serial_interface.begin(Serial);
   #endif
-    BOOTMEM("pre-iface");
     the_mesh.startInterface(serial_interface);
-    BOOTMEM("post-iface");
 #elif defined(ESP32)
   // Storage selection. SPIFFS by default; use the SD card under /meshcomod when
   // SPIFFS is unavailable (e.g. installed under Launcher) OR the user opted in
   // ("Store data on SD"). The SD shares the LoRa SPI bus, already brought up by
   // radio_init() above, so SD.begin's spi.begin is a no-op. Graceful: any SD
   // failure falls back to SPIFFS so the device always boots.
-  BOOTMEM("pre-spiffs");
   bool spiffs_ok = SPIFFS.begin(false);   // try first WITHOUT auto-format
-  BOOTMEM("post-spiffs");
   bool sd_storage = false;
 #if defined(HAS_TDECK_GT911) || defined(HELTEC_LORA_V4_R8) || defined(TLORA_PAGER)
   {
@@ -668,14 +642,11 @@ void setup() {
   Serial.println("[BOOT] touchPrefsReload ok"); Serial.flush();
 #endif
 #endif
-  BOOTMEM("pre-store");
   store.begin();
-  BOOTMEM("post-store");
 #if defined(HAS_RAK_TAP_V2)
   Serial.println("[BOOT] store ok"); Serial.flush();
   Serial.println("[BOOT] calling mesh.begin..."); Serial.flush();
 #endif
-  BOOTMEM("pre-mesh");
   the_mesh.begin(
     #ifdef DISPLAY_CLASS
         disp != NULL
@@ -697,17 +668,13 @@ void setup() {
 #endif
 
 #if defined(WIFI_SSID) || defined(MULTI_TRANSPORT_COMPANION)
-  BOOTMEM("pre-wifi-cfg");
   wifiConfigBegin();
-  BOOTMEM("post-wifi-cfg");
   Serial.println("[BOOT] wifiConfig ok");
 #endif
 
 #ifdef MULTI_TRANSPORT_COMPANION
   board.setInhibitSleep(true);
-  BOOTMEM("pre-iface-srv");
   serial_interface.begin(Serial, TCP_PORT, WS_PORT);
-  BOOTMEM("post-iface-srv");
   Serial.println("[BOOT] serial_interface ok");
   serial_interface.setBroadcastResponses(true);  // RX log, channel messages, etc. go to all clients (USB + TCP + WS [+ BLE]), not only last sender
   /* Pick BLE vs WiFi at boot. The ESP32-S3 doesn't have enough internal heap
@@ -794,9 +761,7 @@ void setup() {
 #else
   serial_interface.begin(Serial);
 #endif
-  BOOTMEM("pre-iface");
   the_mesh.startInterface(serial_interface);
-  BOOTMEM("post-iface");
 #else
   #error "need to define filesystem"
 #endif
diff --git a/src/ui-touch/UITask.cpp b/src/ui-touch/UITask.cpp
index 635a593..9db62f3 100644
--- a/src/ui-touch/UITask.cpp
+++ b/src/ui-touch/UITask.cpp
@@ -1330,12 +1330,6 @@ static void statusBarSetTall(bool tall) {
 
 void reserveTileFetchStack();   // fwd: claim the worker stack before Wi-Fi eats the heap
 
-#define MEMPROBE(tag) do { \
-    multi_heap_info_t _hi{}; heap_caps_get_info(&_hi, MALLOC_CAP_INTERNAL | MALLOC_CAP_8BIT); \
-    Serial.printf("[MEM] %-14s free=%6u largest=%6u psram=%7u\n", tag, \
-                  (unsigned)_hi.total_free_bytes, (unsigned)_hi.largest_free_block, \
-                  (unsigned)ESP.getFreePsram()); } while (0)
-
 // ---- AppPage: the shared full-screen app-page chrome (see AppPage.h) --------------
 // Thin wrappers over the machinery just above, exported so the self-contained app
 // modules (SnakeGame) build the same page as the in-file tool
@@ -24361,9 +24355,8 @@ static void luaStoreFetchCatalogWorker(WiFiClient& client, HTTPClient& http) {
     s_luacat_buf = (char*)heap_caps_malloc(kLuaCatBufMax, MALLOC_CAP_SPIRAM | MALLOC_CAP_8BIT);
   if (!s_luacat_buf) { return; }
   s_luacat_buf[0] = 0;
-  int cn = luaStoreHttpGet(client, http, "http://firmware.wadamesh.com/apps/apps.json",
-                           s_luacat_buf, kLuaCatBufMax);
-  Serial.printf("[APPCAT] n=%d wifi=%d\n", cn, (int)WiFi.status());
+  luaStoreHttpGet(client, http, "http://firmware.wadamesh.com/apps/apps.json",
+                  s_luacat_buf, kLuaCatBufMax);
 }
 
 // Download <id>.lua + <id>.json (immutable per-version path) into /apps/.
@@ -24483,7 +24476,6 @@ static bool luaStoreLangDownloadWorker(WiFiClient& client, HTTPClient& http,
     snprintf(url, sizeof url, "http://firmware.wadamesh.com/apps/lang/%s.lang", code);
   int n = luaStoreHttpGet(client, http, url, buf, kCap);
   bool ok = false;
-  size_t wr = 0;
   bool opened = false;
   if (n > 16) {
     // Write to a TEMP file, verify every byte landed, then rename over the real
@@ -24499,7 +24491,7 @@ static bool luaStoreLangDownloadWorker(WiFiClient& client, HTTPClient& http,
     File f = fs->open(tmp, "w");
     opened = (bool)f;
     if (f) {
-      wr = langWriteAll(f, (const uint8_t*)buf, (size_t)n);
+      langWriteAll(f, (const uint8_t*)buf, (size_t)n);
       f.close();
       ok = langVerifyInstall(fs, tmp, path, (size_t)n);
     }
@@ -24515,7 +24507,6 @@ static bool luaStoreLangDownloadWorker(WiFiClient& client, HTTPClient& http,
       File cf = fs->open(ctl, "w");
       if (cf) { wr2 = langWriteAll(cf, (const uint8_t*)buf, (size_t)n); cf.close(); }
       fs->remove(ctl);
-      size_t wr3 = 0;
       if (wr2 == (size_t)n) {
         // Healthy elsewhere -> nuke and recreate the /lang directory.
         char ldir[48];
@@ -24536,17 +24527,12 @@ static bool luaStoreLangDownloadWorker(WiFiClient& client, HTTPClient& http,
         fs->rmdir(ldir);
         fs->mkdir(ldir);
         File rf = fs->open(tmp, "w");
-        if (rf) { wr3 = langWriteAll(rf, (const uint8_t*)buf, (size_t)n); rf.close(); }
+        if (rf) { langWriteAll(rf, (const uint8_t*)buf, (size_t)n); rf.close(); }
         ok = langVerifyInstall(fs, tmp, path, (size_t)n);
         if (!ok) fs->remove(tmp);
       }
-      Serial.printf("[LANGDL] repair ctl=%u relang=%u ok=%d\n", (unsigned)wr2, (unsigned)wr3, (int)ok);
     }
   }
-  char root[16];
-  luaHostAppPath(root, sizeof root, "");   // "" = internal flash, "/meshcomod" = SD
-  Serial.printf("[LANGDL] %s n=%d root=%s open=%d wr=%u ok=%d\n",
-                url, n, root[0] ? root : "(internal)", (int)opened, (unsigned)wr, (int)ok);
   heap_caps_free(buf);
   return ok;
 }
@@ -24910,7 +24896,6 @@ static void tileFetchTaskFn(void* arg) {
     // Lua app store: catalog fetch + app install (LUA_APPS.md Phase 2).
     if (s_luacat_request) {
       s_luacat_request = false;
-      Serial.println("[APPCAT] worker picked up the request");
       luaStoreFetchCatalogWorker(client, http);
       s_luacat_done = true;
       continue;
@@ -26904,7 +26889,9 @@ static void mapOptInfoCb(lv_event_t* e) {
   if (!credits) return;                                // OOM only: skip the credits text
   snprintf(credits, CREDITS_SZ, "%s%s", attrib,
     "How tiles work:\n"
-    "The map is built from 256\xC3\x97256 \"slippy\" tiles. Only the tiles for the "
+    // NOTE: the literal break after \x97 is REQUIRED — "\xC3\x97256" would parse the
+    // trailing 256 as part of the hex escape (all hex digits) and emit one garbage byte.
+    "The map is built from 256\xC3\x97" "256 \"slippy\" tiles. Only the tiles for the "
     "area you're viewing are fetched \xE2\x80\x94 there is no bulk pre-download.\n\n"
     "Because this device can't do HTTPS (not enough heap after Wi-Fi starts) "
     "and decodes JPEG far more cheaply than PNG, tiles come from the wadamesh "
@@ -37907,13 +37894,7 @@ static void openLuaStorePage() {
     s_luacat_done = false;
     s_luacat_request = true;
   }
-  MEMPROBE("store-open");
   const bool worker_up = ensureTileFetchTaskRunning();
-  Serial.printf("[STORE] open: worker=%d spawn_ok=%d wifi=%d free_int=%u largest=%u free_psram=%u\n",
-                (int)worker_up, (int)s_tile_fetch_spawn_ok, (int)WiFi.status(),
-                (unsigned)ESP.getFreeHeap(),
-                (unsigned)heap_caps_get_largest_free_block(MALLOC_CAP_INTERNAL | MALLOC_CAP_8BIT),
-                (unsigned)ESP.getFreePsram());
   // The net worker needs an 8 KB contiguous internal block. When memory is too
   // tight to start it, nothing will ever service the request — so fail visibly
   // instead of spinning on "Loading catalog..." forever.
@@ -42059,18 +42040,13 @@ static void buildUiTree() {
   }
 
   // ---- Build tab contents ----
-  MEMPROBE("pre-home");
   makeHome(tab_home);
-  MEMPROBE("tab-home");
 
   g_lv.dm.channel_mode = false;
   g_lv.ch.channel_mode = true;
   makeChatList(tab_chats, g_lv.dm, false, true);
-  MEMPROBE("tab-chats");
   makeContactsTab(tab_contacts);
-  MEMPROBE("tab-contacts");
   makeMapTab(tab_map);
-  MEMPROBE("tab-map");
 #if defined(HAS_EXPANSION_KIT)
   if (tab_sensors) makeSensorsTab(tab_sensors);
 #endif
@@ -42136,13 +42112,8 @@ static void buildUiTree() {
   // Create full-screen detail overlays (hidden until a thread is tapped)
   makeChatDetail(g_lv.dm);
   makeChatDetail(g_lv.ch);
-  MEMPROBE("tab-chatdetail");
 
-  MEMPROBE("pre-settings");
-  MEMPROBE("pre-settings");
   makeSettings(tab_settings);
-  MEMPROBE("tab-settings");
-  MEMPROBE("post-UI-build");
 
 #if defined(HAS_TANMATSU)
   navBuildTabKeyHints();   // coloured △□○♣◇ shapes on the tab bar = the physical F-keys
@@ -45997,8 +45968,6 @@ void UITask::begin(DisplayDriver* display, SensorManager* sensors, NodePrefs* no
     // largest block, so the worker could never start and tiles, the update
     // check and the app catalog were all silently dead.
     reserveTileFetchStack();
-    MEMPROBE("post-reserve");
-    MEMPROBE("pre-lv_init");
     lv_init();
     initTouchFontFallbacks();
 #if CAP_ROUND_CORNERS
@@ -46236,9 +46205,7 @@ void UITask::begin(DisplayDriver* display, SensorManager* sensors, NodePrefs* no
     // when the base orientation is portrait. In hardware landscape the LVGL
     // rotation is left at NONE so it never software-rotates on top of the panel.
     g_lv.disp_drv.sw_rotate = 1;
-    MEMPROBE("pre-disp_reg");
   lv_disp_drv_register(&g_lv.disp_drv);
-  MEMPROBE("post-disp_reg");
 #if defined(HAS_TANMATSU)
     // Apply the 270° software rotation now that the driver is registered: logical surface
     // becomes 800x480 and lv_disp_get_hor/ver_res report landscape for every layout query.