diff --git a/engine/src/flutter/runtime/shorebird/BUILD.gn b/engine/src/flutter/runtime/shorebird/BUILD.gn
index facee07ba5cd1..81bf3f588b3f8 100644
--- a/engine/src/flutter/runtime/shorebird/BUILD.gn
+++ b/engine/src/flutter/runtime/shorebird/BUILD.gn
@@ -12,4 +12,9 @@ source_set("patch_cache") {
     "//flutter/fml",
     "//flutter/runtime:libdart",
   ]
+
+  # For shorebird_report_launch_start() in updater.h
+  # The include path "third_party/updater/library/include/updater.h" is relative
+  # to //flutter/, which is already in the default include path.
+  include_dirs = [ "//flutter" ]
 }
diff --git a/engine/src/flutter/runtime/shorebird/patch_cache.cc b/engine/src/flutter/runtime/shorebird/patch_cache.cc
index d3dbe617ebfea..5610eb3393d60 100644
--- a/engine/src/flutter/runtime/shorebird/patch_cache.cc
+++ b/engine/src/flutter/runtime/shorebird/patch_cache.cc
@@ -4,9 +4,12 @@
 
 #include "flutter/runtime/shorebird/patch_cache.h"
 
+#include <mutex>
+
 #include "flutter/fml/logging.h"
 #include "flutter/fml/mapping.h"
 #include "flutter/runtime/shorebird/patch_mapping.h"
+#include "third_party/updater/library/include/updater.h"
 
 namespace flutter {
 
@@ -148,7 +151,18 @@ std::shared_ptr<const fml::Mapping> TryLoadFromPatch(
 
   FML_LOG(INFO) << "Loading symbol from patch: " << symbol_name;
 
+  // Report launch_start when we're actually about to use a patch.
+  // This is called at exactly the right time - right before the patched
+  // snapshot is loaded. We use std::once_flag to ensure it's only called
+  // once per process, and only for the first symbol (isolate data).
+  // This fixes the FlutterEngineGroup issue where report_launch_start was
+  // called too early (in ConfigureShorebird) before any patch was used.
+  static std::once_flag launch_start_flag;
   if (symbol == kIsolateDataSymbol) {
+    std::call_once(launch_start_flag, []() {
+      FML_LOG(INFO) << "Reporting launch start for patch";
+      shorebird_report_launch_start();
+    });
     return PatchMapping::CreateIsolateData(cache_entry);
   } else {
     FML_CHECK(symbol == kIsolateInstructionsSymbol);
diff --git a/engine/src/flutter/shell/common/shorebird/shorebird.cc b/engine/src/flutter/shell/common/shorebird/shorebird.cc
index 81469a480f735..d040e07e0285d 100644
--- a/engine/src/flutter/shell/common/shorebird/shorebird.cc
+++ b/engine/src/flutter/shell/common/shorebird/shorebird.cc
@@ -181,25 +181,14 @@ bool ConfigureShorebird(const ShorebirdConfigArgs& args,
     FML_LOG(INFO) << "Shorebird updater: no active patch.";
   }
 
-  // We are careful only to report a launch start in the case where it's the
-  // first time we've configured shorebird this process. Otherwise we could end
-  // up in a case where we report a launch start, but never a completion (e.g.
-  // from package:flutter_work_manager which sometimes creates a FlutterEngine
-  // (and thus configures shorebird) but never runs it. The proper fix for this
-  // is probably to move the launch_start() call to be later in the lifecycle
-  // (when the snapshot is loaded and run, rather than when FlutterEngine is
-  // initialized).  This "hack" will still have a problem where FlutterEngine is
-  // initialized but never run before the app is quit, could still cause us to
-  // suddenly mark-bad a patch that was never actually attempted to launch.
+  // Note: shorebird_report_launch_start() is now called from TryLoadFromPatch()
+  // in runtime/shorebird/patch_cache.cc, right before the patched snapshot is
+  // actually loaded. This fixes issues with FlutterEngineGroup and other cases
+  // where ConfigureShorebird() is called but no Shell is created.
   if (!init_result) {
     return false;
   }
 
-  // Once start_update_thread is called, the next_boot_patch* functions may
-  // change their return values if the shorebird_report_launch_failed
-  // function is called.
-  shorebird_report_launch_start();
-
   if (shorebird_should_auto_update()) {
     FML_LOG(INFO) << "Starting Shorebird update";
     shorebird_start_update_thread();
@@ -294,25 +283,15 @@ void ConfigureShorebird(std::string code_cache_path,
     FML_LOG(INFO) << "Shorebird updater: no active patch.";
   }
 
-  // We are careful only to report a launch start in the case where it's the
-  // first time we've configured shorebird this process. Otherwise we could end
-  // up in a case where we report a launch start, but never a completion (e.g.
-  // from package:flutter_work_manager which sometimes creates a FlutterEngine
-  // (and thus configures shorebird) but never runs it. The proper fix for this
-  // is probably to move the launch_start() call to be later in the lifecycle
-  // (when the snapshot is loaded and run, rather than when FlutterEngine is
-  // initialized).  This "hack" will still have a problem where FlutterEngine is
-  // initialized but never run before the app is quit, could still cause us to
-  // suddenly mark-bad a patch that was never actually attempted to launch.
+  // Note: shorebird_report_launch_start() is now called from TryLoadFromPatch()
+  // in runtime/shorebird/patch_cache.cc, right before the patched snapshot is
+  // actually loaded. This fixes issues with FlutterEngineGroup and other cases
+  // where ConfigureShorebird() is called but no Shell is created.
+
   if (!init_result) {
     return;
   }
 
-  // Once start_update_thread is called, the next_boot_patch* functions may
-  // change their return values if the shorebird_report_launch_failed
-  // function is called.
-  shorebird_report_launch_start();
-
   if (shorebird_should_auto_update()) {
     FML_LOG(INFO) << "Starting Shorebird update";
     shorebird_start_update_thread();