diff --git a/packages/react-native/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/packagerconnection/ReconnectingWebSocket.kt b/packages/react-native/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/packagerconnection/ReconnectingWebSocket.kt
index 87d80827a336..50fe17d0cc5a 100644
--- a/packages/react-native/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/packagerconnection/ReconnectingWebSocket.kt
+++ b/packages/react-native/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/packagerconnection/ReconnectingWebSocket.kt
@@ -59,11 +59,13 @@ public class ReconnectingWebSocket(
     }
   }
 
-  private fun reconnect() {
+  private fun reconnect(detail: String? = null, cause: Throwable? = null) {
     check(!closed) { "Can't reconnect closed client" }
 
     if (!suppressConnectionErrors) {
-      FLog.w(TAG, "Couldn't connect to \"$url\", will silently retry")
+      val suffix = if (detail == null) "" else " ($detail)"
+      val message = "Couldn't connect to \"$url\"$suffix, will silently retry"
+      if (cause != null) FLog.w(TAG, message, cause) else FLog.w(TAG, message)
       suppressConnectionErrors = true
     }
 
@@ -107,7 +109,10 @@ public class ReconnectingWebSocket(
     }
     if (!closed) {
       connectionCallback?.onDisconnected()
-      reconnect()
+      // `t` distinguishes a rejected upgrade from never reaching the server: okhttp
+      // reports the former as `Expected HTTP 101 response but was '<code> <message>'`,
+      // so `response` carries nothing extra worth reading off it here.
+      reconnect(cause = t)
     }
   }
 
@@ -126,7 +131,7 @@ public class ReconnectingWebSocket(
     this.webSocket = null
     if (!closed) {
       connectionCallback?.onDisconnected()
-      reconnect()
+      reconnect("closed by peer with code $code: \"$reason\"")
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/packages/react-native/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/runtime/ReactHostImpl.kt b/packages/react-native/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/runtime/ReactHostImpl.kt
index 4db89e7a3143..dfb71cdf370f 100644
--- a/packages/react-native/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/runtime/ReactHostImpl.kt
+++ b/packages/react-native/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/runtime/ReactHostImpl.kt
@@ -1147,8 +1147,7 @@ public class ReactHostImpl(
             { task ->
               val isMetroRunning = checkNotNull(task.getResult())
               if (isMetroRunning) {
-                // Since metro is running, fetcxception(method, "ReactContext is null. Reload
-                // reason: $h the JS bundle from the server
+                // Since metro is running, fetch the JS bundle from the server
                 loadJSBundleFromMetro()
               } else {
                 Task.forResult(reactHostDelegate.jsBundleLoader)
@@ -1157,7 +1156,16 @@ public class ReactHostImpl(
             bgExecutor,
         )
       } else {
-        if (ReactBuildConfig.DEBUG) {
+        if (useDevSupport) {
+          // Dev support is on, so the developer expects to be editing JS against a packager, but
+          // the bundle can only come from the app. Nothing downstream reports this, because no
+          // packager request is ever made.
+          FLog.w(
+              TAG,
+              "Dev support is enabled but packager server access is not. The JS bundle will be " +
+                  "loaded from the app and the development server will not be used.",
+          )
+        } else if (ReactBuildConfig.DEBUG) {
           FLog.d(TAG, "Packager server access is disabled in this environment")
         }