diff --git a/.changes/unreleased/changed-20260626-192935.yaml b/.changes/unreleased/changed-20260626-192935.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6df3416a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changes/unreleased/changed-20260626-192935.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+kind: Changed
+body: |-
+    **`smoothutf8` bumped to 0.2.** With the default-on `fast-utf8`
+    feature, `wasm32` targets now run the portable shift-DFA validator
+    instead of delegating to `core::str::from_utf8`. The existing call
+    sites are unchanged (`verify_with_slack` is identical in 0.2); the new
+    `SlackBuf` safe wrapper is not yet adopted.
+time: 2026-06-26T19:29:35.543946322Z
diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 9e6dbcbe..8df4c160 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -804,9 +804,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "smoothutf8"
-version = "0.1.1"
+version = "0.2.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "36358427d32ecdb1624616deed99eccfef0a167fe5bf40ddb51efe6980bc1ec8"
+checksum = "b0aea4b70d59d6b3a8318decf03982d46ab89088523a7639fd27ae9ab92da8b4"
 dependencies = [
  "simdutf8",
 ]
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index a9f16172..5f491745 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ serde = { version = "1", default-features = false }
 serde_json = { version = "1", default-features = false, features = ["alloc"] }
 serde_norway = { version = "0.9" }
 arbitrary = { version = "1", default-features = false, features = ["derive"] }
-smoothutf8 = { version = "0.1.1", default-features = false }
+smoothutf8 = { version = "0.2", default-features = false }
 thiserror = { version = "2", default-features = false }
 # Optional `string` field representations that will be selectable via
 # `buffa_build`'s forthcoming `string_type` knob. Declared