diff --git a/src/App.tsx b/src/App.tsx
index 342c08b..ec852f0 100644
--- a/src/App.tsx
+++ b/src/App.tsx
@@ -444,9 +444,11 @@ export function App() {
           Model: <code>{modelId}</code> · Engine:{" "}
           {activeDevice === "webgpu"
             ? "WebGPU (on-device)"
-            : activeDevice === "wasm"
-              ? "WASM (on-device)"
-              : "on-device — backend selected on first load"}
+            : activeDevice === "webnn"
+              ? "WebNN (on-device)"
+              : activeDevice === "wasm"
+                ? "WASM (on-device)"
+                : "on-device — backend selected on first load"}
         </p>
       </footer>
     </main>
diff --git a/src/components/ModelPicker.tsx b/src/components/ModelPicker.tsx
index e6082cb..73d060f 100644
--- a/src/components/ModelPicker.tsx
+++ b/src/components/ModelPicker.tsx
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ interface ModelPickerProps {
 const DEVICE_OPTIONS: readonly { value: DevicePreference; label: string }[] = [
   { value: "auto", label: "Auto (WebGPU if available)" },
   { value: "webgpu", label: "WebGPU" },
+  { value: "webnn", label: "WebNN" },
   { value: "wasm", label: "WASM (CPU)" },
 ];
 
@@ -47,7 +48,12 @@ export function ModelPicker({
   // the device. Until the worker has reported one, assume WASM unless the
   // user explicitly asked for WebGPU.
   const estimateDevice: InferenceDevice =
-    activeDevice ?? (devicePreference === "webgpu" ? "webgpu" : "wasm");
+    activeDevice ??
+    (devicePreference === "webgpu"
+      ? "webgpu"
+      : devicePreference === "webnn"
+        ? "webnn"
+        : "wasm");
 
   const groups: { title: string; items: WhisperModel[] }[] = [
     {
diff --git a/src/lib/models.ts b/src/lib/models.ts
index f8731b5..749eb7b 100644
--- a/src/lib/models.ts
+++ b/src/lib/models.ts
@@ -122,6 +122,12 @@ const WEBGPU_FP16_Q4: DtypeDefault = {
   note: "fp16 encoder + q4 merged decoder — the common working WebGPU setup.",
 };
 
+const WEBNN_FP16: DtypeDefault = {
+  dtype: "fp16",
+  verified: false,
+  note: "fp16 is commonly used with WebNN.",
+};
+
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // The catalog (D-006: curated, not exhaustive)
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -138,6 +144,7 @@ export const MODELS: readonly WhisperModel[] = [
       // Verified in-browser during M1 (WASM, Transformers.js default q8).
       wasm: { ...WASM_Q8, verified: true },
       webgpu: WEBGPU_FP32,
+      webnn: WEBNN_FP16,
     },
   },
   {
@@ -147,7 +154,7 @@ export const MODELS: readonly WhisperModel[] = [
     multilingual: true,
     encoderParamsM: 8,
     decoderParamsM: 31,
-    defaults: { wasm: WASM_Q8, webgpu: WEBGPU_FP32 },
+    defaults: { wasm: WASM_Q8, webgpu: WEBGPU_FP32, webnn: WEBNN_FP16 },
   },
   {
     id: "onnx-community/whisper-base.en",
@@ -156,7 +163,7 @@ export const MODELS: readonly WhisperModel[] = [
     multilingual: false,
     encoderParamsM: 20,
     decoderParamsM: 54,
-    defaults: { wasm: WASM_Q8, webgpu: WEBGPU_FP32 },
+    defaults: { wasm: WASM_Q8, webgpu: WEBGPU_FP32, webnn: WEBNN_FP16 },
   },
   {
     id: "onnx-community/whisper-base",
@@ -165,7 +172,7 @@ export const MODELS: readonly WhisperModel[] = [
     multilingual: true,
     encoderParamsM: 20,
     decoderParamsM: 54,
-    defaults: { wasm: WASM_Q8, webgpu: WEBGPU_FP32 },
+    defaults: { wasm: WASM_Q8, webgpu: WEBGPU_FP32, webnn: WEBNN_FP16 },
   },
   {
     id: "onnx-community/whisper-small.en",
@@ -174,7 +181,7 @@ export const MODELS: readonly WhisperModel[] = [
     multilingual: false,
     encoderParamsM: 88,
     decoderParamsM: 156,
-    defaults: { wasm: WASM_Q8, webgpu: WEBGPU_FP16_Q4 },
+    defaults: { wasm: WASM_Q8, webgpu: WEBGPU_FP16_Q4, webnn: WEBNN_FP16 },
   },
   {
     id: "onnx-community/whisper-small",
@@ -183,7 +190,7 @@ export const MODELS: readonly WhisperModel[] = [
     multilingual: true,
     encoderParamsM: 88,
     decoderParamsM: 156,
-    defaults: { wasm: WASM_Q8, webgpu: WEBGPU_FP16_Q4 },
+    defaults: { wasm: WASM_Q8, webgpu: WEBGPU_FP16_Q4, webnn: WEBNN_FP16 },
   },
   {
     id: "onnx-community/whisper-medium.en",
@@ -192,7 +199,7 @@ export const MODELS: readonly WhisperModel[] = [
     multilingual: false,
     encoderParamsM: 306,
     decoderParamsM: 463,
-    defaults: { wasm: WASM_Q4, webgpu: WEBGPU_FP16_Q4 },
+    defaults: { wasm: WASM_Q4, webgpu: WEBGPU_FP16_Q4, webnn: WEBNN_FP16 },
   },
   {
     id: "onnx-community/whisper-medium",
@@ -201,7 +208,7 @@ export const MODELS: readonly WhisperModel[] = [
     multilingual: true,
     encoderParamsM: 306,
     decoderParamsM: 463,
-    defaults: { wasm: WASM_Q4, webgpu: WEBGPU_FP16_Q4 },
+    defaults: { wasm: WASM_Q4, webgpu: WEBGPU_FP16_Q4, webnn: WEBNN_FP16 },
   },
   {
     id: "onnx-community/whisper-large-v3-turbo",
@@ -210,7 +217,7 @@ export const MODELS: readonly WhisperModel[] = [
     multilingual: true,
     encoderParamsM: 635,
     decoderParamsM: 174,
-    defaults: { wasm: WASM_Q4, webgpu: WEBGPU_FP16_Q4 },
+    defaults: { wasm: WASM_Q4, webgpu: WEBGPU_FP16_Q4, webnn: WEBNN_FP16 },
   },
 ];
 
diff --git a/src/worker/inference.worker.ts b/src/worker/inference.worker.ts
index f6bb2c2..0037aa6 100644
--- a/src/worker/inference.worker.ts
+++ b/src/worker/inference.worker.ts
@@ -86,14 +86,22 @@ function forwardProgress(info: ProgressInfo): void {
 // Device selection (D-004): WebGPU when available, automatic WASM fallback
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-interface NavigatorWithGpu {
+interface NavigatorWithHardware {
   gpu?: { requestAdapter(): Promise<unknown | null> };
+  ml?: unknown;
 }
 
 async function detectDevice(preference: DevicePreference): Promise<InferenceDevice> {
   if (preference === "wasm") return "wasm";
+  if (preference === "webnn") {
+    try {
+      return (navigator as NavigatorWithHardware).ml ? "webnn" : "wasm";
+    } catch {
+      return "wasm";
+    }
+  }
   try {
-    const adapter = await (navigator as NavigatorWithGpu).gpu?.requestAdapter();
+    const adapter = await (navigator as NavigatorWithHardware).gpu?.requestAdapter();
     return adapter ? "webgpu" : "wasm";
   } catch {
     return "wasm";
@@ -127,7 +135,8 @@ async function createPipeline(
   // If WebGPU was selected but pipeline creation throws (driver quirks,
   // unsupported ops, out-of-memory), fall back to WASM automatically (D-004).
   const attempts: InferenceDevice[] =
-    detected === "webgpu" ? ["webgpu", "wasm"] : ["wasm"];
+    detected === "webgpu" ? ["webgpu", "wasm"] :
+    detected === "webnn" ? ["webnn", "wasm"] : ["wasm"];
 
   let lastError: unknown;
   for (const device of attempts) {
diff --git a/src/worker/protocol.ts b/src/worker/protocol.ts
index 3c48644..d577646 100644
--- a/src/worker/protocol.ts
+++ b/src/worker/protocol.ts
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
  */
 
 /** Devices the worker can actually run on (D-004). */
-export type InferenceDevice = "webgpu" | "wasm";
+export type InferenceDevice = "webgpu" | "wasm" | "webnn";
 
 /**
  * What the UI may request. "auto" (the default) lets the worker probe
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ function isOptionalString(value: unknown): value is string | undefined {
   return value === undefined || typeof value === "string";
 }
 
-const DEVICES: readonly string[] = ["webgpu", "wasm"];
+const DEVICES: readonly string[] = ["webgpu", "wasm", "webnn"];
 const DTYPES: readonly string[] = ["fp32", "fp16", "q8", "q4"];
 
 export function isInferenceDevice(value: unknown): value is InferenceDevice {