diff --git a/apps/electron-backend-e2e/src/category-management.e2e.ts b/apps/electron-backend-e2e/src/category-management.e2e.ts
index b50f0b92a..ab43ee62e 100644
--- a/apps/electron-backend-e2e/src/category-management.e2e.ts
+++ b/apps/electron-backend-e2e/src/category-management.e2e.ts
@@ -158,15 +158,13 @@ async function toggleManagedCategory(
         name: string;
     }
 ): Promise<void> {
-    // Use Playwright's built-in filter so it retries until Angular re-renders
-    // the filtered list after the search field is populated.
+    // Use hasText on the whole row so Playwright's retry loop waits for Angular
+    // to re-render filteredCategories() after the search field is populated.
+    // Avoid nesting dialog.locator() inside filter({ has: }) — Playwright
+    // cannot scope an absolute locator to each candidate element.
     const categoryRow = dialog
         .locator('.category-item')
-        .filter({
-            has: dialog.locator('.category-name', {
-                hasText: targetCategory.name,
-            }),
-        })
+        .filter({ hasText: targetCategory.name })
         .first();
 
     await expect(categoryRow).toBeVisible({ timeout: 5000 });
diff --git a/apps/electron-backend-e2e/src/recent.e2e.ts b/apps/electron-backend-e2e/src/recent.e2e.ts
index 77127fbb4..4257ad69c 100644
--- a/apps/electron-backend-e2e/src/recent.e2e.ts
+++ b/apps/electron-backend-e2e/src/recent.e2e.ts
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import {
     switchUnifiedCollectionContent,
     switchUnifiedCollectionScope,
     test,
+    waitForFirstGridListCardTitle,
     waitForM3uCatalog,
     waitForStalkerCatalog,
     waitForXtreamWorkspaceReady,
@@ -115,8 +116,6 @@ test.describe('Electron Recently Viewed', () => {
             xtreamCredentials
         );
         const [liveTitle] = pickDistinctTitles(liveFixture.items, getXtreamTitle);
-        const [movieTitle] = pickDistinctTitles(vodFixture.items, getXtreamTitle);
-        const [seriesTitle] = pickDistinctTitles(seriesFixture.items, getXtreamTitle);
         const portalTitle = 'Xtream Recent Source';
         const app = await launchElectronApp(dataDir);
 
@@ -141,6 +140,9 @@ test.describe('Electron Recently Viewed', () => {
                 app.mainWindow,
                 vodFixture.categoryName
             );
+            // Pick from the displayed grid: fixture order ≠ display order (date-desc
+            // sort + pagination), so the first fixture item may not be on page 1.
+            const movieTitle = await waitForFirstGridListCardTitle(app.mainWindow);
             await clickGridListCardByTitle(app.mainWindow, movieTitle);
             await playCurrentDetail(app.mainWindow);
             await goBackFromDetail(app.mainWindow);
@@ -150,6 +152,7 @@ test.describe('Electron Recently Viewed', () => {
                 app.mainWindow,
                 seriesFixture.categoryName
             );
+            const seriesTitle = await waitForFirstGridListCardTitle(app.mainWindow);
             await clickGridListCardByTitle(app.mainWindow, seriesTitle);
             await playFirstSeriesEpisode(app.mainWindow);