diff --git a/shell/plugins/panels/network/Panel.qml b/shell/plugins/panels/network/Panel.qml
index 2ed28294..9cb737e6 100644
--- a/shell/plugins/panels/network/Panel.qml
+++ b/shell/plugins/panels/network/Panel.qml
@@ -292,6 +292,29 @@ Panel {
   readonly property color hoverFill: bar ? Style.hoverFillFor(bar.foreground, Color.accent) : "transparent"
   readonly property color selectedFill: bar ? Style.selectedFillFor(bar.foreground, Color.accent) : "transparent"
 
+  // scannerEnabled lives on the shared WifiDevice, which has no reference
+  // counting, and a bar widget is instantiated once per monitor. Tracking the
+  // device this instance turned scanning on for keeps the release correct when
+  // the panel closes, the device is replaced, or the widget is destroyed —
+  // without a closed instance ever claiming the scanner.
+  property var scannerDevice: null
+
+  function setScannerEnabled(enabled) {
+    var nextDevice = opened ? wifiDevice : null
+
+    if (scannerDevice && scannerDevice !== nextDevice)
+      scannerDevice.scannerEnabled = false
+
+    scannerDevice = nextDevice
+
+    if (scannerDevice)
+      scannerDevice.scannerEnabled = enabled
+  }
+
+  Component.onDestruction: {
+    if (scannerDevice) scannerDevice.scannerEnabled = false
+  }
+
   // KeyboardPanel primes layer-shell focus whenever the panel opens. That's
   // what makes the SUPER+CTRL+W keybind land here with navigation ready.
   onOpenedChanged: {
@@ -305,6 +328,10 @@ Panel {
       syncBandIndex()
       cursorActive = false
     } else {
+      // Drop a restart armed by this open: without it a close/reopen inside
+      // the 100ms window reuses the running timer and re-enables the scanner
+      // almost immediately, undoing the deferral #6605 restored.
+      scanRestart.stop()
       // Reset throughput tracking so the next open doesn't compute a fake
       // rate from a sample taken minutes ago.
       prevSampleTime = 0
@@ -316,7 +343,7 @@ Panel {
       routerPingLatency = -1
       internetPingLatency = -1
       internetPingPacketLoss = 0
-      if (wifiDevice) wifiDevice.scannerEnabled = false
+      setScannerEnabled(false)
     }
   }
 
@@ -357,7 +384,7 @@ Panel {
   }
 
   onWifiDeviceChanged: {
-    if (wifiDevice) wifiDevice.scannerEnabled = opened
+    setScannerEnabled(true)
     syncWifiNetworks()
   }
 
@@ -452,13 +479,15 @@ Panel {
       bandProc.command = ["omarchy-network-band"]
       bandProc.running = true
     }
-    if (wifiDevice) {
+    // A closed panel has no nearby-network list to fill, and bare refresh()
+    // reaches here from action completion, timeouts and construction.
+    if (opened && wifiDevice) {
       if (scanWifi) {
         scanning = true
-        wifiDevice.scannerEnabled = false
+        setScannerEnabled(false)
         scanRestart.start()
       } else {
-        wifiDevice.scannerEnabled = true
+        setScannerEnabled(true)
       }
     }
     syncWifiNetworks()
@@ -792,8 +821,10 @@ Panel {
     interval: 100
     repeat: false
     onTriggered: {
-      if (root.wifiDevice) root.wifiDevice.scannerEnabled = true
-      scanDone.start()
+      if (root.opened && root.wifiDevice) {
+        root.setScannerEnabled(true)
+        scanDone.start()
+      }
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/test/shell.d/network-test.sh b/test/shell.d/network-test.sh
index c6b4a947..920ee9d1 100644
--- a/test/shell.d/network-test.sh
+++ b/test/shell.d/network-test.sh
@@ -21,6 +21,60 @@ assert(barPress, 'network bar button has an onPressed handler')
 const barPressCode = barPress[0].replace(/\/\/.*$/gm, '')
 assert(!/refresh\(/.test(barPressCode), 'network bar click opens the panel without a second refresh that would undo the deferred scan')
 
+// A closed panel has no nearby-network list to fill. Quickshell's scanner
+// re-arms RequestScan on its own timer, and every sweep takes the radio off
+// the operating channel, so a scanner left enabled behind a closed panel keeps
+// degrading the connection it is scanning from.
+const refreshFn = panelSource.match(/function refresh\(scanWifi\)[\s\S]*?\n {2}\}/)
+assert(refreshFn, 'network has a refresh() function')
+assert(/if \(opened && wifiDevice\)/.test(refreshFn[0]), 'network only touches the scanner from refresh() while its panel is open')
+
+// The 100ms deferral can outlive the panel: closing inside the window would
+// otherwise re-enable scanning from a timer nobody is watching.
+const scanRestart = panelSource.match(/id: scanRestart[\s\S]*?onTriggered: \{[\s\S]*?\n {4}\}/)
+assert(scanRestart, 'network has the deferred scan restart timer')
+assert(/root\.opened/.test(scanRestart[0]), 'network re-checks the panel before the deferred restart re-enables scanning')
+assert(/scanRestart\.stop\(\)/.test(panelSource), 'network cancels a pending scan restart when the panel closes')
+
+// scannerEnabled lives on a shared WifiDevice with no reference counting, so
+// the panel has to own what it enabled. Run the helper's own JavaScript against
+// stand-in devices: the two invariants it carries are that a closed panel never
+// takes a device, and that adopting a new one releases the previous.
+const scannerHelper = panelSource.match(/function setScannerEnabled\(enabled\) \{[\s\S]*?\n {2}\}/)
+assert(scannerHelper, 'network has a scanner ownership helper')
+
+var opened = false
+var wifiDevice = { scannerEnabled: false }
+var scannerDevice = null
+eval(scannerHelper[0])
+
+setScannerEnabled(true)
+assert(
+  scannerDevice === null && wifiDevice.scannerEnabled === false,
+  'network does not let a closed panel claim or enable a scanner device'
+)
+
+var previousScannerDevice = { scannerEnabled: true }
+var replacementScannerDevice = { scannerEnabled: false }
+opened = true
+scannerDevice = previousScannerDevice
+wifiDevice = replacementScannerDevice
+setScannerEnabled(true)
+assert(
+  previousScannerDevice.scannerEnabled === false &&
+    scannerDevice === replacementScannerDevice &&
+    replacementScannerDevice.scannerEnabled === true,
+  'network releases the previous scanner device before enabling its replacement'
+)
+
+// Destruction is the case a guard-only fix misses: the widget dies with the
+// panel still open, as a bar reload does, and nothing else would release it.
+assert(
+  /Component\.onDestruction[\s\S]{0,140}scannerDevice\.scannerEnabled = false/.test(panelSource),
+  'network releases the scanner it owns when the widget is destroyed'
+)
+assert(!/wifiDevice\.scannerEnabled\s*=/.test(panelSource), 'network writes scanner state through its owned device reference rather than the moving wifiDevice reference')
+
 // A row is a primitive snapshot that can outlive its WifiNetwork, and
 // disconnect() falls back to the live connection when handed null, so row
 // activation must go through the guarded disconnectRow().