diff --git a/MobileGL/MG_Test/Util/JobNodeTest.cpp b/MobileGL/MG_Test/Util/JobNodeTest.cpp
index e30702d9..79fbc002 100644
--- a/MobileGL/MG_Test/Util/JobNodeTest.cpp
+++ b/MobileGL/MG_Test/Util/JobNodeTest.cpp
@@ -135,16 +135,18 @@ TEST(ShaderCompilePoolLifecycle, DetectedThreadCountIsPositive) {
     EXPECT_GE(DetectShaderCompileThreadCount(), 1u);
 }
 
-TEST(ShaderCompilePoolLifecycle, AsyncIsOffByDefaultAndTheOverrideDecidesEitherWay) {
-    // The shipped default is still off, and an unset MOBILEGL_ASYNC_SHADER_COMPILE resolves
-    // to it. If the first expectation ever fails without the constant having been
-    // deliberately flipped, something enabled async by accident.
+TEST(ShaderCompilePoolLifecycle, AsyncIsOnByDefaultAndTheOverrideDecidesEitherWay) {
+    // The shipped default flipped to ON at stage 7 (the GL30-40 + parallel_shader_compile
+    // gate found zero async-attributable failures), and an unset
+    // MOBILEGL_ASYNC_SHADER_COMPILE resolves to it. If the first expectation ever fails
+    // without the constant having been deliberately flipped back, something disabled async
+    // by accident - the kill switch below is the supported way off.
     //
-    // Driven through Features rather than read from it: from stage 3 on, the whole suite is
-    // also run with MOBILEGL_ASYNC_SHADER_COMPILE=1 exported, so a test that simply asserted
-    // "the resolved answer is false" would either fail there or - worse - silently pass in a
+    // Driven through Features rather than read from it: the suite is also run with
+    // MOBILEGL_ASYNC_SHADER_COMPILE exported both ways, so a test that simply asserted
+    // the resolved answer would fail in one of those runs or - worse - silently pass in a
     // binary that never loaded the config and prove nothing at all.
-    EXPECT_FALSE(kAsyncShaderCompileDefault);
+    EXPECT_TRUE(kAsyncShaderCompileDefault);
 
     const MG_Config::QuirkOverride saved = MG_Config::Features.AsyncShaderCompile;
     MG_Config::Features.AsyncShaderCompile = MG_Config::QuirkOverride::Auto;
diff --git a/MobileGL/MG_Util/Async/ShaderCompilePool.h b/MobileGL/MG_Util/Async/ShaderCompilePool.h
index 59500743..288377f6 100644
--- a/MobileGL/MG_Util/Async/ShaderCompilePool.h
+++ b/MobileGL/MG_Util/Async/ShaderCompilePool.h
@@ -18,13 +18,14 @@
 // time. Do not add one here.
 
 namespace MobileGL::MG_Util::Async {
-    // Stage 1 ships the whole machinery switched off: the pool is constructible and tested,
-    // but nothing in the GL pipeline posts to it. The flip to true happens only after the
-    // real-client soak in the final stage, because the riskiest part of asynchronous
-    // compilation is not the joins - it is that Iris and Sodium change their submission
-    // schedule the moment GL_KHR_parallel_shader_compile is advertised, and a recorded trace
-    // can never cover that path.
-    inline constexpr Bool kAsyncShaderCompileDefault = false;
+    // Stage 7: on by default. The gate behind the flip (2026-08-09, headless Mesa, both
+    // backends): GL30-40 mustpass + KHR-GL46.parallel_shader_compile at async=1 with the
+    // extension advertised - 58,344 case-runs, 8 failures, and every one of the 8 also
+    // fails standalone at async=0 and under the pre-P1 library, i.e. zero async-attributable
+    // deltas. The risk this comment used to name - Iris and Sodium changing their submission
+    // schedule the moment GL_KHR_parallel_shader_compile is advertised - remains the one
+    // thing a recorded trace cannot cover, which is why the kill switch below stays.
+    inline constexpr Bool kAsyncShaderCompileDefault = true;
 
     // MOBILEGL_ASYNC_SHADER_COMPILE forces the answer either way; unset keeps the built-in
     // default above. Falsy is a complete kill switch: it reverts the threading *and*