diff --git a/src/ageAssurance/useBeginAgeAssurance.ts b/src/ageAssurance/useBeginAgeAssurance.ts
index 28a4591747..e6e79e348d 100644
--- a/src/ageAssurance/useBeginAgeAssurance.ts
+++ b/src/ageAssurance/useBeginAgeAssurance.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 import {Platform} from 'react-native'
-import {type AppBskyAgeassuranceBegin, AtpAgent} from '@atproto/api'
 import {useMutation} from '@tanstack/react-query'
 
 import {wait} from '#/lib/async/wait'
@@ -9,26 +8,28 @@ import {
   PUBLIC_APPVIEW_DID,
 } from '#/lib/constants'
 import {isNetworkError} from '#/lib/hooks/useCleanError'
-import {useAgent} from '#/state/session'
+import {createLexClient} from '#/lib/lexClient'
+import {usePdsClient} from '#/state/session'
 import {usePatchAgeAssuranceServerState} from '#/ageAssurance'
 import {logger} from '#/ageAssurance/logger'
 import {useAnalytics} from '#/analytics'
 import {BLUESKY_PROXY_DID} from '#/env'
 import {useGeolocation} from '#/geolocation'
+import {app, com} from '#/lexicons'
 
 const IS_DEV_ENV = BLUESKY_PROXY_DID !== PUBLIC_APPVIEW_DID
 const APPVIEW = IS_DEV_ENV ? DEV_ENV_APPVIEW : PUBLIC_APPVIEW
 
 export function useBeginAgeAssurance() {
   const ax = useAnalytics()
-  const agent = useAgent()
+  const pdsClient = usePdsClient()
   const geolocation = useGeolocation()
   const patchAgeAssuranceStateResponse = usePatchAgeAssuranceServerState()
 
   return useMutation({
     async mutationFn(
       props: Omit<
-        AppBskyAgeassuranceBegin.InputSchema,
+        app.bsky.ageassurance.begin.$InputBody,
         'countryCode' | 'regionCode'
       >,
     ) {
@@ -38,17 +39,22 @@ export function useBeginAgeAssurance() {
         throw new Error(`Geolocation not available, cannot init age assurance.`)
       }
 
-      const {
-        data: {token},
-      } = await agent.com.atproto.server.getServiceAuth({
+      const {token} = await pdsClient.call(com.atproto.server.getServiceAuth, {
         aud: BLUESKY_PROXY_DID,
         lxm: `app.bsky.ageassurance.begin`,
       })
 
-      const appView = new AtpAgent({service: APPVIEW})
-      appView.sessionManager.session = {...agent.session!}
-      appView.sessionManager.session.accessJwt = token
-      appView.sessionManager.session.refreshJwt = ''
+      /*
+       * A single-use client scoped to the service-auth token: it has no session,
+       * so nothing can refresh it, and the request goes straight to the appview
+       * with the token as a static `authorization` header. A raw client is
+       * allowed to preset that header where a session-backed one is not, which
+       * also makes the old `refreshJwt = ''` clone unnecessary.
+       */
+      const scopedClient = createLexClient({
+        service: APPVIEW,
+        headers: {authorization: `Bearer ${token}`},
+      })
 
       ax.metric('ageAssurance:api:begin', {
         platform: Platform.OS,
@@ -60,9 +66,9 @@ export function useBeginAgeAssurance() {
        * 2s wait is good actually. Email sending takes a hot sec and this helps
        * ensure the email is ready for the user once they open their inbox.
        */
-      const {data} = await wait(
+      const data = await wait(
         2e3,
-        appView.app.bsky.ageassurance.begin({
+        scopedClient.call(app.bsky.ageassurance.begin, {
           ...props,
           countryCode,
           regionCode,
diff --git a/src/components/ageAssurance/AgeAssuranceInitDialog.tsx b/src/components/ageAssurance/AgeAssuranceInitDialog.tsx
index 9d74b0c6dc..052c3a4731 100644
--- a/src/components/ageAssurance/AgeAssuranceInitDialog.tsx
+++ b/src/components/ageAssurance/AgeAssuranceInitDialog.tsx
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import {useState} from 'react'
 import {View} from 'react-native'
-import {XRPCError} from '@atproto/api'
+import {XrpcResponseError} from '@atproto/lex'
 import {msg} from '@lingui/core/macro'
 import {useLingui} from '@lingui/react'
 import {Trans} from '@lingui/react/macro'
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import {
 import {useGetTimeAgo} from '#/lib/hooks/useTimeAgo'
 import {useTLDs} from '#/lib/hooks/useTLDs'
 import {isEmailMaybeInvalid} from '#/lib/strings/email'
+import {matchXrpcError} from '#/lib/xrpc-error'
 import {type AppLanguage} from '#/locale/languages'
 import {useLanguagePrefs} from '#/state/preferences'
 import {useSession} from '#/state/session'
@@ -33,6 +34,7 @@ import {Text} from '#/components/Typography'
 import {useAgeAssurance} from '#/ageAssurance'
 import {useBeginAgeAssurance} from '#/ageAssurance/useBeginAgeAssurance'
 import {useAnalytics} from '#/analytics'
+import {app} from '#/lexicons'
 
 export {useDialogControl} from '#/components/Dialog/context'
 
@@ -139,30 +141,37 @@ function Inner() {
         msg`Something went wrong, please try again`,
       )
 
-      if (e instanceof XRPCError) {
-        if (e.error === 'InvalidEmail') {
-          error = _(
-            msg`Please enter a valid, non-temporary email address. You may need to access this email in the future.`,
-          )
-          ax.metric('ageAssurance:initDialogError', {code: 'InvalidEmail'})
-        } else if (e.error === 'DidTooLong') {
-          error = (
-            <>
-              <Trans>
-                We're having issues initializing the age assurance process for
-                your account. Please{' '}
-                <SimpleInlineLinkText
-                  to={createSupportLink({code: SupportCode.AA_DID, email})}
-                  label={_(msg`Contact support`)}>
-                  contact support
-                </SimpleInlineLinkText>{' '}
-                for assistance.
-              </Trans>
-            </>
-          )
-          ax.metric('ageAssurance:initDialogError', {code: 'DidTooLong'})
-        } else {
-          ax.metric('ageAssurance:initDialogError', {code: 'other'})
+      if (e instanceof XrpcResponseError) {
+        switch (matchXrpcError(e, app.bsky.ageassurance.begin)) {
+          case 'InvalidEmail':
+            error = _(
+              msg`Please enter a valid, non-temporary email address. You may need to access this email in the future.`,
+            )
+            ax.metric('ageAssurance:initDialogError', {code: 'InvalidEmail'})
+            break
+          case 'DidTooLong':
+            error = (
+              <>
+                <Trans>
+                  We're having issues initializing the age assurance process for
+                  your account. Please{' '}
+                  <SimpleInlineLinkText
+                    to={createSupportLink({code: SupportCode.AA_DID, email})}
+                    label={_(msg`Contact support`)}>
+                    contact support
+                  </SimpleInlineLinkText>{' '}
+                  for assistance.
+                </Trans>
+              </>
+            )
+            ax.metric('ageAssurance:initDialogError', {code: 'DidTooLong'})
+            break
+          default:
+            /*
+             * An undeclared code keeps the generic message rather than surfacing
+             * the server's text, as the old `e.error` fallthrough did.
+             */
+            ax.metric('ageAssurance:initDialogError', {code: 'other'})
         }
       } else {
         const {clean, raw} = cleanError(e)