diff --git a/src/commands.cpp b/src/commands.cpp
index 09a0241..0951de8 100644
--- a/src/commands.cpp
+++ b/src/commands.cpp
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 #include <sstream>
 #include <string>
 #include <string_view>
+#include <time.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
 #include <vector>
 
@@ -728,6 +729,34 @@ int compose_up_command(const std::string& images_directory, const std::string& c
 // state file (no -u/--up ever ran for this file) isn't an error -- just
 // nothing to stop.
 //
+// A killed session's own sandboxed process (what kill_session() actually
+// waits for, via the cgroup/pid-namespace/tracked-pid strategy it picks)
+// isn't the same process as the one that started it: run_mounted_container()
+// runs in the compose service's own daemonized process, blocked in its own
+// waitpid() on bwrap -- once that returns, *that* process still has to run
+// its own post-exit cleanup (stop_tap_relay() among it) before a tap+relay
+// join's own host-side device is actually removed from the bridge. Since
+// this happens in a completely separate, independently-scheduled process,
+// checking is_network_in_use() the instant kill_session() itself returns
+// can genuinely still see it as attached -- confirmed on the real Android
+// target device, where the two kill+check calls above landed only single-
+// digit milliseconds apart, well within the gap that process's own
+// scheduling can take on a loaded device. This retries for a bounded time
+// (nanosleep()-based, matching this project's own existing polling style)
+// rather than giving up on the very first still-attached answer.
+bool network_becomes_unused(const NetworkEntry& network, int timeout_ms, int interval_ms) {
+    for (int waited = 0; waited < timeout_ms; waited += interval_ms) {
+        if (!is_network_in_use(network)) {
+            return true;
+        }
+        struct timespec ts {
+            interval_ms / 1000, (interval_ms % 1000) * 1000000L
+        };
+        nanosleep(&ts, nullptr);
+    }
+    return !is_network_in_use(network);
+}
+
 // Networks and volumes are then handled asymmetrically, matching real
 // Compose's own default and the user's own explicit direction: volumes
 // always persist (never touched here at all -- a compose-managed volume
@@ -768,7 +797,7 @@ int compose_down_command(const std::string& compose_file_name, AppConfig& config
         if (it == config.networks.end()) {
             continue;  // never created, or already removed
         }
-        if (is_network_in_use(*it)) {
+        if (!network_becomes_unused(*it, 10000, 200)) {
             fmt::print("network '{}' is still in use, leaving it\n", actual_name);
             continue;
         }