diff --git a/components/app/AudioPlayer.vue b/components/app/AudioPlayer.vue
index 907a4587..4d83d125 100644
--- a/components/app/AudioPlayer.vue
+++ b/components/app/AudioPlayer.vue
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@
 import { Capacitor } from '@capacitor/core'
 import { AbsAudioPlayer } from '@/plugins/capacitor'
 import { Dialog } from '@capacitor/dialog'
-import { FastAverageColor } from 'fast-average-color'
+import { getAverageColorFromCoverUrl } from '@/utils/coverAverageColor'
 import WrappingMarquee from '@/assets/WrappingMarquee.js'
 import jumpLabelMixin from '@/mixins/jumpLabel'
 
@@ -412,17 +412,14 @@ export default {
     },
     async coverImageLoaded(fullCoverUrl) {
       if (!fullCoverUrl) return
-
-      const fac = new FastAverageColor()
-      fac
-        .getColorAsync(fullCoverUrl)
-        .then((color) => {
-          this.coverRgb = color.rgba
-          this.coverBgIsLight = color.isLight
-        })
-        .catch((e) => {
-          console.log(e)
-        })
+      const avg = await getAverageColorFromCoverUrl(this, fullCoverUrl)
+      if (!avg) {
+        this.coverRgb = 'rgb(55, 56, 56)'
+        this.coverBgIsLight = false
+      } else {
+        this.coverRgb = avg.rgba
+        this.coverBgIsLight = avg.isLight
+      }
     },
     clickTitleAndAuthor() {
       if (!this.showFullscreen) return
diff --git a/pages/item/_id/index.vue b/pages/item/_id/index.vue
index 4966eecf..3cec7392 100644
--- a/pages/item/_id/index.vue
+++ b/pages/item/_id/index.vue
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
         </div>
       </div>
       <div class="relative" @click="showFullscreenCover = true">
-        <covers-book-cover :library-item="libraryItem" :width="coverWidth" :book-cover-aspect-ratio="bookCoverAspectRatio" no-bg raw @imageLoaded="coverImageLoaded" />
+        <covers-book-cover :library-item="libraryItem" :width="coverWidth" :book-cover-aspect-ratio="bookCoverAspectRatio" no-bg raw />
         <div v-if="!isPodcast" class="absolute bottom-0 left-0 h-1 z-10 box-shadow-progressbar" :class="userIsFinished ? 'bg-success' : 'bg-yellow-400'" :style="{ width: coverWidth * progressPercent + 'px' }"></div>
       </div>
     </div>
@@ -172,7 +172,7 @@
 <script>
 import { Dialog } from '@capacitor/dialog'
 import { AbsFileSystem, AbsDownloader } from '@/plugins/capacitor'
-import { FastAverageColor } from 'fast-average-color'
+import { getAverageColorFromCoverUrl } from '@/utils/coverAverageColor'
 import cellularPermissionHelpers from '@/mixins/cellularPermissionHelpers'
 
 export default {
@@ -496,17 +496,10 @@ export default {
     },
     async coverImageLoaded(fullCoverUrl) {
       if (!fullCoverUrl) return
-
-      const fac = new FastAverageColor()
-      fac
-        .getColorAsync(fullCoverUrl)
-        .then((color) => {
-          this.coverRgb = color.rgba
-          this.coverBgIsLight = color.isLight
-        })
-        .catch((e) => {
-          console.log(e)
-        })
+      const avg = await getAverageColorFromCoverUrl(this, fullCoverUrl)
+      if (!avg) return
+      this.coverRgb = avg.rgba
+      this.coverBgIsLight = avg.isLight
     },
     moreButtonPress() {
       this.showMoreMenu = true
diff --git a/plugins/nativeHttp.js b/plugins/nativeHttp.js
index 76aa0e05..aced76ef 100644
--- a/plugins/nativeHttp.js
+++ b/plugins/nativeHttp.js
@@ -43,7 +43,8 @@ export default function ({ store, $db, $socket }, inject) {
         }
         if (res.status >= 400) {
           console.error(`[nativeHttp] ${res.status} status for url "${url}"`)
-          throw new Error(res.data)
+          const message = typeof res.data === 'string' ? res.data : `HTTP ${res.status}`
+          throw new Error(message)
         }
         return res.data
       })
@@ -100,7 +101,8 @@ export default function ({ store, $db, $socket }, inject) {
 
         if (retryResponse.status >= 400) {
           console.error(`[nativeHttp] Retry request failed with status ${retryResponse.status}`)
-          throw new Error(retryResponse.data)
+          const message = typeof retryResponse.data === 'string' ? retryResponse.data : `HTTP ${retryResponse.status}`
+          throw new Error(message)
         }
 
         return retryResponse.data
diff --git a/utils/coverAverageColor.js b/utils/coverAverageColor.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9b4e912f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utils/coverAverageColor.js
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+import { Capacitor } from '@capacitor/core'
+import { FastAverageColor } from 'fast-average-color'
+import { imageHttpDataToBlob } from '@/utils/imageHttpBlob'
+
+/**
+ * True when the cover URL is http(s) and not same-origin with the WebView (or browser tab).
+ * Same-origin URLs (e.g. Capacitor file bridge on localhost) can use FastAverageColor directly.
+ */
+export function shouldFetchCoverViaNativeHttp(coverUrl) {
+  if (!coverUrl || typeof coverUrl !== 'string') return false
+  if (!coverUrl.startsWith('http://') && !coverUrl.startsWith('https://')) return false
+  try {
+    return new URL(coverUrl).origin !== window.location.origin
+  } catch {
+    return false
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * Average color for a cover image. On native, cross-origin http(s) covers are loaded with
+ * CapacitorHttp (no WebView CORS), then sampled via a same-origin blob URL.
+ * @param {*} vm - component instance with $nativeHttp (this)
+ * @param {string} fullCoverUrl
+ * @returns {Promise<{ rgba: string, isLight: boolean }|null>}
+ */
+export async function getAverageColorFromCoverUrl(vm, fullCoverUrl) {
+  if (!fullCoverUrl) return null
+
+  const fac = new FastAverageColor()
+  let objectUrl = null
+  try {
+    let resource = fullCoverUrl
+
+    if (Capacitor.isNativePlatform() && shouldFetchCoverViaNativeHttp(fullCoverUrl)) {
+      const raw = await vm.$nativeHttp.get(fullCoverUrl, {
+        responseType: 'blob',
+        connectTimeout: 15000,
+        readTimeout: 30000
+      })
+      const blob = imageHttpDataToBlob(raw)
+      if (!blob) {
+        throw new Error('Cover image response could not be converted to a blob')
+      }
+      objectUrl = URL.createObjectURL(blob)
+      resource = objectUrl
+    }
+
+    const color = await fac.getColorAsync(resource)
+    return { rgba: color.rgba, isLight: color.isLight }
+  } catch (e) {
+    console.error('[coverAverageColor]', e)
+    return null
+  } finally {
+    if (objectUrl) {
+      URL.revokeObjectURL(objectUrl)
+    }
+    fac.destroy()
+  }
+}
diff --git a/utils/imageHttpBlob.js b/utils/imageHttpBlob.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..47cd7a1e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utils/imageHttpBlob.js
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+/**
+ * Normalize CapacitorHttp binary responses (Blob, base64 string, data URL, ArrayBuffer) to a Blob.
+ * @param {unknown} data - CapacitorHttp response `data` when responseType is blob/arraybuffer
+ * @param {string} [mimeType='image/jpeg'] - fallback Content-Type
+ * @returns {Blob|null}
+ */
+export function imageHttpDataToBlob(data, mimeType = 'image/jpeg') {
+  if (data == null) return null
+  if (typeof Blob !== 'undefined' && data instanceof Blob) return data
+  if (data instanceof ArrayBuffer) return new Blob([data], { type: mimeType })
+  if (ArrayBuffer.isView(data)) return new Blob([data], { type: mimeType })
+  if (typeof data === 'object' && typeof data.base64 === 'string') {
+    return base64ToBlob(data.base64, mimeType)
+  }
+  if (typeof data === 'string') {
+    if (data.startsWith('data:')) {
+      const match = /^data:([^;]+);base64,([\s\S]+)$/.exec(data)
+      if (match) {
+        const type = match[1] || mimeType
+        return base64ToBlob(match[2], type)
+      }
+    }
+    try {
+      return base64ToBlob(data, mimeType)
+    } catch {
+      return null
+    }
+  }
+  return null
+}
+
+function base64ToBlob(base64, type) {
+  const binaryString = atob(base64)
+  const len = binaryString.length
+  const bytes = new Uint8Array(len)
+  for (let i = 0; i < len; i++) {
+    bytes[i] = binaryString.charCodeAt(i)
+  }
+  return new Blob([bytes], { type })
+}