diff --git a/app/Http/Controllers/ItemController.php b/app/Http/Controllers/ItemController.php
index cd5492b1e..46a8ec238 100644
--- a/app/Http/Controllers/ItemController.php
+++ b/app/Http/Controllers/ItemController.php
@@ -587,18 +587,46 @@ public function websitelookup($url): StreamInterface
     }
 
     /**
-     * @param $id
-     * @return void
+     * Return live stats for an enhanced application tile.
+     *
+     * Always responds with HTTP 200 and valid JSON so the frontend refresh
+     * loop (liveStatRefresh.js) keeps re-queueing the tile. On any failure we
+     * degrade gracefully to an inactive, empty tile instead of a 500.
+     *
+     * @param  int|string  $id
+     * @return \Illuminate\Http\JsonResponse|\Illuminate\Http\Response
      */
     public function getStats($id)
     {
+        $graceful = response()->json(['status' => 'inactive', 'html' => '']);
+
         $item = Item::find($id);
+        if ($item === null) {
+            return $graceful;
+        }
+
+        // Non-enhanced items (or stale records) have no live-stats class.
+        if (empty($item->class)) {
+            return $graceful;
+        }
+
+        try {
+            $config = $item->getconfig();
+
+            // Guard against a stale/renamed class string from the remote apps repo.
+            if (! class_exists($item->class)) {
+                return $graceful;
+            }
 
-        $config = $item->getconfig();
-        if (isset($item->class)) {
             $application = new $item->class;
             $application->config = $config;
-            echo $application->livestats();
+
+            // livestats() returns a JSON string; return it verbatim (no re-encoding).
+            return response($application->livestats());
+        } catch (\Throwable $e) {
+            Log::error('getStats failed for item '.$id.' ('.$item->class.'): '.$e->getMessage());
+
+            return $graceful;
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/tests/Feature/GetStatsTest.php b/tests/Feature/GetStatsTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..de9d7bed0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/Feature/GetStatsTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+<?php
+
+namespace Tests\Feature;
+
+use App\Item;
+use Illuminate\Foundation\Testing\RefreshDatabase;
+use Tests\TestCase;
+
+/**
+ * Fixture app whose live stats rendering throws, mirroring the Komga
+ * failure from issue #1558 (broken remote blade / upstream API error).
+ */
+class ThrowingStatApp
+{
+    public $config;
+
+    public function livestats()
+    {
+        throw new \Exception('boom');
+    }
+}
+
+/**
+ * Fixture app whose live stats rendering succeeds and returns the JSON
+ * string the frontend expects.
+ */
+class HappyStatApp
+{
+    public $config;
+
+    public function livestats()
+    {
+        return json_encode(['status' => 'active', 'html' => '<b>ok</b>']);
+    }
+}
+
+class GetStatsTest extends TestCase
+{
+    use RefreshDatabase;
+
+    public function test_missing_item_id_does_not_500(): void
+    {
+        $response = $this->get('get_stats/999999');
+
+        $response->assertStatus(200);
+        $response->assertJson(['status' => 'inactive', 'html' => '']);
+    }
+
+    public function test_throwing_app_degrades_gracefully(): void
+    {
+        $item = Item::factory()->create([
+            'class' => ThrowingStatApp::class,
+        ]);
+
+        $response = $this->get('get_stats/'.$item->id);
+
+        $response->assertStatus(200);
+        $response->assertJson(['status' => 'inactive', 'html' => '']);
+    }
+
+    public function test_item_with_no_class_degrades_gracefully(): void
+    {
+        $item = Item::factory()->create([
+            'class' => null,
+        ]);
+
+        $response = $this->get('get_stats/'.$item->id);
+
+        $response->assertStatus(200);
+        $response->assertJson(['status' => 'inactive', 'html' => '']);
+    }
+
+    public function test_happy_path_returns_livestats_output_verbatim(): void
+    {
+        $item = Item::factory()->create([
+            'class' => HappyStatApp::class,
+        ]);
+
+        $expected = json_encode(['status' => 'active', 'html' => '<b>ok</b>']);
+
+        $response = $this->get('get_stats/'.$item->id);
+
+        $response->assertStatus(200);
+        $this->assertSame($expected, $response->getContent());
+        $response->assertJson(['status' => 'active', 'html' => '<b>ok</b>']);
+    }
+}