diff --git a/apps/flipcash/features/messenger/src/main/kotlin/com/flipcash/app/messenger/internal/ChatViewModel.kt b/apps/flipcash/features/messenger/src/main/kotlin/com/flipcash/app/messenger/internal/ChatViewModel.kt
index 27f6a6fb4a..d0e4c33aff 100644
--- a/apps/flipcash/features/messenger/src/main/kotlin/com/flipcash/app/messenger/internal/ChatViewModel.kt
+++ b/apps/flipcash/features/messenger/src/main/kotlin/com/flipcash/app/messenger/internal/ChatViewModel.kt
@@ -72,6 +72,7 @@ import com.flipcash.shared.chat.models.ReceiptStatus
 import com.flipcash.shared.chat.models.splitAroundLinkCard
 import com.flipcash.shared.chat.models.SenderIdentity
 import com.flipcash.shared.chat.models.SeparatorConfig
+import com.flipcash.shared.chat.readOnly
 import com.flipcash.shared.chat.resolveCapabilities
 import com.flipcash.shared.chat.ui.detectUrls
 import com.flipcash.shared.chat.ui.linkableText
@@ -566,6 +567,13 @@ internal class ChatViewModel @Inject constructor(
      */
     private val messagePolicy = stateFlow.map { it.messagePolicy }.distinctUntilChanged()
 
+    /**
+     * Re-runs the transcript mapping when the viewer joins or leaves, so a message resolved while
+     * they were reading from outside picks up Reply the moment the join lands, rather than on the
+     * next page.
+     */
+    private val viewerCanPost = stateFlow.map { !it.isOutsideGroup }.distinctUntilChanged()
+
     /**
      * Null for a DM, a map for a group — the distinction the transcript needs, because a DM's
      * counterparty is already named in the title bar and attributing each of their bubbles would be
@@ -625,7 +633,8 @@ internal class ChatViewModel @Inject constructor(
             pendingMutations,
             messagePolicy,
             senderProfiles,
-        ) { pagingData, mutations, policy, profiles ->
+            viewerCanPost,
+        ) { pagingData, mutations, policy, profiles, canPost ->
             pagingData.flatMap { stored ->
                 val message = stored.applying(mutations[stored.messageId])
                 message.content.flatMapIndexed { index, content ->
@@ -709,7 +718,7 @@ internal class ChatViewModel @Inject constructor(
                         // Resolved once, here, so no menu re-derives it: a later group-role
                         // taxonomy becomes another input to the resolver rather than a branch at
                         // each action site.
-                        capabilities = resolveCapabilities(message, policy),
+                        capabilities = resolveCapabilities(message, policy, canPost = canPost),
                         quote = quote,
                         sender = sender,
                         // Independent of the profile lookup above: the runs have to break by
@@ -2236,10 +2245,13 @@ internal class ChatViewModel @Inject constructor(
                     // The transcript resolved this bubble when it was mapped, which may have been
                     // well inside a window that has since closed. Narrow it again here so the bar
                     // offers what is open now rather than what was open when the row was built.
+                    // The same goes for membership: a viewer who has left since keeps only what a
+                    // reader outside the group may do.
                     val selected = event.bubble.takeUnless { alreadySelected }?.let { bubble ->
+                        val open = bubble.capabilities
+                            .withinWindows(bubble.timestamp, state.messagePolicy)
                         bubble.copy(
-                            capabilities = bubble.capabilities
-                                .withinWindows(bubble.timestamp, state.messagePolicy),
+                            capabilities = if (state.isOutsideGroup) open.readOnly() else open,
                         )
                     }
                     state.copy(
diff --git a/apps/flipcash/shared/chat/src/main/kotlin/com/flipcash/shared/chat/MessageCapability.kt b/apps/flipcash/shared/chat/src/main/kotlin/com/flipcash/shared/chat/MessageCapability.kt
index 0b139562c4..47a42a722c 100644
--- a/apps/flipcash/shared/chat/src/main/kotlin/com/flipcash/shared/chat/MessageCapability.kt
+++ b/apps/flipcash/shared/chat/src/main/kotlin/com/flipcash/shared/chat/MessageCapability.kt
@@ -107,11 +107,36 @@ data class MessagePolicy(
  * Report follows one rule: anything a participant sent can be reported, and anything the server
  * wrote, or that no longer exists, cannot. Your own messages are left out because reporting one is
  * not a thing anyone does, and a row that is always present is a row people stop reading.
+ *
+ * A viewer who cannot post in the chat — someone reading a group from outside it — keeps only Copy
+ * and Report. Reply, Edit and Delete all post into the chat, and the gate that stands where their
+ * composer would is the only way in.
+ *
+ * @param canPost whether the viewer may post in this chat. False for a viewer outside a group,
+ * including one who has left it and still has messages of their own in the transcript.
  */
 fun resolveCapabilities(
     message: ChatMessage,
     policy: MessagePolicy = MessagePolicy.Default,
     now: Instant = Clock.System.now(),
+    canPost: Boolean = true,
+): Set<MessageCapability> {
+    val resolved = resolveForParticipant(message, policy, now)
+    return if (canPost) resolved else resolved.readOnly()
+}
+
+/**
+ * Drops what a viewer who cannot post may not do. Split out for the same reason as [withinWindows]:
+ * a set resolved while the viewer could post has to narrow at the menu if they have since left.
+ */
+fun Set<MessageCapability>.readOnly(): Set<MessageCapability> = filterTo(mutableSetOf()) {
+    it == MessageCapability.Copy || it == MessageCapability.Report
+}
+
+private fun resolveForParticipant(
+    message: ChatMessage,
+    policy: MessagePolicy,
+    now: Instant,
 ): Set<MessageCapability> {
     val contents = message.content
     if (contents.isEmpty()) return emptySet()
diff --git a/apps/flipcash/shared/chat/src/test/kotlin/com/flipcash/shared/chat/MessageCapabilityTest.kt b/apps/flipcash/shared/chat/src/test/kotlin/com/flipcash/shared/chat/MessageCapabilityTest.kt
index 8d33e91d97..f8d348756b 100644
--- a/apps/flipcash/shared/chat/src/test/kotlin/com/flipcash/shared/chat/MessageCapabilityTest.kt
+++ b/apps/flipcash/shared/chat/src/test/kotlin/com/flipcash/shared/chat/MessageCapabilityTest.kt
@@ -314,4 +314,35 @@ class MessageCapabilityTest {
             atSend.withinWindows(sentAt, policy, now = sentAt + 90.minutes),
         )
     }
+
+    /**
+     * An eligible non-member reads a group's transcript under a Join gate. Reply, Edit and Delete
+     * all post into the chat, and there is no composer for them to land in until the join does.
+     */
+    @Test
+    fun `a viewer who cannot post keeps only copy and report`() {
+        assertEquals(
+            setOf(MessageCapability.Copy, MessageCapability.Report),
+            resolveCapabilities(text(isFromSelf = false), canPost = false),
+        )
+        assertEquals(
+            setOf(MessageCapability.Report),
+            resolveCapabilities(cash(isFromSelf = false), canPost = false),
+        )
+        // Someone who left the group still has their own messages in its transcript.
+        assertEquals(
+            setOf(MessageCapability.Copy),
+            resolveCapabilities(text(), now = sentAt, canPost = false),
+        )
+        assertEquals(emptySet(), resolveCapabilities(cash(), canPost = false))
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `narrowing a resolved set to read-only matches resolving without posting`() {
+        val resolved = resolveCapabilities(text(), now = sentAt)
+        assertEquals(
+            resolveCapabilities(text(), now = sentAt, canPost = false),
+            resolved.readOnly(),
+        )
+    }
 }