diff --git a/docs/updates.md b/docs/updates.md
index 32f284b..05410df 100644
--- a/docs/updates.md
+++ b/docs/updates.md
@@ -133,7 +133,8 @@ Writes use adjacent temporary files, file fsync, atomic replacement and director
 fsync. Recovery is independent of the runtime package. The public read-only status
 summary is `/usr/share/hydra/update-status.json`; private journals are authoritative,
 and an abrupt loss of power may leave the summary briefly older than those journals.
-Run recovery as administrator when an update was interrupted.
+Run recovery as administrator when an update was interrupted; it refreshes the
+public summary from authoritative state even when no transaction remains pending.
 
 This is a per-file recoverable transaction, not a simultaneous filesystem snapshot.
 A running process can observe a mixture during apply. Do not launch new Hydra
diff --git a/hydra/update_engine.py b/hydra/update_engine.py
index 1de65ac..e4d22f1 100644
--- a/hydra/update_engine.py
+++ b/hydra/update_engine.py
@@ -463,7 +463,11 @@ class Updater:
             pending = self.pending()
             if len(pending) > 1:
                 raise UpdateError('Multiple pending journals require manual inspection')
-            return [self.restore(transaction, False) for transaction in pending]
+            results = [self.restore(transaction, False) for transaction in pending]
+            # A crash can leave a terminal journal durable but its public summary stale.
+            # Reconcile even when there is no transaction left to restore.
+            self.publish()
+            return results
 
 
 def checked_url(url):
diff --git a/tests/test_update.py b/tests/test_update.py
index 1620438..d8e30a4 100644
--- a/tests/test_update.py
+++ b/tests/test_update.py
@@ -429,3 +429,36 @@ CALL
         updater.recover()
         self.assertEqual(updater.status()['highest_sequence'], 1)
         self.assertEqual(self.target.read_bytes(), b'old runtime\n')
+
+    def test_fresh_recovery_reconciles_public_status_after_terminal_journal_before_publish(self):
+        self.package()
+        updater = self.updater()
+        from unittest.mock import patch
+        original_publish = updater.publish
+        def interrupted_publish():
+            if not updater.pending():
+                raise OSError('power lost after terminal journal before public status')
+            return original_publish()
+        for operation in ('apply', 'rollback'):
+            with self.subTest(operation=operation):
+                with patch.object(updater, 'publish', side_effect=interrupted_publish):
+                    with self.assertRaisesRegex(OSError, 'terminal journal'):
+                        if operation == 'apply':
+                            updater.apply(self.artifacts)
+                        else:
+                            updater.rollback(updater.state()['current']['transaction'])
+                authoritative = updater.status()
+                self.assertEqual(authoritative['pending'], [])
+                stale = json.loads(updater.public_status.read_text())
+                self.assertNotEqual(stale, authoritative)
+                result = subprocess.run([sys.executable, '-I', str(ENGINE.parent.parent / 'bin/hydra-update-recover'),
+                                         '--root', str(self.root), '--public-key', str(self.pub)], capture_output=True, text=True)
+                self.assertEqual(result.returncode, 0, result.stderr)
+                self.assertEqual(json.loads(result.stdout), [])
+                self.assertEqual(json.loads(updater.public_status.read_text()), authoritative)
+                self.assertEqual(self.target.read_bytes(), b'new runtime\n' if operation == 'apply' else b'old runtime\n')
+                updater.base.chmod(0)
+                try:
+                    self.assertEqual(updater.status(), authoritative)
+                finally:
+                    updater.base.chmod(0o700)