diff --git a/crates/librqbit/src/torrent_state/live/mod.rs b/crates/librqbit/src/torrent_state/live/mod.rs
index 6bbb2a92..9d15dbf2 100644
--- a/crates/librqbit/src/torrent_state/live/mod.rs
+++ b/crates/librqbit/src/torrent_state/live/mod.rs
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ use std::{
     collections::{HashMap, HashSet},
     net::SocketAddr,
     sync::{
-        atomic::{AtomicU64, Ordering},
+        atomic::{AtomicBool, AtomicU64, Ordering},
         Arc,
     },
     time::{Duration, Instant},
@@ -371,6 +371,7 @@ impl TorrentStateLive {
             state: self.clone(),
             tx,
             counters,
+            first_message_received: AtomicBool::new(false),
         };
         let options = PeerConnectionOptions {
             connect_timeout: self.meta.options.peer_connect_timeout,
@@ -434,6 +435,7 @@ impl TorrentStateLive {
             state: state.clone(),
             tx,
             counters,
+            first_message_received: AtomicBool::new(false),
         };
         let options = PeerConnectionOptions {
             connect_timeout: state.meta.options.peer_connect_timeout,
@@ -486,7 +488,7 @@ impl TorrentStateLive {
         let state = self;
         loop {
             let addr = peer_queue_rx.recv().await.context("torrent closed")?;
-            if state.is_finished_and_dont_need_peers() {
+            if state.is_finished_and_no_active_streams() {
                 debug!("ignoring peer {} as we are finished", addr);
                 state.peers.mark_peer_not_needed(addr);
                 continue;
@@ -656,6 +658,7 @@ impl TorrentStateLive {
         Ok(())
     }
 
+    // If we have all selected pieces but not necessarily all pieces.
     pub(crate) fn is_finished(&self) -> bool {
         self.get_hns().map(|h| h.finished()).unwrap_or_default()
     }
@@ -670,7 +673,9 @@ impl TorrentStateLive {
             .any(|file_id| !chunks.is_file_finished(&self.meta.file_infos[file_id]))
     }
 
-    fn is_finished_and_dont_need_peers(&self) -> bool {
+    // We might have the torrent "finished" i.e. no selected files. But if someone is streaming files despite
+    // them being selected, we aren't fully "finished".
+    fn is_finished_and_no_active_streams(&self) -> bool {
         self.is_finished()
             && !self.has_active_streams_unfinished_files(
                 &self.lock_read("is_finished_and_dont_need_peers"),
@@ -766,6 +771,8 @@ struct PeerHandler {
     addr: SocketAddr,
 
     tx: PeerTx,
+
+    first_message_received: AtomicBool,
 }
 
 impl<'a> PeerConnectionHandler for &'a PeerHandler {
@@ -780,6 +787,14 @@ impl<'a> PeerConnectionHandler for &'a PeerHandler {
     }
 
     async fn on_received_message(&self, message: Message<ByteBuf<'_>>) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
+        // The first message must be "bitfield", but if it's not sent,
+        // assume the bitfield is all zeroes and was sent.
+        if !matches!(&message, Message::Bitfield(..))
+            && !self.first_message_received.swap(true, Ordering::Relaxed)
+        {
+            self.on_bitfield_notify.notify_waiters();
+        }
+
         match message {
             Message::Request(request) => {
                 self.on_download_request(request)
@@ -931,7 +946,7 @@ impl PeerHandler {
 
         self.counters.errors.fetch_add(1, Ordering::Relaxed);
 
-        if self.state.is_finished_and_dont_need_peers() {
+        if self.state.is_finished_and_no_active_streams() {
             debug!("torrent finished, not re-queueing");
             pe.value_mut().state.set(PeerState::NotNeeded, pstats);
             return Ok(());
@@ -953,7 +968,9 @@ impl PeerHandler {
                     duration = format!("{dur:?}")
                 ),
                 async move {
+                    debug!("waiting to reconnect again");
                     tokio::time::sleep(dur).await;
+                    debug!("finished waiting");
                     self.state
                         .peers
                         .with_peer_mut(handle, "dead_to_queued", |peer| {
@@ -1184,43 +1201,50 @@ impl PeerHandler {
             .await;
     }
 
+    // The job of this is to request chunks and also to keep peer alive.
+    // The moment this ends, the peer is disconnected.
     async fn task_peer_chunk_requester(&self) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
         let handle = self.addr;
         self.wait_for_bitfield().await;
 
-        // TODO: this check needs to happen more often, we need to update our
-        // interested state with the other side, for now we send it only once.
-        if self.state.is_finished_and_dont_need_peers() {
-            self.tx
-                .send(WriterRequest::Message(MessageOwned::NotInterested))?;
-
-            if self
-                .state
-                .peers
-                .with_live(self.addr, |l| {
-                    l.has_full_torrent(self.state.lengths.total_pieces() as usize)
-                })
-                .unwrap_or_default()
-            {
-                debug!("both peer and us have full torrent, disconnecting");
-                self.tx.send(WriterRequest::Disconnect(Ok(())))?;
-                // Sleep a bit to ensure this gets written to the network by manage_peer
-                tokio::time::sleep(Duration::from_millis(100)).await;
-                return Ok(());
+        let mut update_interest = {
+            let mut current = false;
+            move |h: &PeerHandler, new_value: bool| -> anyhow::Result<()> {
+                if new_value != current {
+                    h.tx.send(if new_value {
+                        WriterRequest::Message(MessageOwned::Interested)
+                    } else {
+                        WriterRequest::Message(MessageOwned::NotInterested)
+                    })?;
+                    current = new_value;
+                }
+                Ok(())
             }
-        } else {
-            self.tx
-                .send(WriterRequest::Message(MessageOwned::Interested))?;
-        }
+        };
 
         loop {
             aframe!(self.wait_for_unchoke()).await;
 
-            if self.state.is_finished_and_dont_need_peers() {
-                debug!("nothing left to do, disconnecting peer");
-                return Ok(());
+            // If we have full torrent, we don't need to request more pieces.
+            // However we might still need to seed them to the peer.
+            if self.state.is_finished_and_no_active_streams() {
+                update_interest(self, false)?;
+                if !self.state.peers.is_peer_interested(self.addr) {
+                    debug!("nothing left to do, neither of us is interested, disconnecting peer");
+                    self.tx.send(WriterRequest::Disconnect(Ok(())))?;
+                    // wait until the receiver gets the message so that it doesn't finish with an error.
+                    tokio::time::sleep(Duration::from_millis(100)).await;
+                    return Ok(());
+                } else {
+                    // TODO: wait for a notification of interest, e.g. update of selected files or new streams or change
+                    // in peer interest.
+                    tokio::time::sleep(Duration::from_secs(5)).await;
+                    continue;
+                }
             }
 
+            update_interest(self, true)?;
+
             // Try steal a pice from a very slow peer first. Otherwise we might wait too long
             // to download early pieces.
             // Then try get the next one in queue.
@@ -1235,7 +1259,8 @@ impl PeerHandler {
                 None => {
                     debug!("no pieces to request");
                     match aframe!(tokio::time::timeout(
-                        Duration::from_secs(10),
+                        // Half of default rw timeout not to race with it.
+                        Duration::from_secs(5),
                         new_piece_notify
                     ))
                     .await
@@ -1277,7 +1302,7 @@ impl PeerHandler {
 
                 loop {
                     match aframe!(tokio::time::timeout(
-                        Duration::from_secs(10),
+                        Duration::from_secs(5),
                         aframe!(self.requests_sem.acquire())
                     ))
                     .await
diff --git a/crates/librqbit/src/torrent_state/live/peer/mod.rs b/crates/librqbit/src/torrent_state/live/peer/mod.rs
index 818483ed..8299fc12 100644
--- a/crates/librqbit/src/torrent_state/live/peer/mod.rs
+++ b/crates/librqbit/src/torrent_state/live/peer/mod.rs
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ impl Peer {
         tx: PeerTx,
         counters: &AggregatePeerStatsAtomic,
     ) -> Self {
-        let state = PeerStateNoMut(PeerState::Live(LivePeerState::new(peer_id, tx)));
+        let state = PeerStateNoMut(PeerState::Live(LivePeerState::new(peer_id, tx, true)));
         counters.inc(&state.0);
         Self {
             state,
@@ -142,7 +142,10 @@ impl PeerStateNoMut {
         }
         match self.take(counters) {
             PeerState::Queued | PeerState::Dead | PeerState::NotNeeded => {
-                self.set(PeerState::Live(LivePeerState::new(peer_id, tx)), counters);
+                self.set(
+                    PeerState::Live(LivePeerState::new(peer_id, tx, true)),
+                    counters,
+                );
             }
             PeerState::Connecting(..) | PeerState::Live(..) => unreachable!(),
         }
@@ -159,7 +162,10 @@ impl PeerStateNoMut {
                 PeerState::Connecting(tx) => tx,
                 _ => unreachable!(),
             };
-            self.set(PeerState::Live(LivePeerState::new(peer_id, tx)), counters);
+            self.set(
+                PeerState::Live(LivePeerState::new(peer_id, tx, false)),
+                counters,
+            );
             self.get_live_mut()
         } else {
             None
@@ -189,10 +195,10 @@ pub(crate) struct LivePeerState {
 }
 
 impl LivePeerState {
-    pub fn new(peer_id: Id20, tx: PeerTx) -> Self {
+    pub fn new(peer_id: Id20, tx: PeerTx, initial_interested: bool) -> Self {
         LivePeerState {
             peer_id,
-            peer_interested: false,
+            peer_interested: initial_interested,
             bitfield: BF::default(),
             inflight_requests: Default::default(),
             tx,
diff --git a/crates/librqbit/src/torrent_state/live/peers/mod.rs b/crates/librqbit/src/torrent_state/live/peers/mod.rs
index bc4cbd69..edbd8ff2 100644
--- a/crates/librqbit/src/torrent_state/live/peers/mod.rs
+++ b/crates/librqbit/src/torrent_state/live/peers/mod.rs
@@ -77,6 +77,11 @@ impl PeerStates {
         Some(p)
     }
 
+    pub fn is_peer_interested(&self, handle: PeerHandle) -> bool {
+        self.with_live(handle, |live| live.peer_interested)
+            .unwrap_or(false)
+    }
+
     pub fn mark_peer_interested(&self, handle: PeerHandle, is_interested: bool) -> Option<bool> {
         self.with_live_mut(handle, "mark_peer_interested", |live| {
             let prev = live.peer_interested;
@@ -84,6 +89,7 @@ impl PeerStates {
             prev
         })
     }
+
     pub fn update_bitfield_from_vec(&self, handle: PeerHandle, bitfield: Box<[u8]>) -> Option<()> {
         self.with_live_mut(handle, "update_bitfield_from_vec", |live| {
             live.bitfield = BF::from_boxed_slice(bitfield);