diff --git a/apps/expo/components/CategoriesFilter.tsx b/apps/expo/components/CategoriesFilter.tsx
index 583d0e191c..a1cdb90203 100644
--- a/apps/expo/components/CategoriesFilter.tsx
+++ b/apps/expo/components/CategoriesFilter.tsx
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ export function CategoriesFilter({
                 <View
                   // biome-ignore lint/suspicious/noArrayIndexKey: just for skeleton
                   key={i}
-                  className="h-8 w-20 rounded-full mr-2 bg-neutral-300 dark:bg-neutral-600 animate-pulse"
+                  className="h-8 w-20 rounded-full mr-2 bg-neutral-300 dark:bg-neutral-600"
                 />
               ))
             : data.map(renderFilterChip)}
diff --git a/apps/expo/features/catalog/screens/CatalogItemsScreen.tsx b/apps/expo/features/catalog/screens/CatalogItemsScreen.tsx
index b9e937fc40..b3796cd5e3 100644
--- a/apps/expo/features/catalog/screens/CatalogItemsScreen.tsx
+++ b/apps/expo/features/catalog/screens/CatalogItemsScreen.tsx
@@ -33,7 +33,9 @@ function CatalogItemsScreen() {
   const [activeFilter, setActiveFilter] = useState<'All' | string>('All');
   const [debouncedSearchValue] = useDebounce(searchValue, 400);
 
-  const isSearching = debouncedSearchValue.length > 0;
+  const isSearching = searchValue.trim().length > 0;
+  const trimmedQuery = debouncedSearchValue.trim();
+  const isQueryReady = trimmedQuery.length > 0;
 
   const {
     data: categories,
@@ -59,10 +61,9 @@ function CatalogItemsScreen() {
   const {
     data: vectorResult,
     isLoading: isVectorLoading,
-    isFetching: _isVectorFetching,
     error: vectorError,
-  } = useVectorSearch({ query: debouncedSearchValue, limit: 10 });
-  const searchResults = vectorResult?.items;
+  } = useVectorSearch({ query: trimmedQuery, limit: 10 });
+  const searchResults: CatalogItem[] = vectorResult?.items ?? [];
 
   const paginatedItems: CatalogItem[] = (
     paginatedData?.pages.flatMap((page) => page.items) ?? []
@@ -102,7 +103,7 @@ function CatalogItemsScreen() {
           content: (
             <View style={{ flex: 1, backgroundColor: colors.background }}>
               {isSearching ? (
-                isVectorLoading ? (
+                isVectorLoading || !isQueryReady ? (
                   <View className="flex-1 items-center justify-center p-6">
                     <ActivityIndicator className="text-primary" size="large" />
                   </View>
@@ -161,14 +162,16 @@ function CatalogItemsScreen() {
         }}
       />
 
-      <CategoriesFilter
-        data={categories}
-        onFilter={setActiveFilter}
-        activeFilter={activeFilter}
-        error={categoriesError}
-        retry={refetchCategories}
-        className="px-4 py-2"
-      />
+      {!isSearching && (
+        <CategoriesFilter
+          data={categories}
+          onFilter={setActiveFilter}
+          activeFilter={activeFilter}
+          error={categoriesError}
+          retry={refetchCategories}
+          className="px-4 py-2"
+        />
+      )}
 
       <FlatList
         key={activeFilter}
@@ -197,14 +200,16 @@ function CatalogItemsScreen() {
           </View>
         }
         ListHeaderComponent={
-          <View className="mb-4">
-            <View className="flex-row items-center justify-between">
-              <Text className="text-muted-foreground">{totalItemsText}</Text>
+          !isSearching ? (
+            <View className="mb-4">
+              <View className="flex-row items-center justify-between">
+                <Text className="text-muted-foreground">{totalItemsText}</Text>
+              </View>
+              {paginatedItems.length > 0 && (
+                <Text className="mt-1 text-xs text-muted-foreground">{showingText}</Text>
+              )}
             </View>
-            {paginatedItems.length > 0 && (
-              <Text className="mt-1 text-xs text-muted-foreground">{showingText}</Text>
-            )}
-          </View>
+          ) : null
         }
         ListEmptyComponent={
           <View className="flex-1 items-center justify-center p-8">