diff --git a/.idea/dictionaries/project.xml b/.idea/dictionaries/project.xml
index 15c83bbc..9f7e4865 100644
--- a/.idea/dictionaries/project.xml
+++ b/.idea/dictionaries/project.xml
@@ -236,6 +236,7 @@
       <w>lavfi</w>
       <w>lensed</w>
       <w>letterboxing</w>
+      <w>libface</w>
       <w>libimage</w>
       <w>libmediapipe</w>
       <w>libwebp</w>
diff --git a/app/src/main/java/io/github/stozo04/openloop/camera/lens/FaceTracker.kt b/app/src/main/java/io/github/stozo04/openloop/camera/lens/FaceTracker.kt
index 04dc8087..7925ed42 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/io/github/stozo04/openloop/camera/lens/FaceTracker.kt
+++ b/app/src/main/java/io/github/stozo04/openloop/camera/lens/FaceTracker.kt
@@ -8,8 +8,10 @@ import androidx.camera.core.ImageProxy
 import com.google.mlkit.vision.common.InputImage
 import com.google.mlkit.vision.face.Face
 import com.google.mlkit.vision.face.FaceDetection
+import com.google.mlkit.vision.face.FaceDetector
 import com.google.mlkit.vision.face.FaceDetectorOptions
 import com.google.mlkit.vision.face.FaceLandmark
+import io.github.stozo04.openloop.diagnostics.ReverseCrashlytics
 import kotlin.math.hypot
 
 /**
@@ -47,26 +49,20 @@ class FaceTracker(private val onFaces: (List<FaceSnapshot>) -> Unit) : ImageAnal
     @Volatile
     private var epoch = 0
 
-    private val detector = FaceDetection.getClient(
-        FaceDetectorOptions.Builder()
-            // FAST over ACCURATE: this runs per preview frame, and a lens that lags is worse than
-            // a lens that is a pixel off.
-            .setPerformanceMode(FaceDetectorOptions.PERFORMANCE_MODE_FAST)
-            // Landmarks (not contours) — the eyes, MOUTH_LEFT/RIGHT and MOUTH_BOTTOM are the whole
-            // input to LensAnchor, and contour mode is several times the work per frame.
-            .setLandmarkMode(FaceDetectorOptions.LANDMARK_MODE_ALL)
-            .setContourMode(FaceDetectorOptions.CONTOUR_MODE_NONE)
-            .setMinFaceSize(MIN_FACE_SIZE)
-            // Tracking ids are what let a slot follow a person across frames, and what keys every
-            // per-face state downstream (FaceSnapshot.trackingId).
-            .enableTracking()
-            .build(),
-    )
+    /**
+     * ML Kit's bundled detector, or `null` when its native library will not load on this device —
+     * see [createDetector]. Null means the lenses are inert and nothing else changes.
+     */
+    private val detector: FaceDetector? = createDetector()
 
     @SuppressLint("UnsafeOptInUsageError")
     override fun analyze(imageProxy: ImageProxy) {
+        // No detector on this device (see [createDetector]). Close the proxy anyway and publish
+        // nothing: under KEEP_ONLY_LATEST an unclosed proxy stalls the stream the hand tracker
+        // rides on too, so "lenses are inert" would become "the analyzer is dead".
+        val detector = detector
         val mediaImage = imageProxy.image
-        if (mediaImage == null) {
+        if (detector == null || mediaImage == null) {
             imageProxy.close()
             return
         }
@@ -128,9 +124,55 @@ class FaceTracker(private val onFaces: (List<FaceSnapshot>) -> Unit) : ImageAnal
         onFaces(emptyList())
     }
 
-    /** Releases the detector. Call when the analyzer is unbound. */
+    /** Releases the detector. Call when the analyzer is unbound. No-op when it never came up. */
     fun close() {
-        detector.close()
+        detector?.close()
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Builds the ML Kit detector, or returns `null` when the bundled model's native library will
+     * not load on this device.
+     *
+     * That the reported crash was **fatal** is the tell. ML Kit loads
+     * `libface_detector_v2_jni.so` from the static initializer of its own
+     * `ThickFaceDetectorCreator`, and it runs that off the caller's thread — on its own model-load
+     * worker, inside a GMS `Task`. `Task` funnels only `Exception` into `addOnFailureListener`, so
+     * the `UnsatisfiedLinkError` escapes the worker's `Runnable` and kills the process instead of
+     * surfacing as a failed task. A `try` around [FaceDetection.getClient] would have caught
+     * nothing (Issue #195, Crashlytics `37081b24…`, first seen 1.0.52).
+     *
+     * So the library is loaded **here** first, on the caller's own thread, where the failure is
+     * catchable. A load that succeeds makes ML Kit's own `System.loadLibrary` a no-op; one that
+     * fails means ML Kit would have crashed, so the detector is never built. The lenses then go
+     * inert and the camera, capture, trim and save paths are untouched — the same trade
+     * [io.github.stozo04.openloop.camera.CameraManager] already makes when the analysis use case
+     * cannot bind, and the one [HandTracker] makes for MediaPipe (Lesson 040).
+     */
+    private fun createDetector(): FaceDetector? = try {
+        System.loadLibrary(NATIVE_LIBRARY)
+        FaceDetection.getClient(
+            FaceDetectorOptions.Builder()
+                // FAST over ACCURATE: this runs per preview frame, and a lens that lags is worse
+                // than a lens that is a pixel off.
+                .setPerformanceMode(FaceDetectorOptions.PERFORMANCE_MODE_FAST)
+                // Landmarks (not contours) — the eyes, MOUTH_LEFT/RIGHT and MOUTH_BOTTOM are the
+                // whole input to LensAnchor, and contour mode is several times the work per frame.
+                .setLandmarkMode(FaceDetectorOptions.LANDMARK_MODE_ALL)
+                .setContourMode(FaceDetectorOptions.CONTOUR_MODE_NONE)
+                .setMinFaceSize(MIN_FACE_SIZE)
+                // Tracking ids are what let a slot follow a person across frames, and what keys
+                // every per-face state downstream (FaceSnapshot.trackingId).
+                .enableTracking()
+                .build(),
+        )
+    } catch (error: LinkageError) {
+        // The JVM's own class for "the library could not come up": UnsatisfiedLinkError when the
+        // .so is missing for this ABI or the install lost its native split, and
+        // ExceptionInInitializerError / NoClassDefFoundError when a static initializer threw.
+        // Not a catch-all — a bug in our own code still propagates (Lesson 013).
+        Log.w(TAG, "ML Kit face detection unavailable; face lenses will be inert", error)
+        ReverseCrashlytics.reportFaceTrackerUnavailable(error)
+        null
     }
 
     /**
@@ -212,6 +254,15 @@ class FaceTracker(private val onFaces: (List<FaceSnapshot>) -> Unit) : ImageAnal
     companion object {
         private const val TAG = "OpenLoopFaceTracker"
 
+        /**
+         * The bundled model's native library, loaded by [createDetector] before ML Kit can load it
+         * somewhere uncatchable. **Coupled to the `mlkit-face-detection` pin in
+         * `gradle/libs.versions.toml`** (16.1.7): re-check the name in the AAR's `jni/` folder when
+         * that pin moves, because a rename would read here as "absent" and take face lenses off
+         * every device. The lens loop of `scripts/run-verification-loops.py` is where that shows up.
+         */
+        private const val NATIVE_LIBRARY = "face_detector_v2_jni"
+
         /**
          * How many people can wear the lens at once — `docs/PRD-multi-face-lenses.md` D1. Two is a
          * selfie with a kid or a friend; three is a group photo. Everything downstream is keyed by
diff --git a/app/src/main/java/io/github/stozo04/openloop/diagnostics/ReverseCrashlytics.kt b/app/src/main/java/io/github/stozo04/openloop/diagnostics/ReverseCrashlytics.kt
index 3dace0d3..8456d597 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/io/github/stozo04/openloop/diagnostics/ReverseCrashlytics.kt
+++ b/app/src/main/java/io/github/stozo04/openloop/diagnostics/ReverseCrashlytics.kt
@@ -156,6 +156,27 @@ internal object ReverseCrashlytics {
         }
     }
 
+    /**
+     * ML Kit's bundled face detector could not be created (`docs/PRD-camera-lenses.md`): its
+     * native library would not load, so the camera keeps working and only the lenses go inert.
+     *
+     * Non-fatal on purpose — it replaces the **fatal** `UnsatisfiedLinkError` this used to be
+     * (Issue #195). The population that hits it still has to be visible in aggregate: a jump here
+     * after an ML Kit bump means the library name in `FaceTracker` moved, not that devices broke.
+     */
+    fun reportFaceTrackerUnavailable(cause: Throwable) {
+        val crashlytics = crashlyticsOrNull() ?: return
+        val keys = CustomKeysAndValues.Builder()
+            .putString("face_failure_kind", cause.javaClass.simpleName.take(1024))
+            .build()
+        runCatching {
+            crashlytics.log("face_tracker_unavailable: ${cause.javaClass.simpleName}")
+            crashlytics.recordException(cause, keys)
+        }.onFailure { e ->
+            Log.w(TAG, "Crashlytics recordException failed", e)
+        }
+    }
+
     /**
      * The MediaPipe hand landmarker could not be created (`docs/PRD-lens-hand-flick.md`): the lens
      * still works and only the hand verb is off, so this is non-fatal — but the population that
diff --git a/cspell.json b/cspell.json
index a16e0167..ddf14390 100644
--- a/cspell.json
+++ b/cspell.json
@@ -259,6 +259,7 @@
     "lavfi",
     "lensed",
     "letterboxing",
+    "libface",
     "libimage",
     "libmediapipe",
     "libwebp",
diff --git a/docs/lessons_learned/040-run-the-release-apk-when-a-native-dependency-lands.md b/docs/lessons_learned/040-run-the-release-apk-when-a-native-dependency-lands.md
index ae1ababa..50fbd2d9 100644
--- a/docs/lessons_learned/040-run-the-release-apk-when-a-native-dependency-lands.md
+++ b/docs/lessons_learned/040-run-the-release-apk-when-a-native-dependency-lands.md
@@ -48,6 +48,15 @@ without an explicit `-dontwarn`.
   and `LinkageError` (`ExceptionInInitializerError`, `UnsatisfiedLinkError`, `NoClassDefFoundError`
   — the JVM's own class of "the library could not come up"), turns the verb off, and reports a
   Crashlytics non-fatal. Not a catch-all: a bug in our code still propagates (Lesson 013).
+- **First check the failure is even reachable from a `try`.** MediaPipe loads its library inside
+  `HandLandmarker.createFromOptions`, on the thread that called it, so wrapping the call is enough.
+  ML Kit does not: `FaceDetection.getClient` hands the load to ML Kit's **own** worker thread
+  inside a GMS `Task`, and `Task` funnels only `Exception` into `addOnFailureListener` — an `Error`
+  escapes the worker's `Runnable` and kills the process. Wrapping `getClient` there catches
+  nothing. Where the load is out of reach, **load the library yourself first**, on your own thread,
+  and skip building the detector when that throws (`FaceTracker.createDetector`, Issue #195). That
+  couples one string to the dependency's `jni/` folder; say so at the version-catalog pin, because
+  a rename reads as "absent" and silently takes the feature off every device.
 
 ## Detection checklist
 
diff --git a/gradle/libs.versions.toml b/gradle/libs.versions.toml
index 6c6e535f..2e9b3ccc 100644
--- a/gradle/libs.versions.toml
+++ b/gradle/libs.versions.toml
@@ -103,6 +103,9 @@ play-review-ktx = { group = "com.google.android.play", name = "review-ktx", vers
 # ML Kit face detection — powers camera lenses (docs/PRD-camera-lenses.md). Deliberately the
 # STABLE face-detection API, not the beta face-mesh one; landmark mode already gives the eyes and
 # mouth corners LensAnchor needs. Bundled model: no Play-services round trip on first use.
+# Bumping this pin: re-check that the AAR still ships `jni/*/libface_detector_v2_jni.so` under that
+# exact name. FaceTracker loads it by name before ML Kit can (Issue #195, Lesson 040), and a rename
+# would read as "absent" and take face lenses off every device.
 mlkit-face-detection = { group = "com.google.mlkit", name = "face-detection", version.ref = "mlkitFaceDetection" }
 
 # MediaPipe Hand Landmarker — the hand that flicks a lens (docs/PRD-lens-hand-flick.md). Hands only;