diff --git a/frontend/src/App.test.ts b/frontend/src/App.test.ts
index 6ab72799..78d77628 100644
--- a/frontend/src/App.test.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/App.test.ts
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import en from './i18n/locales/en';
 import App from './App.vue';
 import { setSettingsFromRawData } from './composables/core/useSettings';
 import { getRecommendedFonts } from './utils/fontDetector';
+import { preserveSelectedArticle } from './stores/app';
 
 // Create stub components for complex child components
 const createStub = (name: string) => ({
@@ -16,6 +17,15 @@ const createStub = (name: string) => ({
 });
 
 describe('App', () => {
+  it('preserves the selected article during a background refresh', () => {
+    const selected = { id: 75, title: 'Selected article' };
+    const fresh = [{ id: 1, title: 'Fresh article' }];
+
+    expect(preserveSelectedArticle(fresh, [selected], 75)).toEqual([fresh[0], selected]);
+    expect(preserveSelectedArticle([selected], [selected], 75)).toEqual([selected]);
+    expect(preserveSelectedArticle(fresh, [selected], null)).toEqual(fresh);
+  });
+
   it('keeps long toast messages inside narrow viewports', () => {
     const toast = readFileSync('src/components/common/Toast.vue', 'utf8');
     expect(toast).toContain('calc(100vw-2rem)');
diff --git a/frontend/src/stores/app.ts b/frontend/src/stores/app.ts
index b4a1a5d3..fd7192eb 100644
--- a/frontend/src/stores/app.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/stores/app.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,18 @@ import type { Article, Feed, Tag, UnreadCounts, RefreshProgress } from '@/types/
 import type { FilterCondition } from '@/types/filter';
 import { useSettings } from '@/composables/core/useSettings';
 
+export function preserveSelectedArticle<T extends { id: number }>(
+  freshArticles: T[],
+  previousArticles: T[],
+  currentArticleId: number | null
+): T[] {
+  if (!currentArticleId || freshArticles.some((article) => article.id === currentArticleId)) {
+    return freshArticles;
+  }
+  const selectedArticle = previousArticles.find((article) => article.id === currentArticleId);
+  return selectedArticle ? [...freshArticles, selectedArticle] : freshArticles;
+}
+
 export type Filter = 'all' | 'unread' | 'favorites' | 'readLater' | 'imageGallery' | '';
 export type ThemePreference = 'light' | 'dark' | 'auto';
 export type Theme = 'light' | 'dark';
@@ -44,7 +56,7 @@ export interface AppActions {
   setFeed: (feedId: number) => void;
   selectFeedInArticleList: (feedId: number, articleId?: number) => void;
   setCategory: (category: string) => void;
-  fetchArticles: (append?: boolean) => Promise<void>;
+  fetchArticles: (append?: boolean, preserveExisting?: boolean) => Promise<void>;
   loadMore: () => Promise<void>;
   fetchFeeds: () => Promise<void>;
   fetchUnreadCounts: () => Promise<void>;
@@ -192,13 +204,20 @@ export const useAppStore = defineStore('app', () => {
     }
   }
 
-  async function fetchArticles(append: boolean = false): Promise<void> {
+  async function fetchArticles(
+    append: boolean = false,
+    preserveExisting: boolean = false
+  ): Promise<void> {
     if (isLoading.value) return;
 
+    const previousArticles = articles.value;
+
     // If not appending, reset to page 1 and clear articles
     if (!append) {
       page.value = 1;
-      articles.value = [];
+      if (!preserveExisting) {
+        articles.value = [];
+      }
       hasMore.value = true;
     }
 
@@ -223,7 +242,9 @@ export const useAppStore = defineStore('app', () => {
       if (append) {
         articles.value = [...articles.value, ...data];
       } else {
-        articles.value = data;
+        articles.value = preserveExisting
+          ? preserveSelectedArticle(data, previousArticles, currentArticleId.value)
+          : data;
       }
     } catch {
       // Error handled silently
@@ -537,7 +558,7 @@ export const useAppStore = defineStore('app', () => {
 
         // Still refresh feeds and articles to get any updates from FreshRSS sync
         fetchFeeds();
-        fetchArticles();
+        fetchArticles(false, true);
         fetchUnreadCounts();
 
         // Notify components that settings have been updated
@@ -624,7 +645,7 @@ export const useAppStore = defineStore('app', () => {
         if (!data.is_running) {
           clearInterval(interval);
           fetchFeeds();
-          fetchArticles();
+          fetchArticles(false, true);
           fetchUnreadCounts();
 
           // Notify components that settings have been updated (e.g., last_article_update)
@@ -692,7 +713,7 @@ export const useAppStore = defineStore('app', () => {
           console.log('[FreshRSS] Sync completed detected, refreshing data...');
           // Refresh all data
           await fetchFeeds();
-          await fetchArticles();
+          await fetchArticles(false, true);
           await fetchUnreadCounts();
         }