diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 05c71c4..ac66eb2 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ### Fixed
 
+- A database on SQLite, the default, no longer waits for the disk after nearly every write. On a slow disk a scan of 1,500 feeds took most of an hour and now takes half a minute. Postgres is unaffected.
 - The search box finds a feed in the Directory by name. It did nothing there.
 - Feeds that file themselves under Apple's Football or Soccer show under Sports, and those under the old Software How-To under Technology, instead of as categories of their own.
 - The download queue, in `ipx status`, `/api/status` and the dashboard, counts only what iPX will download on its own: older episodes beyond a show's limit, and files of feeds that do not download automatically, are listed but no longer counted as waiting.
diff --git a/src/db.rs b/src/db.rs
index cd895d4..0d38cd5 100644
--- a/src/db.rs
+++ b/src/db.rs
@@ -114,11 +114,17 @@ fn is_postgres(location: &str) -> bool {
     location.starts_with("postgres://") || location.starts_with("postgresql://")
 }
 
-/// sqlx's defaults for SQLite are what ipx wants: foreign keys on, and a five-second wait for a
-/// lock, which is what rusqlite was set to.
+/// sqlx's defaults for SQLite are what ipx wants, foreign keys on and a five-second wait for a
+/// lock, which is what rusqlite was set to, but for one.
 async fn connect(location: &str) -> Result<sea_orm::DatabaseConnection> {
     let mut opts = sea_orm::ConnectOptions::new(url_for(location));
     opts.sqlx_logging(false);
+    // NORMAL, SQLite's own advice for WAL: synced at checkpoints, not after every commit. FULL,
+    // the default, waited for the disk after nearly every statement, and a feed's items are
+    // written a row at a time: 1.3s a feed on Tower's /tmp, where one synchronous write takes
+    // 52ms, and 39s to subscribe an admin to 1,500 feeds (#135). A crash of ipx loses nothing;
+    // only a power cut can lose the last transactions, and it never corrupts the file.
+    opts.map_sqlx_sqlite_opts(|o| o.synchronous(sea_orm::sqlx::sqlite::SqliteSynchronous::Normal));
     sea_orm::Database::connect(opts)
         .await
         .with_context(|| format!("opening {}", redact(location)))
@@ -2099,6 +2105,16 @@ pub fn now() -> i64 {
 mod tests {
     use super::*;
 
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn sqlite_syncs_at_checkpoints_not_every_commit() {
+        let db = Db::memory().await.unwrap();
+        if db.orm.get_database_backend() != sea_orm::DbBackend::Sqlite {
+            return;
+        }
+        let row = db.orm.query_one_raw(Statement::from_string(sea_orm::DbBackend::Sqlite, "PRAGMA synchronous")).await.unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(row.unwrap().try_get_by_index::<i32>(0).unwrap(), 1, "NORMAL, on every connection in the pool (#135)");
+    }
+
     #[tokio::test]
     async fn a_database_from_before_descriptions_gains_the_column_and_reads_each_feed_whole() {
         let db = Db::memory().await.unwrap();