diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 7c5b79c..8cfb9ce 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## 0.9.1
+
+### Changed
+
+- **Test host now matches signing accounts by SS58 address only.** `getPairByAddress` previously had a fallback that matched a raw hex public key (`0x…`) against keypairs, which silently masked a real bug: `@novasamatech/host-api-wrapper`'s `getLegacyAccountSigner` was sending the `signer` field as `toHex(publicKey)` instead of an SS58 address. Real wallets match by SS58 only, so the fallback made the test host more lenient than production. Removing it makes the legacy sign-raw/sign-payload paths fail here exactly as they do against a real wallet, guarding against regressions of [paritytech/product-sdk#156](https://github.com/paritytech/product-sdk/issues/156).
+- **`test/test-product.ts` `trySignRaw` now exercises the real signer path** (`getLegacyAccountSigner(account).signBytes(...)`) instead of hand-building the wire request, so the integration test covers the actual SDK code path. Requires the fixed wrapper (`@novasamatech/host-api-wrapper` ≥ 0.8.1) to pass.
+
 ## 0.9.0
 
 ### Changed
diff --git a/forum-post.md b/forum-post.md
index af8ed4d..02e740a 100644
--- a/forum-post.md
+++ b/forum-post.md
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+# host-api-test-sdk 0.9.1
+
+## Stricter (real-wallet-like) account matching
+
+The test host now matches signing accounts by **SS58 address only**. Previously it also accepted a raw hex public key as the `signer`, which was more lenient than a real wallet and masked a bug in `getLegacyAccountSigner` (it sent the public key as hex instead of SS58). With this change, legacy-account `signRaw`/`signPayload` fail in the test host exactly as they do against a real wallet — so the test suite catches that class of regression. Use a wrapper that sends SS58 signers (`@novasamatech/host-api-wrapper` ≥ 0.8.1).
+
 # host-api-test-sdk 0.9.0
 
 Tracks upstream `@novasamatech/*@^0.8.0` ([triangle-js-sdks#179](https://github.com/paritytech/triangle-js-sdks/pull/179)). v0.8 is **wire-incompatible** with v0.7 — there is no compatibility shim, so your product side must be on `@novasamatech/host-api@^0.8.0` too. The [v0.8 migration guide](https://github.com/paritytech/triangle-js-sdks/blob/release/0.8/docs/migration/v0.8.md) lists all the product-side touchpoints; most products that use `createPapiProvider` for chain access and `@novasamatech/product-react-renderer` for custom chat don't need code changes.
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index f6b821f..d0ebc3b 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@parity/host-api-test-sdk",
-  "version": "0.9.0",
+  "version": "0.9.1",
   "description": "Lightweight test host for Spektr product E2E testing — embeds dapps with auto-signing dev accounts, no Docker needed",
   "license": "MIT",
   "repository": {
diff --git a/src/browser/host-runtime.ts b/src/browser/host-runtime.ts
index 2331018..b694e9b 100644
--- a/src/browser/host-runtime.ts
+++ b/src/browser/host-runtime.ts
@@ -245,12 +245,11 @@ function getPairByAddress(address: string): KeyringPair | undefined {
   for (const pair of pairsByUri.values()) {
     if (pair.address === address) return pair;
   }
-  // Try matching by public key hex (product-sdk sends 0x + hex(publicKey))
-  const normalized = address.toLowerCase();
-  for (const pair of pairsByUri.values()) {
-    if (u8aToHex(pair.publicKey).toLowerCase() === normalized) return pair;
-  }
-  // Try matching by SS58 re-encoding (address might be in different SS58 format)
+  // Match by SS58 re-encoding (address might be in a different SS58 prefix).
+  // NOTE: a raw hex-pubkey fallback was removed intentionally — real wallets
+  // match by SS58 address only, so the signer field must be a valid SS58
+  // address. Keeping the hex fallback here masked the getLegacyAccountSigner
+  // bug where `signer` was sent as toHex(publicKey).
   for (const pair of pairsByUri.values()) {
     try {
       if (keyring.encodeAddress(pair.publicKey) === address) return pair;
diff --git a/test/test-product.ts b/test/test-product.ts
index 4fd33f2..d3f91aa 100644
--- a/test/test-product.ts
+++ b/test/test-product.ts
@@ -118,6 +118,7 @@ async function init() {
 
     // Fetch legacy (root) accounts
     let firstRootAddress: string | null = null;
+    let firstRootAccount: { publicKey: Uint8Array; name: string | undefined } | null = null;
     const rootResult = await accountsProvider.getLegacyAccounts();
 
     rootResult.match(
@@ -126,6 +127,7 @@ async function init() {
         rootEl.textContent = JSON.stringify(keys);
         rootEl.dataset.ready = 'true';
         if (keys.length > 0) firstRootAddress = keys[0];
+        if (accounts.length > 0) firstRootAccount = accounts[0];
       },
       () => {},
     );
@@ -136,15 +138,17 @@ async function init() {
 
       async trySignRaw(): Promise<TestResult> {
         try {
-          const r = await hostApi.signRawWithLegacyAccount(enumValue('v1', {
-            signer: firstRootAddress ?? '',
-            payload: { tag: 'Bytes' as const, value: new TextEncoder().encode('test-payload') },
-          }));
-          if (r.isOk()) {
-            const val = r.value;
-            return { ok: true, signature: val.value.signature };
-          }
-          return { ok: false, error: extractError(r.error) };
+          if (!firstRootAccount) return { ok: false, error: 'no legacy account' };
+          // Go through the real signer code path (getLegacyAccountSigner ->
+          // PolkadotSigner.signBytes), which is where the SS58/hex signer
+          // encoding is decided — rather than hand-building the wire request.
+          const signer = accountsProvider.getLegacyAccountSigner({
+            publicKey: firstRootAccount.publicKey,
+            dotNsIdentifier: '',
+            derivationIndex: 0,
+          });
+          const signature = await signer.signBytes(new TextEncoder().encode('test-payload'));
+          return { ok: true, signature: u8aToHex(signature) };
         } catch (err) {
           return { ok: false, error: extractError(err) };
         }