diff --git a/internal/config/config.go b/internal/config/config.go
index 34c5518..429238f 100644
--- a/internal/config/config.go
+++ b/internal/config/config.go
@@ -6,11 +6,31 @@ import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
 
 	"omarchy-send/internal/protocol"
 	"omarchy-send/internal/security"
 )
 
+// ExpandHome resolves a leading "~" or "~/" to the user's home directory, so a
+// receiveDir stored as "~/Omarchy-Send" (hand-edited, or typed into the
+// Settings tab) means what the user means — and is not treated as a relative
+// path that silently creates a literal "~" directory under the process cwd.
+func ExpandHome(p string) string {
+	if p == "~" {
+		if home, err := os.UserHomeDir(); err == nil {
+			return home
+		}
+		return p
+	}
+	if strings.HasPrefix(p, "~/") {
+		if home, err := os.UserHomeDir(); err == nil {
+			return filepath.Join(home, p[2:])
+		}
+	}
+	return p
+}
+
 // Config is the persisted user configuration.
 type Config struct {
 	Alias       string `json:"alias"`
@@ -106,6 +126,9 @@ func Load() (Config, error) {
 	if cfg.ReceiveDir == "" {
 		cfg.ReceiveDir = d.ReceiveDir
 	}
+	// Normalise a ~-form receive dir to absolute; Load persists below, so the
+	// stored value is unambiguous from then on.
+	cfg.ReceiveDir = ExpandHome(cfg.ReceiveDir)
 	if cfg.DeviceType == "" {
 		cfg.DeviceType = d.DeviceType
 	}
diff --git a/internal/config/config_test.go b/internal/config/config_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..69db720
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/config/config_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+package config
+
+import (
+	"encoding/json"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+// ExpandHome resolves the ~-forms a user may type or hand-edit, and leaves
+// everything else untouched.
+func TestExpandHome(t *testing.T) {
+	home, err := os.UserHomeDir()
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Skipf("no home dir: %v", err)
+	}
+	cases := map[string]string{
+		"~":                 home,
+		"~/Omarchy-Send":    filepath.Join(home, "Omarchy-Send"),
+		"~/a/b":             filepath.Join(home, "a", "b"),
+		"/abs/path":         "/abs/path",
+		"relative/path":     "relative/path",
+		"~user/not-ours":    "~user/not-ours", // ~user expansion is not supported
+		"mid/~/not-leading": "mid/~/not-leading",
+		"":                  "",
+	}
+	for in, want := range cases {
+		if got := ExpandHome(in); got != want {
+			t.Errorf("ExpandHome(%q) = %q, want %q", in, got, want)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// A config file whose receiveDir was stored as "~/…" is normalised to an
+// absolute path by Load — the regression that sent files into a literal "~"
+// directory under the process cwd.
+func TestLoadExpandsTildeReceiveDir(t *testing.T) {
+	home, err := os.UserHomeDir()
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Skipf("no home dir: %v", err)
+	}
+	cfgHome := t.TempDir()
+	t.Setenv("XDG_CONFIG_HOME", cfgHome)
+
+	dir := filepath.Join(cfgHome, "omarchy-send")
+	if err := os.MkdirAll(dir, 0o755); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("mkdir: %v", err)
+	}
+	seed := map[string]any{"alias": "t", "receiveDir": "~/Omarchy-Send"}
+	data, _ := json.Marshal(seed)
+	if err := os.WriteFile(filepath.Join(dir, "config.json"), data, 0o600); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("seed config: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	cfg, err := Load()
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Load: %v", err)
+	}
+	want := filepath.Join(home, "Omarchy-Send")
+	if cfg.ReceiveDir != want {
+		t.Fatalf("ReceiveDir = %q, want %q", cfg.ReceiveDir, want)
+	}
+
+	// And the normalised value is what got persisted back.
+	raw, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(dir, "config.json"))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("read back: %v", err)
+	}
+	var onDisk map[string]any
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(raw, &onDisk); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("unmarshal: %v", err)
+	}
+	if onDisk["receiveDir"] != want {
+		t.Fatalf("persisted receiveDir = %q, want %q", onDisk["receiveDir"], want)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/tui/model.go b/internal/tui/model.go
index 5d8c95a..399eb9f 100644
--- a/internal/tui/model.go
+++ b/internal/tui/model.go
@@ -734,7 +734,9 @@ func (m Model) saveEdit() (tea.Model, tea.Cmd) {
 		m.cfg.DeviceModel = alias
 	}
 	if dir != "" {
-		m.cfg.ReceiveDir = dir
+		// Expand a typed ~-form immediately so the live server and the saved
+		// config both carry the absolute path.
+		m.cfg.ReceiveDir = config.ExpandHome(dir)
 	}
 	m.cfg.PIN = pin
 	_ = m.cfg.Save()
@@ -1354,21 +1356,10 @@ func collapseHome(p string) string {
 }
 
 // expandHome resolves a leading ~ (or ~/) to the user's home directory. It is
-// the inverse of collapseHome and tolerates the ~-form a user may type into the
-// receive-dir setting.
+// the inverse of collapseHome; the canonical implementation lives in config so
+// every consumer of ReceiveDir expands the same way.
 func expandHome(p string) string {
-	if p == "~" {
-		if home, err := os.UserHomeDir(); err == nil {
-			return home
-		}
-		return p
-	}
-	if strings.HasPrefix(p, "~/") {
-		if home, err := os.UserHomeDir(); err == nil {
-			return filepath.Join(home, p[2:])
-		}
-	}
-	return p
+	return config.ExpandHome(p)
 }
 
 func truncate(s string, n int) string {