diff --git a/Sources/Panels/BrowserPanel.swift b/Sources/Panels/BrowserPanel.swift
index 07ce2d538d79..00ccf669bfa7 100644
--- a/Sources/Panels/BrowserPanel.swift
+++ b/Sources/Panels/BrowserPanel.swift
@@ -2296,6 +2296,7 @@ private enum BrowserInsecureHTTPNavigationIntent {
 
 nonisolated enum BrowserWebViewLifecycleState: String {
     case newTab = "new_tab"
+    case deferredURL = "deferred_url"
     case liveVisible = "live_visible"
     case liveHidden = "live_hidden"
     case discarded
@@ -2748,9 +2749,9 @@ final class BrowserPanel: Panel, ObservableObject {
     private var isWebViewVisibleInUI: Bool = false
     private var isClosingWebViewLifecycle: Bool = false
 
-    /// True when the browser is showing the internal empty new-tab page (no WKWebView attached yet).
+    /// True when the browser is showing the internal empty new-tab page.
     var isShowingNewTabPage: Bool {
-        !shouldRenderWebView
+        !shouldRenderWebView && preferredURLStringForOmnibar() == nil
     }
 
     /// Published page title
@@ -3008,7 +3009,7 @@ final class BrowserPanel: Panel, ObservableObject {
         } else if hiddenWebViewDiscardManager.isDiscardedForMemory {
             nextState = .discarded
         } else if !shouldRenderWebView {
-            nextState = .newTab
+            nextState = preferredURLStringForOmnibar() == nil ? .newTab : .deferredURL
         } else if isWebViewVisibleInUI {
             nextState = .liveVisible
         } else {
diff --git a/Sources/Panels/BrowserPanelView.swift b/Sources/Panels/BrowserPanelView.swift
index d80f5a7b652a..2befd1a8eb28 100644
--- a/Sources/Panels/BrowserPanelView.swift
+++ b/Sources/Panels/BrowserPanelView.swift
@@ -855,10 +855,10 @@ struct BrowserPanelView: View {
             if addressBarFocused,
                !panel.shouldSuppressWebViewFocus(),
                addressWasEmpty,
-               !isWebViewBlank() {
+               !isBrowserContentBlankForOmnibar() {
                 setAddressBarFocused(false, reason: "panel.currentURL.loaded")
             }
-            if isWebViewBlank() {
+            if panel.isShowingNewTabPage {
                 refreshEmptyStateImportBrowsers()
             }
             panel.resetReactGrabState(
@@ -1947,7 +1947,7 @@ struct BrowserPanelView: View {
     }
 
     private var shouldShowEmptyStateImportOverlay: Bool {
-        !panel.shouldRenderWebView && isWebViewBlank()
+        panel.isShowingNewTabPage
     }
 
     private func presentImportDialogFromHint() {
@@ -1983,10 +1983,9 @@ struct BrowserPanelView: View {
         isBrowserImportHintPopoverPresented = false
     }
 
-    /// Treat a WebView with no URL (or about:blank) as "blank" for UX purposes.
-    private func isWebViewBlank() -> Bool {
-        guard let url = panel.webView.url else { return true }
-        return url.absoluteString == "about:blank"
+    /// Treat content as blank only if neither WebKit nor the panel model has a nonblank URL.
+    private func isBrowserContentBlankForOmnibar() -> Bool {
+        panel.preferredURLStringForOmnibar() == nil
     }
 
     private func autoFocusOmnibarIfBlank() {
@@ -2022,7 +2021,7 @@ struct BrowserPanelView: View {
 #endif
             return
         }
-        guard isWebViewBlank() else {
+        guard isBrowserContentBlankForOmnibar() else {
 #if DEBUG
             logBrowserFocusState(event: "addressBarFocus.autoFocus.skip", detail: "reason=webview_not_blank")
 #endif
diff --git a/cmuxTests/BrowserConfigTests.swift b/cmuxTests/BrowserConfigTests.swift
index c00288a42c7b..f749c5c7e7d0 100644
--- a/cmuxTests/BrowserConfigTests.swift
+++ b/cmuxTests/BrowserConfigTests.swift
@@ -1877,6 +1877,20 @@ final class BrowserDeveloperToolsConfigurationTests: XCTestCase {
         XCTAssertFalse(panel.isShowingNewTabPage)
     }
 
+    func testBrowserPanelWithDeferredInitialURLIsNotNewTabPage() throws {
+        let url = try XCTUnwrap(URL(string: "https://example.com/restored"))
+        let panel = BrowserPanel(
+            workspaceId: UUID(),
+            initialURL: url,
+            renderInitialNavigation: false
+        )
+
+        XCTAssertFalse(panel.shouldRenderWebView)
+        XCTAssertEqual(panel.currentURL, url)
+        XCTAssertFalse(panel.isShowingNewTabPage)
+        XCTAssertEqual(panel.webViewLifecycleState, .deferredURL)
+    }
+
     func testBrowserPanelThemeModeUpdatesWebViewAppearance() {
         let panel = BrowserPanel(workspaceId: UUID())
 
diff --git a/cmuxTests/GhosttyConfigTests.swift b/cmuxTests/GhosttyConfigTests.swift
index c3527229da1b..0fc320fae3a5 100644
--- a/cmuxTests/GhosttyConfigTests.swift
+++ b/cmuxTests/GhosttyConfigTests.swift
@@ -1527,7 +1527,7 @@ final class BrowserPanelWebViewLifecycleTests: XCTestCase {
         }
     }
 
-    func testLifecycleStartsAsNewTabUntilRenderable() {
+    func testLifecycleDistinguishesDeferredURLFromNewTab() {
         let panel = BrowserPanel(
             workspaceId: UUID(),
             initialURL: URL(string: "https://example.test/")!,
@@ -1536,11 +1536,11 @@ final class BrowserPanelWebViewLifecycleTests: XCTestCase {
         )
         defer { panel.close() }
 
-        XCTAssertEqual(panel.webViewLifecycleState, .newTab)
+        XCTAssertEqual(panel.webViewLifecycleState, .deferredURL)
 
         panel.noteWebViewVisibility(true, reason: "test.visible")
 
-        XCTAssertEqual(panel.webViewLifecycleState, .newTab)
+        XCTAssertEqual(panel.webViewLifecycleState, .deferredURL)
     }
 
     func testBackgroundInitialNavigationOwnsHeadlessWebKitHostBeforeViewAppears() {