diff --git a/components/smart_display/runtime_model.h b/components/smart_display/runtime_model.h
index 2966248..c51da7d 100644
--- a/components/smart_display/runtime_model.h
+++ b/components/smart_display/runtime_model.h
@@ -156,6 +156,17 @@ struct Tile {
     return state == "on" || state == "cleaning" || state == "active" || (domain() == "person" && state == "home") ||
            (domain() == "sun" && state == "above_horizon") || (domain() == "climate" && available() && state != "off");
   }
+  // A slider shows the card's colour like Home Assistant's tile sliders: grey only while stateActive()
+  // (frontend src/common/entity/state_active.ts) calls the entity inactive, such as an off light or fan and a
+  // media player that is off or in standby. A number with a value is active there, and a closed cover's
+  // position slider keeps the cover's colour so it never looks disabled (hui-cover-position-card-feature.ts).
+  bool slider_active() const {
+    if (!available()) return false;
+    auto d = domain();
+    if (d == "media_player") return state != "off" && state != "standby";
+    if (d == "cover" || d == "number" || d == "input_number") return true;
+    return active();
+  }
 };
 // Slot position of a tile within the fixed two-column, three-row pages.
 struct Placement { uint8_t page = 0, slot = 0; };
diff --git a/components/smart_display/runtime_tiles.h b/components/smart_display/runtime_tiles.h
index e998971..7e8c0bd 100644
--- a/components/smart_display/runtime_tiles.h
+++ b/components/smart_display/runtime_tiles.h
@@ -2287,7 +2287,7 @@ inline void style_panel(Widgets &w,const Tile &t,lv_color_t accent,lv_color_t te
   }
   if(w.pill){set_color(w.pill,LV_STYLE_BG_COLOR,key_bg);set_color(w.pill_value,LV_STYLE_TEXT_COLOR,text);}
   if(w.control_slider){
-    bool on=fresh() && t.active();
+    bool on=fresh() && t.slider_active();
     lv_color_t fill=on?accent:lv_color_hex(0x9E9E9E);
     // The track is the fill colour at 20 % over the card, as in Home Assistant.
     set_color(w.control_slider,LV_STYLE_BG_COLOR,lv_color_mix(fill,card,51),LV_PART_MAIN);
@@ -2462,8 +2462,10 @@ inline void render_slot(size_t slot) {
   lap(swipe_profile::CUSTOM);
   }
   bool on = fresh() && t.active();
+  // Sliders colour more states than the card itself does, such as a playing media player (Tile::slider_active).
+  bool slider_on = fresh() && t.slider_active();
   bool available=fresh() && t.available();
-  int palette_state=(available?2:0)|(on?1:0);
+  int palette_state=(available?2:0)|(on?1:0)|(slider_on?4:0);
   if (w.cached_active == palette_state && !w.panel_dirty) { lap(swipe_profile::GEOMETRY); return; }
   w.cached_active = palette_state;w.panel_dirty=false;
   uint32_t accent = domain_accent(t);
@@ -2474,10 +2476,10 @@ inline void render_slot(size_t slot) {
   // Darken the foreground slightly: very pale bulbs still need a visible icon.
   auto icon_color=available?lv_color_mix(color,lv_color_hex(0x333333),205):lv_color_hex(0x9E9E9E);
   // Off: a grey track without fill or handle, as in Home Assistant.
-  auto fill_color=on?color:lv_color_hex(0x9E9E9E);
+  auto fill_color=slider_on?color:lv_color_hex(0x9E9E9E);
   set_color(w.slider,LV_STYLE_BG_COLOR,fill_color,LV_PART_INDICATOR);
   set_color(w.slider,LV_STYLE_BG_COLOR,lv_color_mix(fill_color,lv_color_hex(0xFFFFFF),51),LV_PART_MAIN);
-  slider_bar(w.slider,slider_bar_shown(t,on));
+  slider_bar(w.slider,slider_bar_shown(t,slider_on));
   set_color(w.tile,LV_STYLE_BG_COLOR,lv_color_hex(t.background ? t.background : 0xFFFFFF));
   set_number(w.tile,LV_STYLE_BORDER_WIDTH,1);
   // "Background: none" hides only the card; geometry and padding stay identical,
diff --git a/docs/RELEASING.md b/docs/RELEASING.md
index f83efeb..3820ccd 100644
--- a/docs/RELEASING.md
+++ b/docs/RELEASING.md
@@ -176,6 +176,19 @@ icons sit off-center in the browser); run `generate_packages.py` afterward.
 The `MDI_GLYPH_*` substitutions are retired: `TILEn_ICON` in manual
 profiles must come from the set. No changed preferences or keys.
 
+### Compatibility 0.2.60 / firmware 0.2.52
+
+`components/smart_display` and both board profiles; the app only raises `FIRMWARE_VERSION`. Storage, tile protocol,
+preferences and keys are unchanged.
+
+- `Tile::slider_active()` (runtime_model.h) decides whether a slider shows the tile's colour, after Home Assistant's
+  `stateActive()` and its tile features: grey for an unavailable entity, a light or fan that is off and a media player
+  that is `off` or `standby`; a cover keeps its colour when closed (`hui-cover-position-card-feature.ts`) and a number
+  with a value is active. `style_panel` (sliders of direct controls) and `render_slot` (small sliders, with a third bit
+  in the palette cache key) use it. `Tile::active()` is unchanged: it still greys the circle of an off switch, person or
+  timer and gives the value overlay its `was_on`.
+- Older firmware keeps the grey sliders; nothing else differs.
+
 ### Compatibility 0.2.59 / firmware 0.2.51
 
 App, both board profiles and `components/smart_display`. Storage, tile protocol, preferences and keys are
diff --git a/docs/TEST_RESULTS_0260.md b/docs/TEST_RESULTS_0260.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a1b7a7f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/TEST_RESULTS_0260.md
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+# Test results app 0.2.60 / firmware 0.2.52 (2026-09-17)
+
+Max saw grey sliders for a playing media player's volume and an open cover's position. Since 0.2.42 (a grey slider
+end for a light that is off) a slider showed the tile's colour only while `Tile::active()` held, and that rule knows
+`on`, `cleaning`, `active`, home, above the horizon and climate not off: never `playing` or `open`, and never a number.
+Home Assistant colours tile sliders by `stateActive()` (frontend `src/common/entity/state_active.ts`, read on GitHub):
+a media player is active unless off or standby, a cover unless closed, and its cover position feature keeps the open
+colour for a closed cover so the slider does not look disabled. Every caller of `active()` was checked (the grey circle
+of switches, people and timers, a light's own colour, the palette cache, both sliders, and `was_on` of the value
+overlay in both profiles, which covers and media players no longer reach; the top bar and cards don't use it).
+Widening `active()` would only have changed slider colours, but the closed cover needs a slider rule anyway, so the fix
+is a separate `Tile::slider_active()` and `active()` stays as it was. See CHANGELOG 0.2.60 and docs/RELEASING.md.
+
+## Automated
+
+- C++ (`clang++ -std=c++17 -Wall -Wextra -Werror -I. -I components/smart_display`): 15/15 PASS, on HEAD plus only this
+  change in a separate worktree. `test_runtime_model` adds `test_slider_colours`: a light and a fan on and off; a media
+  player playing, paused, idle, buffering and on (coloured) against off, standby, unavailable and unknown (grey); a cover
+  open, opening, closing and closed (coloured) against unavailable; a number and an input_number with a value against
+  unknown; a tile that has received nothing. The test fails on the old rule (compiled against
+  `slider_active() { return active(); }`).
+- Python (`.venv-portal`): 282 tests OK in that worktree, with the version bump. `generate_packages.py --check` green.
+
+## Builds (ESPHome 2026.6.2)
+
+ESP32 check profiles with the generated packages and local components. They were built from the shared working tree,
+which also held other sessions' unfinished edits; the version bump alone was not built again.
+
+| Profile | RAM | Flash |
+|---|---|---|
+| CYD | 23.5% (77,060 B) | 77.8% (1,427,919 B) |
+| Guition | 24.5% (80,436 B) | 18.8% (1,531,471 B) |
+
+RAM is the same as in 0.2.59.
+
+## Firmware on the Mac (host builds)
+
+Guition and CYD host builds with a demo home that runs the real manager, on three pages: a playing Sonos (volume), an
+open blind (position) and a boiler setpoint (slider) on double-width tiles; a radio in standby, a closed blind and a
+paused speaker; small sliders for an idle speaker, a TV that is off, an open blind, a number, a lamp that is on and a
+hallway light that is off. Playing, paused and idle players show blue, blinds purple (the closed one as the short end
+at 0 %), numbers teal and the lamp amber; the radio in standby and the TV stay grey, and the light that is off shows
+its empty grey track as before. No compiler warnings from the smart_display headers.
+
+## Not tested / for the owner
+
+- Real hardware: nothing was flashed. After updating a screen, a playing speaker's volume slider and an open blind's
+  position slider are coloured, and the speaker's slider turns grey in standby.
+- A media player that is off or in standby still shows its grey fill with the handle; Home Assistant hides the handle
+  there. Left as it is.
diff --git a/guition-4848s040.yaml b/guition-4848s040.yaml
index a944e94..fe6f7d5 100644
--- a/guition-4848s040.yaml
+++ b/guition-4848s040.yaml
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 # Source profile for packages/guition.yaml (tools/generate_packages.py); see docs/GUITION.md.
 # A screen gets its tiles from the ESP Screen Manager add-on while it runs. The CYD is its own profile.
 substitutions:
-  SCREEN_FIRMWARE_VERSION: "0.2.51"
+  SCREEN_FIRMWARE_VERSION: "0.2.52"
   # 0: no drift limit; LVGL decides, releasing inside the tile is a tap, leaving it is not
   # (like iOS). The CYD keeps a limit because its resistive panel jumps.
   TOUCH_MOVE_LIMIT_PX: "0"
diff --git a/home-like-2432s028.yaml b/home-like-2432s028.yaml
index 3f8f9ab..f779ade 100644
--- a/home-like-2432s028.yaml
+++ b/home-like-2432s028.yaml
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
 ############################################################
 
 substitutions:
-  SCREEN_FIRMWARE_VERSION: "0.2.51"
+  SCREEN_FIRMWARE_VERSION: "0.2.52"
   # A tap survives a finger that drifts up to this far (320 px over 58 mm: 1 cm); further is a swipe.
   TOUCH_MOVE_LIMIT_PX: "56"
   # Shortest contact that counts as a tap; a resistive panel bounces, a capacitive one does not.
diff --git a/packages/cyd.yaml b/packages/cyd.yaml
index e4da43f..d8f7f2e 100644
--- a/packages/cyd.yaml
+++ b/packages/cyd.yaml
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 ############################################################
 
 substitutions:
-  SCREEN_FIRMWARE_VERSION: "0.2.51"
+  SCREEN_FIRMWARE_VERSION: "0.2.52"
   # A tap survives a finger that drifts up to this far (320 px over 58 mm: 1 cm); further is a swipe.
   TOUCH_MOVE_LIMIT_PX: "56"
   # Shortest contact that counts as a tap; a resistive panel bounces, a capacitive one does not.
diff --git a/packages/guition.yaml b/packages/guition.yaml
index be85b42..f866a41 100644
--- a/packages/guition.yaml
+++ b/packages/guition.yaml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 # Source profile for packages/guition.yaml (tools/generate_packages.py); see docs/GUITION.md.
 # A screen gets its tiles from the ESP Screen Manager add-on while it runs. The CYD is its own profile.
 substitutions:
-  SCREEN_FIRMWARE_VERSION: "0.2.51"
+  SCREEN_FIRMWARE_VERSION: "0.2.52"
   # 0: no drift limit; LVGL decides, releasing inside the tile is a tap, leaving it is not
   # (like iOS). The CYD keeps a limit because its resistive panel jumps.
   TOUCH_MOVE_LIMIT_PX: "0"
diff --git a/screen_manager/CHANGELOG.md b/screen_manager/CHANGELOG.md
index 4c6a16d..f918df2 100644
--- a/screen_manager/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/screen_manager/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+## 0.2.60 (firmware 0.2.52)
+
+Sliders keep their colour while a speaker plays or a blind is open.
+
+- **Coloured sliders for speakers, blinds and numbers.** Since 0.2.42 the volume slider of a playing speaker, the position slider of a blind or curtain and the slider of a number were grey, the colour of a light that is off. Sliders now follow Home Assistant's tile sliders: a speaker that plays, is paused or is idle shows its volume in blue, a cover its position in purple, also when it is closed, and a number its value in teal. A speaker that is off or in standby, and a light or fan that is off, stay grey. This goes for the sliders on double-width tiles and for the small sliders on single tiles.
+- Needs firmware 0.2.52: press **Update** on the screen.
+
 ## 0.2.59 (firmware 0.2.51)
 
 A history card you can read: axes, an hour, a day or a week, and the value under your finger.
diff --git a/screen_manager/app/core.py b/screen_manager/app/core.py
index 0554a88..652e94d 100644
--- a/screen_manager/app/core.py
+++ b/screen_manager/app/core.py
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ WEEKDAYS = ['Mo', 'Tu', 'We', 'Th', 'Fr', 'Sa', 'Su']
 REPO = 'https://github.com/MaxGramser/homeassistant_espscreen'
 REFS = {'cyd': 'main', 'guition': 'main'}
 # Firmware shipped with this app release; screens below it get an update offer.
-FIRMWARE_VERSION = '0.2.51'
+FIRMWARE_VERSION = '0.2.52'
 # The Auto standby switch a screen offers Home Assistant automations.
 AUTO_STANDBY_MIN_FIRMWARE = '0.2.41'
 # The settings page the screen opens itself, and the screen.settings tile that opens it.
diff --git a/screen_manager/config.yaml b/screen_manager/config.yaml
index 644edd9..755f4fc 100644
--- a/screen_manager/config.yaml
+++ b/screen_manager/config.yaml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 name: ESP Screen Manager
-version: "0.2.59"
+version: "0.2.60"
 slug: esp_screen_manager
 description: Choose tiles for your CYD and Guition touchscreen, without reflashing.
 url: https://github.com/MaxGramser/homeassistant_espscreen
diff --git a/tests/test_runtime_model.cpp b/tests/test_runtime_model.cpp
index 39aa8e3..9110f4a 100644
--- a/tests/test_runtime_model.cpp
+++ b/tests/test_runtime_model.cpp
@@ -132,3 +132,25 @@ static void test_extra() {
   assert(m.set_layout({"light.a"}, "Home", changed) && changed && !m.tiles[0].extra_ptr());
 }
 struct RunTileExtra { RunTileExtra() { test_extra(); } } run_tile_extra;
+// Sliders keep their colour the way Home Assistant's tile sliders do: grey for an off light or fan and a media
+// player that is off or in standby, coloured for a player that plays, a cover open or closed and a number.
+static void test_slider_colours() {
+  using namespace runtime_tiles;
+  Model m; bool changed = false;
+  assert(m.set_layout({"light.a", "fan.b", "media_player.c", "cover.d", "number.e", "input_number.f"}, "Home", changed));
+  auto &light = m.tiles[0], &fan = m.tiles[1], &player = m.tiles[2], &cover = m.tiles[3], &number = m.tiles[4], &setpoint = m.tiles[5];
+  player.state = "playing"; assert(!player.slider_active());  // nothing received yet
+  for (size_t i = 0; i < m.count; ++i) m.tiles[i].received = true;
+  light.state = "on"; assert(light.slider_active());
+  light.state = "off"; assert(!light.slider_active());
+  fan.state = "on"; assert(fan.slider_active());
+  fan.state = "off"; assert(!fan.slider_active());
+  for (const char *state : {"playing", "paused", "idle", "buffering", "on"}) { player.state = state; assert(player.slider_active()); }
+  for (const char *state : {"off", "standby", "unavailable", "unknown"}) { player.state = state; assert(!player.slider_active()); }
+  for (const char *state : {"open", "opening", "closing", "closed"}) { cover.state = state; assert(cover.slider_active()); }
+  cover.state = "unavailable"; assert(!cover.slider_active());
+  number.state = "21.5"; assert(number.slider_active());
+  number.state = "unknown"; assert(!number.slider_active());
+  setpoint.state = "55.0"; assert(setpoint.slider_active());
+}
+struct RunSliderColours { RunSliderColours() { test_slider_colours(); } } run_slider_colours;