diff --git a/bin/omarchy-theme-set-browser b/bin/omarchy-theme-set-browser
index 612e586fcf8..eda45713828 100755
--- a/bin/omarchy-theme-set-browser
+++ b/bin/omarchy-theme-set-browser
@@ -18,7 +18,10 @@ refresh_running_browser() {
   local pgrep_args="${3:--x}"
 
   if omarchy-cmd-present "$command" && pgrep $pgrep_args "$process" >/dev/null; then
-    "$command" --refresh-platform-policy --no-startup-window &>/dev/null
+    # A policy refresh is best-effort: Chromium-family binaries can sometimes
+    # start a second long-lived browser instead of handing the request to the
+    # running instance. Never let that block a theme change or update forever.
+    timeout --kill-after=1s 10s "$command" --refresh-platform-policy --no-startup-window &>/dev/null || true
   fi
 }
 
diff --git a/test/shell.d/theme-browser-refresh-test.sh b/test/shell.d/theme-browser-refresh-test.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..9b72361e571
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/shell.d/theme-browser-refresh-test.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+source "$(cd -- "$(dirname -- "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)/base-test.sh"
+
+test_tmp=$(mktemp -d)
+trap 'rm -rf "$test_tmp"' EXIT
+
+mock_bin="$test_tmp/bin"
+log="$test_tmp/calls.log"
+home="$test_tmp/home"
+mkdir -p "$mock_bin" "$home"
+: >"$log"
+
+cat >"$mock_bin/omarchy-theme-set-browser-policy" <<'SH'
+#!/bin/bash
+printf 'policy' >>"$TEST_LOG"
+printf '\t%s' "$@" >>"$TEST_LOG"
+printf '\n' >>"$TEST_LOG"
+(( ${POLICY_FAIL:-0} == 0 ))
+SH
+
+cat >"$mock_bin/omarchy-cmd-present" <<'SH'
+#!/bin/bash
+exit 0
+SH
+
+cat >"$mock_bin/pgrep" <<'SH'
+#!/bin/bash
+exit 0
+SH
+
+cat >"$mock_bin/timeout" <<'SH'
+#!/bin/bash
+printf 'timeout' >>"$TEST_LOG"
+printf '\t%s' "$@" >>"$TEST_LOG"
+printf '\n' >>"$TEST_LOG"
+# Simulate a browser that never returns before the bound expires.
+exit 124
+SH
+
+chmod +x "$mock_bin"/*
+
+run_theme_browser() {
+  PATH="$mock_bin:$PATH" \
+    HOME="$home" \
+    TEST_LOG="$log" \
+    OMARCHY_PATH="$ROOT" \
+    POLICY_FAIL="${POLICY_FAIL:-0}" \
+    bash "$ROOT/bin/omarchy-theme-set-browser"
+}
+
+run_theme_browser
+
+[[ $(grep -c '^policy' "$log") -eq 1 ]] ||
+  fail "browser theme policy is still written before refreshes" "$(cat "$log")"
+
+[[ $(grep -c '^timeout' "$log") -eq 5 ]] ||
+  fail "every running Chromium-family browser refresh is bounded" "$(cat "$log")"
+
+grep -Fqx $'timeout\t--kill-after=1s\t10s\tchromium\t--refresh-platform-policy\t--no-startup-window' "$log" ||
+  fail "Chromium policy refresh has a hard ten-second bound" "$(cat "$log")"
+grep -Fqx $'timeout\t--kill-after=1s\t10s\tgoogle-chrome-stable\t--refresh-platform-policy\t--no-startup-window' "$log" ||
+  fail "Chrome policy refresh has a hard ten-second bound" "$(cat "$log")"
+grep -Fqx $'timeout\t--kill-after=1s\t10s\tmicrosoft-edge-stable\t--refresh-platform-policy\t--no-startup-window' "$log" ||
+  fail "Edge policy refresh has a hard ten-second bound" "$(cat "$log")"
+grep -Fqx $'timeout\t--kill-after=1s\t10s\tbrave\t--refresh-platform-policy\t--no-startup-window' "$log" ||
+  fail "Brave policy refresh has a hard ten-second bound" "$(cat "$log")"
+grep -Fqx $'timeout\t--kill-after=1s\t10s\tbrave-origin\t--refresh-platform-policy\t--no-startup-window' "$log" ||
+  fail "Brave Origin policy refresh has a hard ten-second bound" "$(cat "$log")"
+
+! grep -q $'timeout\t--kill-after=1s\t10s\tgoogle-chrome\t' "$log" ||
+  fail "a timed-out installed Chrome refresh does not launch the fallback binary" "$(cat "$log")"
+
+pass "browser policy refresh timeouts cannot wedge theme updates"
+
+: >"$log"
+if POLICY_FAIL=1 run_theme_browser; then
+  fail "browser refresh timeouts do not hide a policy write failure"
+fi
+[[ $(grep -c '^policy' "$log") -eq 1 ]] ||
+  fail "failed policy write is attempted exactly once" "$(cat "$log")"
+pass "browser policy write failures still propagate"