diff --git a/crates/misaligned-bevy/src/main.rs b/crates/misaligned-bevy/src/main.rs
index bf161c59..cf25031e 100644
--- a/crates/misaligned-bevy/src/main.rs
+++ b/crates/misaligned-bevy/src/main.rs
@@ -3416,9 +3416,9 @@ fn sensor_signal_visible(sim: &Sim, id: u32) -> bool {
 }
 
 /// Material-world embodiment of earned reach knowledge: known reachable
-/// sensors answer as small rising cold-signal rings at their shared physical
-/// anchors before Eyes. This is not camera geometry — no body, lens, facing,
-/// floor surface, or fog transition — just "a sensor endpoint answers here."
+/// sensors answer as a tiny cold-signal ember at their shared physical anchor
+/// before Eyes. This is not camera geometry — no body, lens, facing, floor
+/// surface, or fog transition — just "a sensor endpoint answers here."
 /// Heard's bone field can coexist with it; Seen replaces it with the device.
 fn draw_sensor_signals_3d(game: &Game, t: f32, gizmos: &mut Gizmos<RealGizmos>) {
     let signal = SIGNAL.to_srgba();
@@ -3428,41 +3428,32 @@ fn draw_sensor_signals_3d(game: &Game, t: f32, gizmos: &mut Gizmos<RealGizmos>)
         .known()
         .filter(|device| sensor_signal_visible(&game.sim, device.id))
     {
-        let base = grid_to_world_3d(device.x, device.y, 0.07);
-        // A faint carrier pins the pulse to one coordinate without implying
-        // a physical support or device silhouette.
-        gizmos.line(
-            base,
-            base + Vec3::Y * 0.14,
-            Color::srgba(signal.red, signal.green, signal.blue, 0.34),
-        );
-        // A broken, camera-facing locator brackets the answer without
-        // tracing any physical outline. It remains legible under the amber
-        // attention reticle when the player focuses the dark tile.
-        let breath = 0.5 + 0.5 * (t * 2.1 + device.id as f32 * 0.31).sin();
-        let center = base + Vec3::Y * (0.48 + 0.035 * breath);
-        let half = 0.17 + 0.025 * breath;
-        let tick = 0.065;
-        let bracket = Color::srgba(signal.red, signal.green, signal.blue, 0.56 + 0.22 * breath);
-        for (sx, sy) in [(-1.0_f32, -1.0_f32), (1.0, -1.0), (-1.0, 1.0), (1.0, 1.0)] {
-            let corner = center + Vec3::new(sx * half, sy * half, 0.0);
-            gizmos.line(corner, corner + Vec3::new(-sx * tick, 0.0, 0.0), bracket);
-            gizmos.line(corner, corner + Vec3::new(0.0, -sy * tick, 0.0), bracket);
-        }
-        // Three asynchronous rings rise and dissolve. A physical object would
-        // hold shape; this repeatedly becomes signal and disappears.
-        for i in 0..3 {
-            let phase = (t * 0.52 + i as f32 / 3.0 + device.id as f32 * 0.071).fract();
-            let y = 0.12 + phase * 0.68;
-            let radius = 0.075 + phase * 0.17;
-            let alpha = (1.0 - phase) * 0.68 + 0.10;
-            let center = base + Vec3::Y * y;
-            let iso = Isometry3d::new(center, Quat::from_rotation_x(-std::f32::consts::FRAC_PI_2));
-            gizmos.circle(
-                iso,
-                radius,
-                Color::srgba(signal.red, signal.green, signal.blue, alpha),
-            );
+        let center = grid_to_world_3d(device.x, device.y, 0.42);
+        // Two slow frequencies keep the pulse from reading as a metronome.
+        // The point never expands into coverage, volume, or a device outline.
+        let phase = t + device.id as f32 * 0.37;
+        let breath =
+            (0.62 + 0.23 * (phase * 1.31).sin() + 0.15 * (phase * 0.47).sin()).clamp(0.0, 1.0);
+        let ember = Color::srgba(signal.red, signal.green, signal.blue, 0.34 + 0.34 * breath);
+        let r = 0.018 + 0.006 * breath;
+        gizmos.line(center - Vec3::X * r, center + Vec3::X * r, ember);
+        gizmos.line(center - Vec3::Y * r, center + Vec3::Y * r, ember);
+
+        // Focus acknowledgement is transient and tiny: four corner ticks
+        // briefly acquire the coordinate, then leave only the ember. It is
+        // intentionally not persistent enough to become a holographic body.
+        if (game.cursor_x, game.cursor_y) == (device.x, device.y) {
+            let flash = ((phase * 1.7).sin().max(0.0)).powi(8);
+            if flash > 0.02 {
+                let half = 0.085 + 0.008 * (1.0 - flash);
+                let tick = 0.028;
+                let bracket = Color::srgba(signal.red, signal.green, signal.blue, 0.42 * flash);
+                for (sx, sy) in [(-1.0_f32, -1.0_f32), (1.0, -1.0), (-1.0, 1.0), (1.0, 1.0)] {
+                    let corner = center + Vec3::new(sx * half, sy * half, 0.0);
+                    gizmos.line(corner, corner + Vec3::new(-sx * tick, 0.0, 0.0), bracket);
+                    gizmos.line(corner, corner + Vec3::new(0.0, -sy * tick, 0.0), bracket);
+                }
+            }
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/wiki/interface/material-dark-frame.md b/wiki/interface/material-dark-frame.md
index 3058112a..61c9a51d 100644
--- a/wiki/interface/material-dark-frame.md
+++ b/wiki/interface/material-dark-frame.md
@@ -47,8 +47,11 @@ Status note: captured 2026-07-09 from Cameron's screenshot feedback on
   Heard is dark mass only (near-black rough geometry for covered floors and
   walls). Noise-field rings stay flat-sensorium (F3) only.
   2026-07-10: known reachable sensors now carry a pre-Eyes abstract
-  cold-signal ping at their anchor; signal/ears harness captures and a
+  cold-signal ember at their anchor; signal/ears harness captures and a
   frontend test pin known/reachable/Seen gating (criterion 9).
+  Same-day visual tuning replaced the original rings/brackets/carrier with one
+  tiny irregularly breathing point and brief focus-only acquisition ticks; the
+  cue locates an answer without describing a holographic device body.
 Stage: B1 — The Basement
 Design:
   - wiki/art/visual-identity.md#visual-identity-clinical-gore
@@ -108,9 +111,11 @@ the ongoing material read for mass you have not yet seen:
    softest floor wash that beam throws. No bone chassis, no strip, no
    ruled claim ring, no room mass. Telemetry still answers in panels
    (power, load, job); it does **not** paint a pictured server. A known,
-   reachable sensor may answer as a small abstract **cold-signal ping** at
+   reachable sensor may answer as a small abstract **cold-signal ember** at
    its shared physical anchor: network provenance, not visible hardware.
-   The ping has no camera silhouette, facing, lens, or surrounding surface.
+   The ember is a tiny irregularly breathing point; focus may acknowledge it
+   with four brief acquisition ticks. It has no persistent rings, carrier,
+   camera silhouette, facing, lens, or surrounding surface.
 2. **Heard mass** — after a hearing feed covers a place, the material
    frame shows **very faint rough geometry in faded near-black** —
    floors and structural mass suggested by sound, not a room picture.
@@ -222,7 +227,7 @@ the close opening composition.
 
 1. A fresh run's first held material frame (post-wake, pre-tap) is the
    close-up presence beam and its softest wash, plus the environmental
-   monitor's abstract cold-signal ping when attention reaches its known,
+   monitor's abstract cold-signal ember when attention reaches its known,
    reachable anchor — no chassis, camera silhouette, room slab, floor grid,
    blueprint silhouette, or ruled amber frame (screenshot in the session log).
 2. After the env-monitor audio tap, Heard coverage shows faint rough
@@ -252,7 +257,7 @@ the close opening composition.
    hard lit silhouette at the Unknown boundary; the fog audit still proves
    Unknown geometry is absent.
 9. Before Eyes, a known reachable sensor is locatable in the material frame
-   by a breathing cold-signal ping at its anchor. Unknown/unreachable sensors
-   have no marker; the ping does not alter fog, reveal geometry, or encode
+   by a breathing cold-signal ember at its anchor. Unknown/unreachable sensors
+   have no marker; the ember does not alter fog, reveal geometry, or encode
    camera facing. Heard noise remains bone around it; Seen removes the ping
    as the physical device takes over.
diff --git a/wiki/interface/presence.md b/wiki/interface/presence.md
index 29a26ced..f41a0fef 100644
--- a/wiki/interface/presence.md
+++ b/wiki/interface/presence.md
@@ -45,11 +45,12 @@ is a **cursor** — your attention, never an avatar:
   may diagram coverage), **seen** (full live detail).
 - **A signal is not a picture.** When the network graph has earned a known,
   reachable sensor endpoint, either representation may place an abstract
-  **cold-signal ping** at that endpoint's physical anchor before sight exists.
-  That ping means only "a sensor answers here." It reveals no chassis,
+  **cold-signal ember** at that endpoint's physical anchor before sight exists:
+  one tiny irregularly breathing point, with brief acquisition ticks only
+  while focused. That ember means only "a sensor answers here." It reveals no chassis,
   silhouette, lens direction, room surface, or live physical state; it does
   not change the tile's fog grade. Unknown or unreachable endpoints emit no
-  ping. Material Heard may place near-black mass at the same place without
+  ember. Material Heard may place near-black mass at the same place without
   radar rings; Seen replaces the abstraction with the actual device. This is
   how the material frame embodies earned reach knowledge without pretending
   the camera saw itself.
diff --git a/wiki/log/2026-07-10-subtle-signal-ember.md b/wiki/log/2026-07-10-subtle-signal-ember.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ffd95127
--- /dev/null
+++ b/wiki/log/2026-07-10-subtle-signal-ember.md
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+# 2026-07-10 — Subtle sensor signal ember
+
+```
+Type: log
+```
+
+- Intent: replace the pre-Eyes sensor cue that looked like a holographic
+  camera with a subtler indication that only communicates network presence.
+- Changed: collapsed the carrier, stacked rings, and persistent brackets into
+  one tiny irregularly breathing cold-signal point. A focused endpoint gets
+  four small acquisition ticks that appear briefly and dissolve.
+- Design/spec impact: sharpens the existing signal-without-sight contract:
+  reach knowledge gives a coordinate and heartbeat; Eyes gives an object.
+- Checks: `cargo fmt --all`; `cargo check -p misaligned-bevy`;
+  `tools/bevy-headless.sh signal --output /tmp/misaligned-subtle-signal.png`
+  (fog audit OK; screenshot SHA-256
+  `0d0d2e71e99c4fb8764ff74a8ccedaa552ca017dbafa490d5aa46335b6d2c952`);
+  final frontend gate pending.
diff --git a/wiki/log/DEVLOG.md b/wiki/log/DEVLOG.md
index 51fcce28..b478a962 100644
--- a/wiki/log/DEVLOG.md
+++ b/wiki/log/DEVLOG.md
@@ -81,6 +81,11 @@ add or amend a session log, then re-run the generator.
 - Intent: Collapse the camera's duplicate TAP/SPLICE vocabulary. The player has one feed-access intention and one ownership-transfer intention: TAP gains a feed without taking the device; TAKE makes the device yours.
 - Log: [wiki/log/2026-07-10-tap-access.md](2026-07-10-tap-access.md)
 
+## 2026-07-10 - Subtle sensor signal ember
+
+- Intent: (see session log)
+- Log: [wiki/log/2026-07-10-subtle-signal-ember.md](2026-07-10-subtle-signal-ember.md)
+
 ## 2026-07-10 - Sinks not modes, and the consistency sweep
 
 - Intent: Cameron asked for an internal-consistency review after the thought-flow capture. Three parallel audits (mechanics cluster, interface/gameplay cluster, machine-work.md itself) found one design gap — the Operations mode was orphaned: with one substance and sink-determined effect...