diff --git a/src/image_cache.rs b/src/image_cache.rs
index 2d87899..1d59ab5 100644
--- a/src/image_cache.rs
+++ b/src/image_cache.rs
@@ -134,47 +134,27 @@ fn serve_file(request: webkit6::URISchemeRequest, path: PathBuf) {
     }
 }
 
-/// Download all remote images in every article and rewrite their src attributes
-/// to feedthemonkey-img:// URIs so images are served through the cache handler,
-/// which re-downloads automatically on a cache miss.
-pub async fn process(articles: Vec<Article>) -> Vec<Article> {
-    let dir = images_dir();
-    std::fs::create_dir_all(&dir).ok();
-
-    let client = reqwest::Client::builder()
-        .timeout(std::time::Duration::from_secs(30))
-        .build()
-        .unwrap_or_default();
-
+/// Rewrite all remote image src attributes to feedthemonkey-img:// URIs.
+/// No network requests are made here — images are downloaded lazily by the
+/// URI scheme handler the first time the WebView requests them, then cached.
+pub fn process(articles: Vec<Article>) -> Vec<Article> {
     let re = regex::Regex::new(r#"src="(https?://[^"]+)""#).unwrap();
-
-    let mut out = Vec::with_capacity(articles.len());
-    for mut article in articles {
-        let content = article.content.clone();
-        let mut rewritten = content.clone();
-
-        for cap in re.captures_iter(&content) {
-            let url = &cap[1];
-            let path = dir.join(url_to_filename(url));
-            if !path.exists() {
-                if let Ok(resp) = client.get(url).send().await {
-                    if let Ok(bytes) = resp.bytes().await {
-                        std::fs::write(&path, &bytes).ok();
-                    }
-                }
+    articles
+        .into_iter()
+        .map(|mut article| {
+            let content = article.content.clone();
+            let mut rewritten = content.clone();
+            for cap in re.captures_iter(&content) {
+                let url = &cap[1];
+                rewritten = rewritten.replace(
+                    &format!("src=\"{}\"", url),
+                    &format!("src=\"{}\"", original_url_to_scheme_uri(url)),
+                );
             }
-            // Always rewrite to the scheme URI so the handler can re-download
-            // if the cache directory is ever deleted.
-            rewritten = rewritten.replace(
-                &format!("src=\"{}\"", url),
-                &format!("src=\"{}\"", original_url_to_scheme_uri(url)),
-            );
-        }
-
-        article.content = rewritten;
-        out.push(article);
-    }
-    out
+            article.content = rewritten;
+            article
+        })
+        .collect()
 }
 
 /// Remove cached image files no longer referenced by any article.
diff --git a/src/window.rs b/src/window.rs
index 95ba8ea..15e6ed8 100644
--- a/src/window.rs
+++ b/src/window.rs
@@ -597,7 +597,7 @@ pub mod imp {
                 async move {
                     let articles = api.fetch_unread().await?;
                     let articles = if cache_images {
-                        crate::image_cache::process(articles).await
+                        crate::image_cache::process(articles)
                     } else {
                         articles
                     };