diff --git a/lib/Epub/Epub/Section.cpp b/lib/Epub/Epub/Section.cpp
index 8a157bce..98e2c162 100644
--- a/lib/Epub/Epub/Section.cpp
+++ b/lib/Epub/Epub/Section.cpp
@@ -189,6 +189,7 @@ bool Section::createSectionFile(const int fontId, const float lineCompression, c
                                 const uint8_t paragraphAlignment, const uint16_t viewportWidth,
                                 const uint16_t viewportHeight, const bool hyphenationEnabled, const bool embeddedStyle,
                                 const uint8_t imageRendering, const std::function<void(int)>& progressFn) {
+  const uint32_t phaseTotalStart = millis();
   const auto localPath = epub->getSpineItem(spineIndex).href;
   const auto tmpHtmlPath = epub->getCachePath() + "/.tmp_" + std::to_string(spineIndex) + ".html";
 
@@ -199,6 +200,7 @@ bool Section::createSectionFile(const int fontId, const float lineCompression, c
   }
 
   // Retry logic for SD card timing issues
+  const uint32_t phaseStreamStart = millis();
   bool success = false;
   uint32_t fileSize = 0;
   for (int attempt = 0; attempt < 3 && !success; attempt++) {
@@ -232,8 +234,10 @@ bool Section::createSectionFile(const int fontId, const float lineCompression, c
     return false;
   }
 
+  const uint32_t streamMs = millis() - phaseStreamStart;
   LOG_DBG("SCT", "Streamed temp HTML to %s (%d bytes)", tmpHtmlPath.c_str(), fileSize);
 
+  const uint32_t phaseSetupStart = millis();
   if (!Storage.openFileForWrite("SCT", filePath, file)) {
     return false;
   }
@@ -275,8 +279,12 @@ bool Section::createSectionFile(const int fontId, const float lineCompression, c
       [this, &lut](std::unique_ptr<Page> page) { lut.emplace_back(this->onPageComplete(std::move(page))); },
       embeddedStyle, contentBase, imageBasePath, imageRendering, std::move(tocAnchors), progressFn, cssParser);
   Hyphenator::setPreferredLanguage(epub->getLanguage());
+  const uint32_t setupMs = millis() - phaseSetupStart;
+  const uint32_t phaseParseStart = millis();
   success = visitor.parseAndBuildPages();
+  const uint32_t parseMs = millis() - phaseParseStart;
 
+  const uint32_t phaseFinalizeStart = millis();
   Storage.remove(tmpHtmlPath.c_str());
   if (!success) {
     LOG_ERR("SCT", "Failed to parse XML and build pages");
@@ -353,6 +361,10 @@ bool Section::createSectionFile(const int fontId, const float lineCompression, c
     return false;
   }
   this->lut = std::move(lut);
+  const uint32_t finalizeMs = millis() - phaseFinalizeStart;
+  const uint32_t totalMs = millis() - phaseTotalStart;
+  LOG_DBG("SCT", "createSectionFile spine=%d total=%ums (stream=%u setup=%u parse=%u finalize=%u) pages=%u bytes=%u",
+          spineIndex, totalMs, streamMs, setupMs, parseMs, finalizeMs, pageCount, fileSize);
   return true;
 }
 
diff --git a/lib/Epub/Epub/parsers/ChapterHtmlSlimParser.cpp b/lib/Epub/Epub/parsers/ChapterHtmlSlimParser.cpp
index 64f12878..424efea4 100644
--- a/lib/Epub/Epub/parsers/ChapterHtmlSlimParser.cpp
+++ b/lib/Epub/Epub/parsers/ChapterHtmlSlimParser.cpp
@@ -1373,10 +1373,11 @@ bool ChapterHtmlSlimParser::parseAndBuildPages() {
     const size_t len = file.read(buf, PARSE_BUFFER_SIZE);
     bytesRead += len;
 
-    // Report progress in 5% increments to limit e-ink refreshes.
+    // Report progress in 25% increments. Each progressFn callback triggers a full e-ink
+    // refresh (~650ms); 4 updates total adds ~2.6s, vs ~13s at the previous 5% granularity.
     if (progressFn && totalFileSize >= MIN_SIZE_FOR_POPUP) {
       const int progress = static_cast<int>(bytesRead * 100 / totalFileSize);
-      if (progress / 5 > lastReportedProgress / 5) {
+      if (progress / 25 > lastReportedProgress / 25) {
         lastReportedProgress = progress;
         progressFn(progress);
       }
diff --git a/src/activities/util/BmpViewerActivity.cpp b/src/activities/util/BmpViewerActivity.cpp
index 54c4d60d..6285ef3b 100644
--- a/src/activities/util/BmpViewerActivity.cpp
+++ b/src/activities/util/BmpViewerActivity.cpp
@@ -131,8 +131,7 @@ bool BmpViewerActivity::renderBmpImage(const bool showControls) {
   FsFile file;
   const auto pageWidth = renderer.getScreenWidth();
   const auto pageHeight = renderer.getScreenHeight();
-  Rect popupRect = GUI.drawPopup(renderer, tr(STR_LOADING_POPUP));
-  GUI.fillPopupProgress(renderer, popupRect, 20);
+  GUI.drawPopup(renderer, tr(STR_LOADING_POPUP));
 
   if (!Storage.openFileForRead("BMP", filePath, file)) {
     return false;
@@ -148,8 +147,6 @@ bool BmpViewerActivity::renderBmpImage(const bool showControls) {
   computeCenteredImagePlacement(bitmap.getWidth(), bitmap.getHeight(), pageWidth, pageHeight, x, y, renderWidth,
                                 renderHeight);
 
-  GUI.fillPopupProgress(renderer, popupRect, 50);
-
   bmpHasGreyscale = bitmap.hasGreyscale();
   // Only render in grayscale when the bitmap actually carries greyscale data AND the user has it enabled.
   const bool renderGrayscale = bmpHasGreyscale && grayscaleDisplay;
@@ -196,8 +193,7 @@ bool BmpViewerActivity::renderDecodedImage(const bool showControls) {
   RenderLock lock(*this);
   const auto pageWidth = renderer.getScreenWidth();
   const auto pageHeight = renderer.getScreenHeight();
-  Rect popupRect = GUI.drawPopup(renderer, tr(STR_LOADING_POPUP));
-  GUI.fillPopupProgress(renderer, popupRect, 20);
+  GUI.drawPopup(renderer, tr(STR_LOADING_POPUP));
 
   ImageToFramebufferDecoder* decoder = ImageDecoderFactory::getDecoder(filePath);
   if (!decoder) {
@@ -212,8 +208,6 @@ bool BmpViewerActivity::renderDecodedImage(const bool showControls) {
   int x, y, renderWidth, renderHeight;
   computeCenteredImagePlacement(dims.width, dims.height, pageWidth, pageHeight, x, y, renderWidth, renderHeight);
 
-  GUI.fillPopupProgress(renderer, popupRect, 50);
-
   RenderConfig config{};
   config.x = x;
   config.y = y;