diff --git a/src/app/features/settings/account/Profile.tsx b/src/app/features/settings/account/Profile.tsx
index 223bd44e3..9fc2e463d 100644
--- a/src/app/features/settings/account/Profile.tsx
+++ b/src/app/features/settings/account/Profile.tsx
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ import { SettingTile } from '../../../components/setting-tile';
 import { useMatrixClient } from '../../../hooks/useMatrixClient';
 import { getAccountData, setAccountData } from '../../../utils/accountData';
 import { presenceStateFromSetting } from '../../../hooks/usePresenceUpdater';
+import { describePresenceError, setPresenceWithRetry } from '../../../utils/presenceWrite';
 import { useSetting } from '../../../state/hooks/settings';
 import { settingsAtom } from '../../../state/settings';
 import { UserProfile, useUserProfile } from '../../../hooks/useUserProfile';
@@ -424,7 +425,10 @@ function ProfileStatus() {
   const [saveState, saveStatus] = useAsyncCallback(
     useCallback(
       (msg: string) =>
-        mx.setPresence({
+        // Synapse allows ONE presence write per 10 s per user (shared by all
+        // devices) and our heartbeat spends that budget too — wait out a 429
+        // instead of failing the user's save.
+        setPresenceWithRetry(mx, {
           // Derive presence from the user's chosen setting so writing a status
           // never overrides Invisible/DND/Idle (e.g. outing an Invisible user).
           presence: presenceStateFromSetting(presenceStatus, hidePresence),
@@ -690,7 +694,7 @@ function ProfileStatus() {
         </Box>
         {saveState.status === AsyncStatus.Error && (
           <Text size="T200" style={{ color: color.Critical.Main }}>
-            Failed to save status — server may be rate limiting. Try again.
+            {describePresenceError(saveState.error)}
           </Text>
         )}
         <Box alignItems="Center" gap="200">
diff --git a/src/app/hooks/usePresenceUpdater.ts b/src/app/hooks/usePresenceUpdater.ts
index b9513fcbe..becb5865d 100644
--- a/src/app/hooks/usePresenceUpdater.ts
+++ b/src/app/hooks/usePresenceUpdater.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { useEffect, useRef } from 'react';
+import { PresenceDeduper, PresenceWrite } from '../utils/presenceWrite';
 import { useMatrixClient } from './useMatrixClient';
 import { useSetting } from '../state/hooks/settings';
 import { settingsAtom } from '../state/settings';
@@ -33,9 +34,13 @@ export function usePresenceUpdater() {
   const idleTimerRef = useRef<ReturnType<typeof setTimeout> | undefined>(undefined);
   const isIdleRef = useRef(false);
   const lastActivityRef = useRef(0);
+  const deduperRef = useRef(new PresenceDeduper());
 
   useEffect(() => {
     const userId = mx.getUserId();
+    const deduper = deduperRef.current;
+    // A manual status save changes what the next heartbeat should carry.
+    deduper.reset();
 
     // Read status from localStorage at call time so manual updates from the
     // Profile settings are never overwritten by a stale closure value.
@@ -49,28 +54,32 @@ export function usePresenceUpdater() {
       console.warn(`Failed to set presence to "${presence}":`, reason);
     };
 
+    // Synapse allows ONE presence write per 10 s per user (rc_presence, shared
+    // by all devices) and /sync already keeps us online — only send when the
+    // state or status actually changes, so a manual status save isn't 429'd
+    // by a heartbeat that changed nothing.
+    const send = (write: PresenceWrite, label: string) => {
+      if (!deduper.shouldSend(write)) return Promise.resolve();
+      return mx
+        .setPresence(write)
+        .then(() => deduper.sent(write))
+        .catch((err) => warnPresenceFailure(label, err));
+    };
     const setOnline = () => {
       const status = readStatus();
-      return mx
-        .setPresence({
-          presence: 'online',
-          ...(status ? { status_msg: status } : {}),
-        })
-        .catch((err) => warnPresenceFailure('online', err));
+      return send({ presence: 'online', ...(status ? { status_msg: status } : {}) }, 'online');
     };
     const setUnavailable = (statusMsg?: string) => {
       const status = readStatus();
-      return mx
-        .setPresence({
+      return send(
+        {
           presence: 'unavailable',
           ...(statusMsg ? { status_msg: statusMsg } : status ? { status_msg: status } : {}),
-        })
-        .catch((err) => warnPresenceFailure('unavailable', err));
+        },
+        'unavailable',
+      );
     };
-    const setOffline = () =>
-      mx
-        .setPresence({ presence: 'offline', status_msg: '' })
-        .catch((err) => warnPresenceFailure('offline', err));
+    const setOffline = () => send({ presence: 'offline', status_msg: '' }, 'offline');
 
     // Manual presence overrides — no activity tracking needed.
     if (hidePresence || presenceStatus === 'invisible') {
diff --git a/src/app/utils/presenceWrite.test.ts b/src/app/utils/presenceWrite.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2a7333ffc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/app/utils/presenceWrite.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+import { test } from 'node:test';
+import assert from 'node:assert/strict';
+import { MatrixError } from 'matrix-js-sdk';
+import { PresenceDeduper, describePresenceError, setPresenceWithRetry } from './presenceWrite';
+
+const limited = (retryMs = 3000) =>
+  new MatrixError(
+    { errcode: 'M_LIMIT_EXCEEDED', error: 'Too Many Requests', retry_after_ms: retryMs },
+    429,
+  );
+
+test('429 is retried after Retry-After, then succeeds', async () => {
+  let n = 0;
+  const waits: number[] = [];
+  const mx = {
+    setPresence: async () => {
+      n += 1;
+      if (n < 3) throw limited(3000);
+      return {};
+    },
+  };
+  await setPresenceWithRetry(
+    mx,
+    { presence: 'online', status_msg: 'hi' },
+    {
+      sleepFn: async (ms) => {
+        waits.push(ms);
+      },
+    },
+  );
+  assert.equal(n, 3);
+  assert.deepEqual(waits, [3000, 3000]);
+});
+
+test('gives up once the total wait would exceed the cap; other errors are not retried', async () => {
+  const mx = {
+    setPresence: async () => {
+      throw limited(20_000);
+    },
+  };
+  await assert.rejects(
+    () =>
+      setPresenceWithRetry(
+        mx,
+        { presence: 'online' },
+        { maxWaitMs: 25_000, sleepFn: async () => undefined },
+      ),
+    /Too Many/,
+  );
+  let calls = 0;
+  const forbidden = {
+    setPresence: async () => {
+      calls += 1;
+      throw new MatrixError({ errcode: 'M_FORBIDDEN', error: 'nope' }, 403);
+    },
+  };
+  await assert.rejects(() => setPresenceWithRetry(forbidden, { presence: 'online' }));
+  assert.equal(calls, 1);
+});
+
+test('deduper skips identical writes and notices changes', () => {
+  const d = new PresenceDeduper();
+  assert.equal(d.shouldSend({ presence: 'online', status_msg: 'a' }), true);
+  d.sent({ presence: 'online', status_msg: 'a' });
+  assert.equal(d.shouldSend({ presence: 'online', status_msg: 'a' }), false);
+  assert.equal(d.shouldSend({ presence: 'unavailable', status_msg: 'a' }), true);
+  assert.equal(d.shouldSend({ presence: 'online', status_msg: 'b' }), true);
+  d.reset();
+  assert.equal(d.shouldSend({ presence: 'online', status_msg: 'a' }), true);
+});
+
+test('error wording', () => {
+  assert.match(describePresenceError(limited()), /once every 10 seconds/);
+  assert.equal(
+    describePresenceError(
+      new MatrixError({ errcode: 'M_FORBIDDEN', error: 'Presence is disabled' }, 403),
+    ),
+    'Failed to save status: Presence is disabled',
+  );
+  assert.match(describePresenceError(new TypeError('Failed to fetch')), /couldn't reach/);
+});
diff --git a/src/app/utils/presenceWrite.ts b/src/app/utils/presenceWrite.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..209745380
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/app/utils/presenceWrite.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+import { MatrixClient, MatrixError } from 'matrix-js-sdk';
+
+/**
+ * Synapse rate-limits `PUT /presence/{user}/status` to ONE request per 10 s per
+ * user by default (`rc_presence.per_user`: 0.1/s, burst 1) — and the limit is
+ * shared across all of a user's devices. Our presence heartbeat (online/away on
+ * visibility and activity changes) can therefore make a manual status save 429.
+ *
+ * `setPresenceWithRetry` waits out `Retry-After` (bounded) instead of failing,
+ * and `PresenceDeduper` lets the heartbeat skip writes that would not change
+ * anything, so it stops spending the budget in the first place.
+ */
+export type PresenceWrite = { presence: 'online' | 'offline' | 'unavailable'; status_msg?: string };
+
+const sleep = (ms: number) =>
+  new Promise<void>((r) => {
+    setTimeout(r, ms);
+  });
+
+export async function setPresenceWithRetry(
+  mx: Pick<MatrixClient, 'setPresence'>,
+  write: PresenceWrite,
+  opts: { maxWaitMs?: number; sleepFn?: (ms: number) => Promise<void> } = {},
+): Promise<void> {
+  const maxWaitMs = opts.maxWaitMs ?? 25_000;
+  const sleepFn = opts.sleepFn ?? sleep;
+  let waited = 0;
+  for (;;) {
+    try {
+      // eslint-disable-next-line no-await-in-loop
+      await mx.setPresence(write);
+      return;
+    } catch (e) {
+      if (!(e instanceof MatrixError) || e.httpStatus !== 429) throw e;
+      const wait = Math.min(e.getRetryAfterMs() ?? 10_500, 15_000);
+      if (waited + wait > maxWaitMs) throw e;
+      waited += wait;
+      // eslint-disable-next-line no-await-in-loop
+      await sleepFn(wait);
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+const presenceKey = (write: PresenceWrite): string => `${write.presence}|${write.status_msg ?? ''}`;
+
+/** Remembers the last write that succeeded so identical heartbeats are skipped. */
+export class PresenceDeduper {
+  private last: string | null = null;
+
+  shouldSend(write: PresenceWrite): boolean {
+    return presenceKey(write) !== this.last;
+  }
+
+  sent(write: PresenceWrite): void {
+    this.last = presenceKey(write);
+  }
+
+  reset(): void {
+    this.last = null;
+  }
+}
+
+/** A user-facing sentence for a failed status save. */
+export const describePresenceError = (e: unknown): string => {
+  if (e instanceof MatrixError) {
+    if (e.httpStatus === 429) {
+      return 'The server limits how often presence can change (once every 10 seconds, shared by all your devices). Please wait a moment and try again.';
+    }
+    const serverText = (e.data as { error?: string } | undefined)?.error;
+    if (serverText) return `Failed to save status: ${serverText}`;
+  }
+  return "Failed to save status — couldn't reach the server. Try again.";
+};