diff --git a/config/dot/quickshell/modules/settings/ApplicationsPage.qml b/config/dot/quickshell/modules/settings/ApplicationsPage.qml
index 864da62..0dea3cb 100644
--- a/config/dot/quickshell/modules/settings/ApplicationsPage.qml
+++ b/config/dot/quickshell/modules/settings/ApplicationsPage.qml
@@ -14,13 +14,13 @@ SettingsPage {
     property string expandedRole: ""
     readonly property var applications: DesktopEntries.applications.values
     readonly property var roles: [
-        { key: "browser", label: "Browser", detail: "Web links and HTML pages", categories: ["webbrowser"], terms: ["browser", "web"] },
-        { key: "mail", label: "Mail", detail: "Email links", categories: ["email"], terms: ["mail", "email"] },
-        { key: "files", label: "Files", detail: "Folders and file locations", categories: ["filemanager"], terms: ["file manager", "files"] },
-        { key: "terminal", label: "Terminal", detail: "Terminal links and command-line handoffs", categories: ["terminalemulator"], terms: ["terminal", "console"] },
-        { key: "music", label: "Music", detail: "MP3 audio", categories: ["audio", "player"], terms: ["music", "audio player"] },
-        { key: "images", label: "Images", detail: "PNG images", categories: ["graphics", "viewer"], terms: ["image", "photo", "picture"] },
-        { key: "video", label: "Video", detail: "MP4 video", categories: ["video", "player"], terms: ["video", "media player"] }
+        { key: "browser", label: "Browser", detail: "Web links and HTML pages", categorySets: [["webbrowser"]], terms: ["web browser", "browser"] },
+        { key: "mail", label: "Mail", detail: "Email links", categorySets: [["email"]], terms: ["mail client", "email client"] },
+        { key: "files", label: "Files", detail: "Folders and file locations", categorySets: [["filemanager"]], terms: ["file manager"] },
+        { key: "terminal", label: "Terminal", detail: "Terminal links and command-line handoffs", categorySets: [["terminalemulator"]], terms: ["terminal emulator", "terminal"] },
+        { key: "music", label: "Music", detail: "MP3 audio", categorySets: [["music"], ["audio", "player"]], terms: ["music player", "audio player"] },
+        { key: "images", label: "Images", detail: "PNG images", categorySets: [], terms: ["image viewer", "image editor", "photo viewer", "photo editor", "picture viewer"] },
+        { key: "video", label: "Video", detail: "MP4 video", categorySets: [["video"]], terms: ["video player", "movie player"] }
     ]
 
     function desktopId(entry: var): string {
@@ -42,13 +42,21 @@ SettingsPage {
     }
 
     function matchesRole(entry: var, role: var): bool {
-        const categories = Array.isArray(entry.categories)
-            ? entry.categories.join(" ").toLowerCase()
-            : String(entry.categories ?? "").toLowerCase();
-        const metadata = [entry.name, entry.genericName, entry.comment]
+        const rawCategories = Array.isArray(entry.categories)
+            ? entry.categories
+            : [String(entry.categories ?? "")];
+        const categories = [];
+        for (const rawCategory of rawCategories) {
+            for (const value of String(rawCategory).split(";")) {
+                const category = value.trim().toLowerCase();
+                if (category !== "")
+                    categories.push(category);
+            }
+        }
+        const metadata = [entry.name, entry.genericName]
             .map(value => String(value ?? "").toLowerCase())
             .join(" ");
-        return role.categories.some(category => categories.includes(category))
+        return role.categorySets.some(set => set.every(category => categories.includes(category)))
             || role.terms.some(term => metadata.includes(term));
     }
 
@@ -62,7 +70,7 @@ SettingsPage {
 
     TextRow {
         visible: DefaultApps.lastError !== ""
-        label: "Could not apply the change"
+        label: "Application settings need attention"
         detail: DefaultApps.lastError
         value: ""
         divider: false
@@ -88,9 +96,11 @@ SettingsPage {
                 SettingRow {
                     label: roleBlock.modelData.label
                     detail: roleBlock.modelData.detail
-                    value: roleBlock.selectedEntry
-                        ? root.displayName(roleBlock.selectedEntry)
-                        : (root.currentHandler(roleBlock.modelData.key) || "Not set")
+                    value: DefaultApps.busy ? "Loading…" : (
+                        roleBlock.selectedEntry
+                            ? root.displayName(roleBlock.selectedEntry)
+                            : (root.currentHandler(roleBlock.modelData.key) || "Not set")
+                    )
                     activatable: roleBlock.choices.length > 0 && !DefaultApps.busy
                     divider: root.expandedRole !== roleBlock.modelData.key && roleBlock.index < root.roles.length - 1
                     onActivated: {
@@ -137,7 +147,7 @@ SettingsPage {
         subtitle: "These desktop entries live in your user configuration. Select a row to toggle it."
 
         TextRow {
-            visible: DefaultApps.autostartEntries.length === 0
+            visible: !DefaultApps.busy && DefaultApps.autostartEntries.length === 0
             label: "No user autostart entries"
             detail: "Applications can add entries to ~/.config/autostart."
             value: ""
@@ -168,7 +178,7 @@ SettingsPage {
         subtitle: "Panama starts these from Hyprland configuration. They are read-only here."
 
         TextRow {
-            visible: DefaultApps.luaAutostartEntries.length === 0
+            visible: !DefaultApps.busy && DefaultApps.luaAutostartEntries.length === 0
             label: "No compositor entries found"
             detail: "No hl.exec_cmd entries were found in config/dot/hypr/autostart.lua."
             value: ""
diff --git a/tests/quickshell/applications-settings-contract.sh b/tests/quickshell/applications-settings-contract.sh
index a351adf..d3b5ef6 100755
--- a/tests/quickshell/applications-settings-contract.sh
+++ b/tests/quickshell/applications-settings-contract.sh
@@ -38,10 +38,84 @@ assert_contains 'genericName'
 assert_contains '.sort('
 assert_contains 'currentEntry'
 assert_contains 'read-only'
+assert_contains 'choices.push(currentEntry)'
+assert_contains 'label: "Application settings need attention"'
+assert_contains 'DefaultApps.busy ? "Loading…"'
+assert_contains 'visible: !DefaultApps.busy && DefaultApps.autostartEntries.length === 0'
+assert_contains 'visible: !DefaultApps.busy && DefaultApps.luaAutostartEntries.length === 0'
+
+PAGE_PATH="$page" bun -e '
+const source = await Bun.file(process.env.PAGE_PATH).text();
+const rolesSource = source.match(/readonly property var roles:\s*(\[[\s\S]*?\n    \])/);
+const matcherSource = source.match(/function matchesRole\(entry: var, role: var\): bool \{([\s\S]*?)\n    \}/);
+if (!rolesSource || !matcherSource) {
+    console.error("applications settings contract: role matcher could not be loaded");
+    process.exit(1);
+}
+
+const roles = Function(`return (${rolesSource[1]})`)();
+const matchesRole = Function("entry", "role", matcherSource[1]);
+const role = key => roles.find(candidate => candidate.key === key);
+const fixtures = [
+    {
+        name: "AudioVideo does not imply music",
+        entry: { name: "Kodi", genericName: "Media Center", comment: "Entertainment hub", categories: "AudioVideo;Player;" },
+        role: "music",
+        expected: false
+    },
+    {
+        name: "Graphics does not imply image handler",
+        entry: { name: "Document Scanner", genericName: "Document Scanner", comment: "Scan documents", categories: ["Graphics"] },
+        role: "images",
+        expected: false
+    },
+    {
+        name: "Viewer does not imply image handler",
+        entry: { name: "Papers", genericName: "Document Viewer", comment: "Read documents", categories: "Office;Viewer;" },
+        role: "images",
+        expected: false
+    },
+    {
+        name: "comment does not nominate a default handler",
+        entry: { name: "Settings", genericName: "System Settings", comment: "Configure your video player", categories: ["System"] },
+        role: "video",
+        expected: false
+    },
+    {
+        name: "exact audio player categories match music",
+        entry: { name: "Rhythmbox", genericName: "Music Player", comment: "Play music", categories: "AudioVideo;Audio;Player;" },
+        role: "music",
+        expected: true
+    },
+    {
+        name: "exact video category matches video",
+        entry: { name: "Videos", genericName: "Video Player", comment: "Play movies", categories: ["AudioVideo", "Video", "Player"] },
+        role: "video",
+        expected: true
+    },
+    {
+        name: "descriptive metadata matches image handler",
+        entry: { name: "Loupe", genericName: "Image Viewer", comment: "Browse pictures", categories: "Graphics;Viewer;" },
+        role: "images",
+        expected: true
+    }
+];
+
+for (const fixture of fixtures) {
+    const actual = matchesRole(fixture.entry, role(fixture.role));
+    if (actual !== fixture.expected) {
+        console.error(`applications settings contract: ${fixture.name}: expected ${fixture.expected}, got ${actual}`);
+        process.exit(1);
+    }
+}
+'
 
 if rg --quiet 'Component\.onCompleted|DesktopEntries\.(byId|heuristicLookup)' "$page"; then
     fail 'page snapshots or performs a one-time desktop-entry lookup'
 fi
+if rg -F --quiet 'label: "Could not apply the change"' "$page"; then
+    fail 'error heading incorrectly describes read failures as apply failures'
+fi
 if rg --quiet '#[0-9A-Fa-f]{3,8}' "$page"; then
     fail 'page introduces a color literal instead of the shared visual system'
 fi