diff --git a/client/src/app.rs b/client/src/app.rs
index 36c3045..2b8acf6 100644
--- a/client/src/app.rs
+++ b/client/src/app.rs
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ impl LesavkaClientApp {
 
     pub async fn run(&mut self) -> Result<()> {
         /*────────── handshake / feature-negotiation ───────────────*/
+        info!(server = %self.server_addr, "🚦 starting handshake");
         let caps = handshake::negotiate(&self.server_addr).await;
         tracing::info!("🤝 server capabilities = {:?}", caps);
 
@@ -70,6 +71,7 @@ impl LesavkaClientApp {
 
         /*────────── input aggregator task (grab after handshake) ─────────────*/
         let mut aggregator = self.aggregator.take().expect("InputAggregator present");
+        info!("⌛ grabbing input devices…");
         aggregator.init()?;           // grab devices now that handshake succeeded
         let agg_task   = tokio::spawn(async move {
             let mut a = aggregator;
diff --git a/client/src/handshake.rs b/client/src/handshake.rs
index 190f4ac..ee44b86 100644
--- a/client/src/handshake.rs
+++ b/client/src/handshake.rs
@@ -1,8 +1,11 @@
 // client/src/handshake.rs
 #![forbid(unsafe_code)]
 
+use std::time::Duration;
 use lesavka_common::lesavka::{self as pb, handshake_client::HandshakeClient};
-use tonic::Code;
+use tonic::{Code, transport::Endpoint};
+use tokio::time::timeout;
+use tracing::{info, warn};
 
 #[derive(Default, Clone, Copy, Debug)]
 pub struct PeerCaps {
@@ -11,19 +14,41 @@ pub struct PeerCaps {
 }
 
 pub async fn negotiate(uri: &str) -> PeerCaps {
-    let mut cli = HandshakeClient::connect(uri.to_owned())
-        .await
-        .expect("\"dial handshake\"");
+    info!(%uri, "🤝 dial handshake");
 
-    match cli.get_capabilities(pb::Empty {}).await {
+    let ep = Endpoint::from_shared(uri.to_owned())
+        .expect("handshake endpoint")
+        .tcp_nodelay(true)
+        .http2_keep_alive_interval(Duration::from_secs(15))
+        .connect_timeout(Duration::from_secs(5));
+
+    let channel = timeout(Duration::from_secs(8), ep.connect())
+        .await
+        .expect("handshake connect timeout")
+        .expect("handshake connect failed");
+
+    info!("🤝 handshake channel connected");
+    let mut cli = HandshakeClient::new(channel);
+    info!("🤝 fetching capabilities…");
+
+    match timeout(Duration::from_secs(5), cli.get_capabilities(pb::Empty {})).await {
+        Ok(Ok(rsp)) => {
+            let caps = PeerCaps {
+                camera:     rsp.get_ref().camera,
+                microphone: rsp.get_ref().microphone,
+            };
+            info!(?caps, "🤝 handshake ok");
+            caps
+        }
         Ok(rsp) => PeerCaps {
             camera:     rsp.get_ref().camera,
             microphone: rsp.get_ref().microphone,
         },
-        Err(e) if e.code() == Code::Unimplemented => {
-            // ↺  old server – pretend it supports nothing special.
+        Err(Err(e)) if e.code() == Code::Unimplemented => {
+            warn!("🤝 handshake not implemented on server – assuming defaults");
             PeerCaps::default()
         }
-        Err(e) => panic!("\"handshake failed: {e}\""),
+        Err(Err(e)) => panic!("\"handshake failed: {e}\""),
+        Err(_) => panic!("handshake timed out"),
     }
 }