diff --git a/lib/core/network/api_client.dart b/lib/core/network/api_client.dart
index 1916d2e..3f572b5 100644
--- a/lib/core/network/api_client.dart
+++ b/lib/core/network/api_client.dart
@@ -231,40 +231,94 @@ class ApiClient {
   /// Wrap a DioException with parsed error data.
   DioException _wrapError(DioException error) {
     final response = error.response;
+
+    // 1. Try to parse a structured error from the JSON response body
     if (response != null) {
       final data = response.data;
       if (data is Map<String, dynamic>) {
-        final message = data['message'] is List
-            ? (data['message'] as List).join(', ')
-            : data['message']?.toString() ?? 'An error occurred';
+        final rawMessage = data['message'] ?? data['error'];
+        final message = rawMessage is List
+            ? (rawMessage).join(', ')
+            : rawMessage?.toString();
 
-        final errors = (data['errors'] as List<dynamic>?)
-                ?.map(
-                    (e) => FieldError.fromJson(e as Map<String, dynamic>))
-                .toList() ??
-            [];
+        if (message != null && message.isNotEmpty) {
+          final errors = (data['errors'] as List<dynamic>?)
+                  ?.map((e) => FieldError.fromJson(e as Map<String, dynamic>))
+                  .toList() ??
+              [];
 
-        return DioException(
-          requestOptions: error.requestOptions,
-          response: error.response,
-          error: ApiException(
-            message: message,
-            statusCode: response.statusCode,
-            fieldErrors: errors,
-          ),
-        );
+          return DioException(
+            requestOptions: error.requestOptions,
+            response: error.response,
+            error: ApiException(
+              message: message,
+              statusCode: response.statusCode,
+              fieldErrors: errors,
+            ),
+          );
+        }
       }
     }
 
+    // 2. Fallback — build a user-friendly message from the status code or
+    //    Dio exception type. NEVER use `error.message` because Dio emits a
+    //    giant technical blob ("This exception was thrown because the
+    //    response has a status code of 401 and RequestOptions.validateStatus
+    //    was configured to throw...") which is useless to end users.
     return DioException(
       requestOptions: error.requestOptions,
       response: error.response,
       error: ApiException(
-        message: error.message ?? 'Network error occurred',
+        message: _friendlyMessageFor(error),
         statusCode: response?.statusCode,
       ),
     );
   }
+
+  String _friendlyMessageFor(DioException error) {
+    // Network-level failures take priority over status codes
+    switch (error.type) {
+      case DioExceptionType.connectionTimeout:
+      case DioExceptionType.sendTimeout:
+      case DioExceptionType.receiveTimeout:
+        return 'The request timed out. Please check your connection and try again.';
+      case DioExceptionType.connectionError:
+        return 'Unable to reach the server. Please check your internet connection.';
+      case DioExceptionType.cancel:
+        return 'Request was cancelled.';
+      case DioExceptionType.badCertificate:
+        return 'Secure connection failed. Please try again later.';
+      case DioExceptionType.badResponse:
+      case DioExceptionType.unknown:
+        break;
+    }
+
+    // Status-code-based fallback
+    final code = error.response?.statusCode;
+    switch (code) {
+      case 400:
+        return 'The request was invalid. Please check your input.';
+      case 401:
+        return 'Invalid email or password.';
+      case 403:
+        return 'You don\'t have permission to perform this action.';
+      case 404:
+        return 'The requested resource was not found.';
+      case 409:
+        return 'This action conflicts with existing data.';
+      case 422:
+        return 'Some fields are invalid. Please check your input.';
+      case 429:
+        return 'Too many attempts. Please wait a moment and try again.';
+      case 500:
+      case 502:
+      case 503:
+      case 504:
+        return 'Server is temporarily unavailable. Please try again shortly.';
+    }
+
+    return 'Something went wrong. Please try again.';
+  }
 }
 
 class _QueuedRequest {