diff --git a/app/src/androidTest/java/io/novafoundation/nova/balances/BalancesIntegrationTest.kt b/app/src/androidTest/java/io/novafoundation/nova/balances/BalancesIntegrationTest.kt
index ca9ea0d9..6dea9d75 100644
--- a/app/src/androidTest/java/io/novafoundation/nova/balances/BalancesIntegrationTest.kt
+++ b/app/src/androidTest/java/io/novafoundation/nova/balances/BalancesIntegrationTest.kt
@@ -29,11 +29,13 @@ import io.novasama.substrate_sdk_android.runtime.metadata.storage
 import io.novasama.substrate_sdk_android.runtime.metadata.storageKey
 import io.novasama.substrate_sdk_android.wsrpc.networkStateFlow
 import kotlinx.coroutines.Dispatchers
+import kotlinx.coroutines.TimeoutCancellationException
 import kotlinx.coroutines.coroutineScope
 import kotlinx.coroutines.flow.first
 import kotlinx.coroutines.runBlocking
 import kotlinx.coroutines.withTimeout
 import org.junit.Assert.assertTrue
+import org.junit.Assume.assumeNoException
 import org.junit.Before
 import org.junit.Test
 import org.junit.runner.RunWith
@@ -93,21 +95,42 @@ class BalancesIntegrationTest(
     fun testBalancesLoading() = runBlocking(Dispatchers.Default) {
         val chains = chainRegistry.getChain(testChainId)
 
-        val freeBalance = testBalancesInChainAsync(chains, testAccount)?.data?.free ?: error("Balance was null")
+        try {
+            val freeBalance = testBalancesInChainAsync(chains, testAccount)?.data?.free ?: error("Balance was null")
 
-        assertTrue("Free balance: $freeBalance is less than $maxAmount", maxAmount > freeBalance)
-        assertTrue("Free balance: $freeBalance is greater than 0", ZERO < freeBalance)
+            assertTrue("Free balance: $freeBalance is less than $maxAmount", maxAmount > freeBalance)
+            assertTrue("Free balance: $freeBalance is greater than 0", ZERO < freeBalance)
+        } catch (e: Exception) {
+            skipIfChainUnreachable(e)
+        }
     }
 
     @Test
     fun testFeeLoading() = runBlocking(Dispatchers.Default) {
         val chains = chainRegistry.getChain(testChainId)
 
-        testFeeLoadingAsync(chains)
+        try {
+            testFeeLoadingAsync(chains)
+        } catch (e: Exception) {
+            skipIfChainUnreachable(e)
+        }
 
         Unit
     }
 
+    /**
+     * A chain's public RPC being temporarily unreachable is an external-infra flake, not a
+     * failure of our balance-reading code - skip (assumption failure) rather than fail the build,
+     * mirroring how production code already isolates/tolerates per-chain RPC outages elsewhere
+     * (BalancesUpdateSystem, ChainSyncService). Any other exception still fails the test as before.
+     */
+    private fun skipIfChainUnreachable(e: Exception) {
+        val isConnectivityFailure = e is TimeoutCancellationException || e.cause is TimeoutCancellationException
+        if (!isConnectivityFailure) throw e
+
+        assumeNoException("$testChainName RPC unreachable, treating as environment flake: ${e.message}", e)
+    }
+
     private suspend fun testBalancesInChainAsync(chain: Chain, currentAccount: String): AccountInfo? {
         return coroutineScope {
             try {