diff --git a/internal/link/heard_test.go b/internal/link/heard_test.go
index 3223374d..999957d6 100644
--- a/internal/link/heard_test.go
+++ b/internal/link/heard_test.go
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ func TestACleanApplyIsRecordedAsOne(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-func TestABareAliveDoesNotWipeTheDeclarationThatSaysANodeIsCurrent(t *testing.T) {
+func TestABareAliveDoesNotWipeTheLastRealApply(t *testing.T) {
 	// A node reports it is alive every minute and describes what it applied rarely. If a bare
 	// alive were written down as a report it would replace the last real apply with an empty one
 	// — clearing the declaration digest current is measured against — so a node that had just
@@ -107,6 +107,8 @@ func TestABareAliveDoesNotWipeTheDeclarationThatSaysANodeIsCurrent(t *testing.T)
 	}); err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
+	// Whether the last real apply is still there: its outcome and the declaration it was about. Whether a node is current is
+	// read from its haves (cmd/mesh-controller lastReports), not from a report.
 	currentOf := func(name string) bool {
 		reports, err := inv.LastReports(ctx)
 		if err != nil {
@@ -114,14 +116,14 @@ func TestABareAliveDoesNotWipeTheDeclarationThatSaysANodeIsCurrent(t *testing.T)
 		}
 		for _, r := range reports {
 			if r.Node == name {
-				return r.Current
+				return r.Outcome == inventory.OutcomeApplied && r.Declared == digest
 			}
 		}
 		t.Fatalf("no report for %s", name)
 		return false
 	}
 	if !currentOf("anchor") {
-		t.Fatal("a node that applied exactly what it was sent does not read as current")
+		t.Fatal("the last real apply is not kept")
 	}
 
 	// Now the node says only that it is there, as it does every minute.