diff --git a/amethyst/src/main/java/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/ui/screen/loggedIn/audiorooms/room/AudioRoomActivityContent.kt b/amethyst/src/main/java/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/ui/screen/loggedIn/audiorooms/room/AudioRoomActivityContent.kt
index f2bbe0eb2..30808d190 100644
--- a/amethyst/src/main/java/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/ui/screen/loggedIn/audiorooms/room/AudioRoomActivityContent.kt
+++ b/amethyst/src/main/java/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/ui/screen/loggedIn/audiorooms/room/AudioRoomActivityContent.kt
@@ -163,17 +163,20 @@ private fun AudioRoomActivityBody(
             is BroadcastUiState.Broadcasting -> b.isMuted
             else -> null
         }
-    // Heartbeat loop — publishes once on enter / hand-raise change, then
-    // every 30 s. micMutedTag is intentionally NOT a key here: every mute
-    // toggle would otherwise trigger a presence publish + relay round trip
-    // (audit Android #11). The next heartbeat picks up the latest mic
-    // state up to 30 s later, which is well within the user's "did the
-    // peer see my mute" tolerance.
-    LaunchedEffect(event.address().toValue(), handRaised) {
-        publishPresence(account, event, handRaised, micMutedTag)
+    val publishingTag: Boolean = ui.publishingNow
+    val onstageTag: Boolean = ui.onStageNow
+    // Heartbeat loop — publishes once on enter / hand-raise / onstage
+    // change, then every 30 s. micMutedTag and publishingTag are
+    // intentionally NOT keys here: every mute toggle would otherwise
+    // trigger a presence publish + relay round trip (audit Android #11).
+    // The next heartbeat picks up the latest mic / publishing state up
+    // to 30 s later, which is well within the user's "did the peer see
+    // my mute" tolerance.
+    LaunchedEffect(event.address().toValue(), handRaised, onstageTag) {
+        publishPresence(account, event, handRaised, micMutedTag, publishingTag, onstageTag)
         while (isActive) {
             delay(PRESENCE_REFRESH_MS)
-            publishPresence(account, event, handRaised, micMutedTag)
+            publishPresence(account, event, handRaised, micMutedTag, publishingTag, onstageTag)
         }
     }
     // Debounced state-change publisher: after a mute toggle, wait
@@ -188,7 +191,7 @@ private fun AudioRoomActivityBody(
     if (micMutedTag != null) {
         LaunchedEffect(micMutedTag) {
             delay(PRESENCE_DEBOUNCE_MS)
-            publishPresence(account, event, handRaised, micMutedTag)
+            publishPresence(account, event, handRaised, micMutedTag, publishingTag, onstageTag)
         }
     }
     DisposableEffect(event.address().toValue()) {
@@ -196,10 +199,21 @@ private fun AudioRoomActivityBody(
             // Final "leaving" presence runs on a non-cancellable scope so
             // it survives the composable's scope being cancelled mid-
             // network. Without this the leave event almost never reaches
-            // the relay (audit Android #12).
+            // the relay (audit Android #12). publishing=false / onstage=false
+            // tells aggregating peers to drop us from the participant grid
+            // immediately rather than wait out the staleness window.
             @OptIn(kotlinx.coroutines.DelicateCoroutinesApi::class)
             kotlinx.coroutines.GlobalScope.launch(Dispatchers.IO) {
-                runCatching { publishPresence(account, event, handRaised = false, micMuted = null) }
+                runCatching {
+                    publishPresence(
+                        account = account,
+                        event = event,
+                        handRaised = false,
+                        micMuted = null,
+                        publishing = false,
+                        onstage = false,
+                    )
+                }
             }
         }
     }
@@ -248,6 +262,8 @@ private suspend fun publishPresence(
     event: MeetingSpaceEvent,
     handRaised: Boolean,
     micMuted: Boolean?,
+    publishing: Boolean? = null,
+    onstage: Boolean? = null,
 ) {
     runCatching {
         account.signAndComputeBroadcast(
@@ -255,6 +271,8 @@ private suspend fun publishPresence(
                 root = event,
                 handRaised = handRaised,
                 muted = micMuted,
+                publishing = publishing,
+                onstage = onstage,
             ),
         )
     }
diff --git a/commons/src/commonMain/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/commons/viewmodels/AudioRoomViewModel.kt b/commons/src/commonMain/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/commons/viewmodels/AudioRoomViewModel.kt
index 225dcc893..eb75ea94c 100644
--- a/commons/src/commonMain/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/commons/viewmodels/AudioRoomViewModel.kt
+++ b/commons/src/commonMain/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/commons/viewmodels/AudioRoomViewModel.kt
@@ -201,6 +201,18 @@ class AudioRoomViewModel(
         activeSubscriptions.values.forEach { it.player?.setMutedSafe(muted) }
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Toggle whether we hold a speaker slot. Tier-2's "leave the stage"
+     * tap flips this to `false`; the next kind-10312 heartbeat picks up
+     * the change via [AudioRoomUiState.onStageNow]. Does NOT stop a
+     * running broadcast — UI / caller is expected to call
+     * [BroadcastHandle.close] separately when leaving the stage.
+     */
+    fun setOnStage(onStage: Boolean) {
+        if (closed) return
+        _uiState.update { it.copy(onStageNow = onStage) }
+    }
+
     /**
      * Whether this VM was constructed with capture + encoder factories. The
      * UI uses this to decide whether to render the talk button at all —
@@ -792,7 +804,23 @@ data class AudioRoomUiState(
     val speakingNow: ImmutableSet<String> = persistentSetOf(),
     /** Speaker / publisher state — only relevant when [AudioRoomViewModel.canBroadcast]. */
     val broadcast: BroadcastUiState = BroadcastUiState.Idle,
-)
+    /**
+     * `true` when we hold a speaker slot vs being pure audience. Defaults
+     * to `true` for users with [AudioRoomViewModel.canBroadcast]; the
+     * "leave the stage" tap (Tier 2) flips it to `false`. Drives the
+     * `["onstage", "0|1"]` tag on emitted kind-10312 presence events.
+     */
+    val onStageNow: Boolean = true,
+) {
+    /**
+     * Derived: are we currently pushing audio packets to the relay?
+     * `true` only when the broadcast handle is live AND we're not muted.
+     * Drives the `["publishing", "0|1"]` tag on emitted kind-10312
+     * presence events.
+     */
+    val publishingNow: Boolean
+        get() = broadcast is BroadcastUiState.Broadcasting && !broadcast.isMuted
+}
 
 @Immutable
 sealed class BroadcastUiState {
diff --git a/commons/src/commonTest/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/commons/viewmodels/AudioRoomViewModelTest.kt b/commons/src/commonTest/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/commons/viewmodels/AudioRoomViewModelTest.kt
index c74c0339a..8a219370b 100644
--- a/commons/src/commonTest/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/commons/viewmodels/AudioRoomViewModelTest.kt
+++ b/commons/src/commonTest/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/amethyst/commons/viewmodels/AudioRoomViewModelTest.kt
@@ -136,6 +136,41 @@ class AudioRoomViewModelTest {
             assertFalse(vm.uiState.value.isMuted)
         }
 
+    @Test
+    fun onStageNowDefaultsTrueAndSetOnStageFlipsIt() =
+        runTest {
+            val vm = newViewModel { FakeNestsListener() }
+
+            // Defaults to true so a freshly-joined speaker advertises
+            // onstage=1 on the first heartbeat (the heartbeat in
+            // AudioRoomActivityContent reads this as the tag value).
+            assertTrue(vm.uiState.value.onStageNow)
+            vm.setOnStage(false)
+            assertFalse(vm.uiState.value.onStageNow)
+            vm.setOnStage(true)
+            assertTrue(vm.uiState.value.onStageNow)
+        }
+
+    @Test
+    fun publishingNowDerivesFromBroadcastStateAndMute() {
+        // Idle / connecting / failed: never publishing.
+        assertFalse(AudioRoomUiState().publishingNow)
+        assertFalse(AudioRoomUiState(broadcast = BroadcastUiState.Connecting).publishingNow)
+        assertFalse(AudioRoomUiState(broadcast = BroadcastUiState.Failed("boom")).publishingNow)
+
+        // Broadcasting unmuted: publishing.
+        assertTrue(
+            AudioRoomUiState(broadcast = BroadcastUiState.Broadcasting(isMuted = false)).publishingNow,
+        )
+
+        // Broadcasting muted: NOT publishing — matches the wire-tag
+        // semantics ("publishing=1" means actually pushing packets,
+        // not "hold a slot but silenced").
+        assertFalse(
+            AudioRoomUiState(broadcast = BroadcastUiState.Broadcasting(isMuted = true)).publishingNow,
+        )
+    }
+
     @Test
     fun connectIsIdempotentWhileConnecting() =
         runTest {