diff --git a/lib/components/farcaster-data-handler.react.js b/lib/components/farcaster-data-handler.react.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..bfa252136
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/components/farcaster-data-handler.react.js
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+// @flow
+
+import * as React from 'react';
+
+import { useSelector } from '../utils/redux-utils.js';
+
+function FarcasterDataHandler(): React.Node {
+  const isActive = useSelector(state => state.lifecycleState !== 'background');
+
+  const prevIsActiveRef = React.useRef<?boolean>();
+  React.useEffect(() => {
+    if (isActive === prevIsActiveRef.current) {
+      return;
+    }
+    prevIsActiveRef.current = isActive;
+    if (!isActive) {
+      return;
+    }
+    // app either just started, or just became active
+    // we will fetch Farcaster data here
+  }, [isActive]);
+
+  return null;
+}
+
+export { FarcasterDataHandler };
diff --git a/native/root.react.js b/native/root.react.js
index fa863f1c3..b227b064b 100644
--- a/native/root.react.js
+++ b/native/root.react.js
@@ -1,390 +1,392 @@
 // @flow
 
 import { ActionSheetProvider } from '@expo/react-native-action-sheet';
 import { BottomSheetModalProvider } from '@gorhom/bottom-sheet';
 import AsyncStorage from '@react-native-async-storage/async-storage';
 import type {
   PossiblyStaleNavigationState,
   UnsafeContainerActionEvent,
   GenericNavigationAction,
 } from '@react-navigation/core';
 import { useReduxDevToolsExtension } from '@react-navigation/devtools';
 import { NavigationContainer } from '@react-navigation/native';
 import * as SplashScreen from 'expo-splash-screen';
 import invariant from 'invariant';
 import * as React from 'react';
 import { Platform, UIManager, StyleSheet } from 'react-native';
 import { GestureHandlerRootView } from 'react-native-gesture-handler';
 import Orientation from 'react-native-orientation-locker';
 import {
   SafeAreaProvider,
   initialWindowMetrics,
 } from 'react-native-safe-area-context';
 import { Provider } from 'react-redux';
 import { PersistGate as ReduxPersistGate } from 'redux-persist/es/integration/react.js';
 
 import { ChatMentionContextProvider } from 'lib/components/chat-mention-provider.react.js';
 import { EditUserAvatarProvider } from 'lib/components/edit-user-avatar-provider.react.js';
 import { ENSCacheProvider } from 'lib/components/ens-cache-provider.react.js';
+import { FarcasterDataHandler } from 'lib/components/farcaster-data-handler.react.js';
 import IntegrityHandler from 'lib/components/integrity-handler.react.js';
 import KeyserverConnectionsHandler from 'lib/components/keyserver-connections-handler.js';
 import { MediaCacheProvider } from 'lib/components/media-cache-provider.react.js';
 import PrekeysHandler from 'lib/components/prekeys-handler.react.js';
 import { StaffContextProvider } from 'lib/components/staff-provider.react.js';
 import { IdentitySearchProvider } from 'lib/identity-search/identity-search-context.js';
 import { CallKeyserverEndpointProvider } from 'lib/keyserver-conn/call-keyserver-endpoint-provider.react.js';
 import { TunnelbrokerProvider } from 'lib/tunnelbroker/tunnelbroker-context.js';
 import { actionLogger } from 'lib/utils/action-logger.js';
 
 import { OlmSessionCreatorProvider } from './account/account-hooks.js';
 import { RegistrationContextProvider } from './account/registration/registration-context-provider.react.js';
 import NativeEditThreadAvatarProvider from './avatars/native-edit-thread-avatar-provider.react.js';
 import BackupHandler from './backup/backup-handler.js';
 import { BottomSheetProvider } from './bottom-sheet/bottom-sheet-provider.react.js';
 import ChatContextProvider from './chat/chat-context-provider.react.js';
 import MessageEditingContextProvider from './chat/message-editing-context-provider.react.js';
 import AccessTokenHandler from './components/access-token-handler.react.js';
 import { FeatureFlagsProvider } from './components/feature-flags-provider.react.js';
 import PersistedStateGate from './components/persisted-state-gate.js';
 import ReportHandler from './components/report-handler.react.js';
 import VersionSupportedChecker from './components/version-supported.react.js';
 import ConnectedStatusBar from './connected-status-bar.react.js';
 import { SQLiteDataHandler } from './data/sqlite-data-handler.js';
 import ErrorBoundary from './error-boundary.react.js';
 import IdentityServiceContextProvider from './identity-service/identity-service-context-provider.react.js';
 import InputStateContainer from './input/input-state-container.react.js';
 import LifecycleHandler from './lifecycle/lifecycle-handler.react.js';
 import MarkdownContextProvider from './markdown/markdown-context-provider.react.js';
 import { filesystemMediaCache } from './media/media-cache.js';
 import { DeepLinksContextProvider } from './navigation/deep-links-context-provider.react.js';
 import { defaultNavigationState } from './navigation/default-state.js';
 import { setGlobalNavContext } from './navigation/icky-global.js';
 import KeyserverReachabilityHandler from './navigation/keyserver-reachability-handler.js';
 import {
   NavContext,
   type NavContextType,
 } from './navigation/navigation-context.js';
 import NavigationHandler from './navigation/navigation-handler.react.js';
 import { validNavState } from './navigation/navigation-utils.js';
 import OrientationHandler from './navigation/orientation-handler.react.js';
 import { navStateAsyncStorageKey } from './navigation/persistance.js';
 import RootNavigator from './navigation/root-navigator.react.js';
 import ConnectivityUpdater from './redux/connectivity-updater.react.js';
 import { DimensionsUpdater } from './redux/dimensions-updater.react.js';
 import { getPersistor } from './redux/persist.js';
 import { store } from './redux/redux-setup.js';
 import { useSelector } from './redux/redux-utils.js';
 import { RootContext } from './root-context.js';
 import { MessageSearchProvider } from './search/search-provider.react.js';
 import Socket from './socket.react.js';
 import { useLoadCommFonts } from './themes/fonts.js';
 import { DarkTheme, LightTheme } from './themes/navigation.js';
 import ThemeHandler from './themes/theme-handler.react.js';
 import { provider } from './utils/ethers-utils.js';
 import { useTunnelbrokerInitMessage } from './utils/tunnelbroker-utils.js';
 
 // Add custom items to expo-dev-menu
 import './dev-menu.js';
 import './types/message-types-validator.js';
 
 if (Platform.OS === 'android') {
   UIManager.setLayoutAnimationEnabledExperimental &&
     UIManager.setLayoutAnimationEnabledExperimental(true);
 }
 
 const navInitAction = Object.freeze({ type: 'NAV/@@INIT' });
 const navUnknownAction = Object.freeze({ type: 'NAV/@@UNKNOWN' });
 
 SplashScreen.preventAutoHideAsync().catch(console.log);
 
 function Root() {
   const navStateRef = React.useRef<?PossiblyStaleNavigationState>();
   const navDispatchRef =
     React.useRef<?(
       action:
         | GenericNavigationAction
         | (PossiblyStaleNavigationState => GenericNavigationAction),
     ) => void>();
   const navStateInitializedRef = React.useRef(false);
 
   // We call this here to start the loading process
   // We gate the UI on the fonts loading in AppNavigator
   useLoadCommFonts();
 
   const [navContext, setNavContext] = React.useState<?NavContextType>(null);
   const updateNavContext = React.useCallback(() => {
     if (
       !navStateRef.current ||
       !navDispatchRef.current ||
       !navStateInitializedRef.current
     ) {
       return;
     }
     const updatedNavContext = {
       state: navStateRef.current,
       dispatch: navDispatchRef.current,
     };
     setNavContext(updatedNavContext);
     setGlobalNavContext(updatedNavContext);
   }, []);
 
   const [initialState, setInitialState] = React.useState(
     __DEV__ ? undefined : defaultNavigationState,
   );
 
   React.useEffect(() => {
     Orientation.lockToPortrait();
     void (async () => {
       let loadedState = initialState;
       if (__DEV__) {
         try {
           const navStateString = await AsyncStorage.getItem(
             navStateAsyncStorageKey,
           );
           if (navStateString) {
             const savedState = JSON.parse(navStateString);
             if (validNavState(savedState)) {
               loadedState = savedState;
             }
           }
         } catch {}
       }
       if (!loadedState) {
         loadedState = defaultNavigationState;
       }
       if (loadedState !== initialState) {
         setInitialState(loadedState);
       }
       navStateRef.current = loadedState;
       updateNavContext();
       actionLogger.addOtherAction('navState', navInitAction, null, loadedState);
     })();
     // eslint-disable-next-line react-hooks/exhaustive-deps
   }, [updateNavContext]);
 
   const setNavStateInitialized = React.useCallback(() => {
     navStateInitializedRef.current = true;
     updateNavContext();
   }, [updateNavContext]);
 
   const [rootContext, setRootContext] = React.useState(() => ({
     setNavStateInitialized,
   }));
 
   const detectUnsupervisedBackgroundRef = React.useCallback(
     (detectUnsupervisedBackground: ?(alreadyClosed: boolean) => boolean) => {
       setRootContext(prevRootContext => ({
         ...prevRootContext,
         detectUnsupervisedBackground,
       }));
     },
     [],
   );
 
   const frozen = useSelector(state => state.frozen);
   const queuedActionsRef = React.useRef<Array<GenericNavigationAction>>([]);
   const onNavigationStateChange = React.useCallback(
     (state: ?PossiblyStaleNavigationState) => {
       invariant(state, 'nav state should be non-null');
       const prevState = navStateRef.current;
       navStateRef.current = state;
       updateNavContext();
 
       const queuedActions = queuedActionsRef.current;
       queuedActionsRef.current = [];
       if (queuedActions.length === 0) {
         queuedActions.push(navUnknownAction);
       }
       for (const action of queuedActions) {
         actionLogger.addOtherAction('navState', action, prevState, state);
       }
 
       if (!__DEV__ || frozen) {
         return;
       }
 
       void (async () => {
         try {
           await AsyncStorage.setItem(
             navStateAsyncStorageKey,
             JSON.stringify(state),
           );
         } catch (e) {
           console.log('AsyncStorage threw while trying to persist navState', e);
         }
       })();
     },
     [updateNavContext, frozen],
   );
 
   const navContainerRef =
     React.useRef<?React.ElementRef<typeof NavigationContainer>>();
   const containerRef = React.useCallback(
     (navContainer: ?React.ElementRef<typeof NavigationContainer>) => {
       navContainerRef.current = navContainer;
       if (navContainer && !navDispatchRef.current) {
         navDispatchRef.current = navContainer.dispatch;
         updateNavContext();
       }
     },
     [updateNavContext],
   );
   useReduxDevToolsExtension(navContainerRef);
 
   const navContainer = navContainerRef.current;
   React.useEffect(() => {
     if (!navContainer) {
       return undefined;
     }
     return navContainer.addListener(
       '__unsafe_action__',
       (event: { +data: UnsafeContainerActionEvent, ... }) => {
         const { action, noop } = event.data;
         const navState = navStateRef.current;
         if (noop) {
           actionLogger.addOtherAction('navState', action, navState, navState);
           return;
         }
         queuedActionsRef.current.push({
           ...action,
           type: `NAV/${action.type}`,
         });
       },
     );
   }, [navContainer]);
 
   const activeTheme = useSelector(state => state.globalThemeInfo.activeTheme);
   const theme = (() => {
     if (activeTheme === 'light') {
       return LightTheme;
     } else if (activeTheme === 'dark') {
       return DarkTheme;
     }
     return undefined;
   })();
 
   const tunnelbrokerInitMessage = useTunnelbrokerInitMessage();
 
   const gated: React.Node = (
     <>
       <LifecycleHandler />
       <KeyserverReachabilityHandler />
       <DimensionsUpdater />
       <ConnectivityUpdater />
       <ThemeHandler />
       <OrientationHandler />
       <BackupHandler />
       <IntegrityHandler />
       <AccessTokenHandler />
     </>
   );
   let navigation;
   if (initialState) {
     navigation = (
       <NavigationContainer
         initialState={initialState}
         onStateChange={onNavigationStateChange}
         theme={theme}
         ref={containerRef}
       >
         <BottomSheetModalProvider>
           <ChatContextProvider>
             <DeepLinksContextProvider>
               <ChatMentionContextProvider>
                 <RootNavigator />
               </ChatMentionContextProvider>
             </DeepLinksContextProvider>
           </ChatContextProvider>
           <NavigationHandler />
         </BottomSheetModalProvider>
       </NavigationContainer>
     );
   }
   return (
     <GestureHandlerRootView style={styles.app}>
       <StaffContextProvider>
         <IdentityServiceContextProvider>
           <OlmSessionCreatorProvider>
             <TunnelbrokerProvider initMessage={tunnelbrokerInitMessage}>
               <IdentitySearchProvider>
                 <FeatureFlagsProvider>
                   <NavContext.Provider value={navContext}>
                     <RootContext.Provider value={rootContext}>
                       <InputStateContainer>
                         <MessageEditingContextProvider>
                           <SafeAreaProvider
                             initialMetrics={initialWindowMetrics}
                           >
                             <ActionSheetProvider>
                               <ENSCacheProvider provider={provider}>
                                 <MediaCacheProvider
                                   persistence={filesystemMediaCache}
                                 >
                                   <EditUserAvatarProvider>
                                     <NativeEditThreadAvatarProvider>
                                       <MarkdownContextProvider>
                                         <MessageSearchProvider>
                                           <BottomSheetProvider>
                                             <RegistrationContextProvider>
                                               <SQLiteDataHandler />
                                               <ConnectedStatusBar />
                                               <ReduxPersistGate
                                                 persistor={getPersistor()}
                                               >
                                                 {gated}
                                               </ReduxPersistGate>
                                               <PersistedStateGate>
                                                 <KeyserverConnectionsHandler
                                                   socketComponent={Socket}
                                                   detectUnsupervisedBackgroundRef={
                                                     detectUnsupervisedBackgroundRef
                                                   }
                                                 />
                                                 <VersionSupportedChecker />
                                                 <PrekeysHandler />
                                                 <ReportHandler />
+                                                <FarcasterDataHandler />
                                               </PersistedStateGate>
                                               {navigation}
                                             </RegistrationContextProvider>
                                           </BottomSheetProvider>
                                         </MessageSearchProvider>
                                       </MarkdownContextProvider>
                                     </NativeEditThreadAvatarProvider>
                                   </EditUserAvatarProvider>
                                 </MediaCacheProvider>
                               </ENSCacheProvider>
                             </ActionSheetProvider>
                           </SafeAreaProvider>
                         </MessageEditingContextProvider>
                       </InputStateContainer>
                     </RootContext.Provider>
                   </NavContext.Provider>
                 </FeatureFlagsProvider>
               </IdentitySearchProvider>
             </TunnelbrokerProvider>
           </OlmSessionCreatorProvider>
         </IdentityServiceContextProvider>
       </StaffContextProvider>
     </GestureHandlerRootView>
   );
 }
 
 const styles = StyleSheet.create({
   app: {
     flex: 1,
   },
 });
 
 function AppRoot(): React.Node {
   return (
     <Provider store={store}>
       <CallKeyserverEndpointProvider>
         <ErrorBoundary>
           <Root />
         </ErrorBoundary>
       </CallKeyserverEndpointProvider>
     </Provider>
   );
 }
 
 export default AppRoot;