diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 5a9804c..2c99d10 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -11,13 +11,13 @@ and swap the HTTP client while inheriting everything else.
 `requirements.txt`:
 
 ```
-aioweb @ git+ssh://git@git.rethinkstudios.io/rethink-public/aioweb.git@v0.1.5
+aioweb @ git+ssh://git@git.rethinkstudios.io/rethink-public/aioweb.git@v0.1.6
 ```
 
 Direct:
 
 ```bash
-pip install "aioweb @ git+ssh://git@git.rethinkstudios.io/rethink-public/aioweb.git@v0.1.5"
+pip install "aioweb @ git+ssh://git@git.rethinkstudios.io/rethink-public/aioweb.git@v0.1.6"
 ```
 
 Requires `aiohttp` and `yarl` (pulled transitively).
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index d76b2a7..c0360de 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ build-backend = "hatchling.build"
 
 [project]
 name = "aioweb"
-version = "0.1.5"
+version = "0.1.6"
 description = "Async HTTP session wrapper over aiohttp — proxies, header overwrites, retries, previews. Config-free, installable."
 requires-python = ">=3.10"
 dependencies = [
diff --git a/src/aioweb/session.py b/src/aioweb/session.py
index d9ee9ab..6c0ee18 100644
--- a/src/aioweb/session.py
+++ b/src/aioweb/session.py
@@ -306,6 +306,12 @@ class ExtendedSession:
         timeout = kwargs.get("timeout")
         if isinstance(timeout, (int, float)):
             kwargs["timeout"] = aiohttp.ClientTimeout(total=timeout)
+        elif timeout is None and "timeout" in kwargs:
+            # an explicit timeout=None reaches aiohttp as ClientTimeout(total=None),
+            # which DISABLES the timeout and overrides the session default; drop it so
+            # the session-level timeout applies (matters for request_with_retries, whose
+            # timeout kwarg defaults to None)
+            del kwargs["timeout"]
 
         url = self._apply_domain_overwrites(url)
         if debug:
@@ -335,6 +341,10 @@ class ExtendedSession:
         returns a Response on success (or non-retryable status), or a falsy
         FailureResponse if every attempt fails. backoff is exponential
         (backoff_base ** attempt).
+
+        timeout defaults to None, which falls back to the session-level timeout set
+        at construction (aioweb pops a None timeout so it does not reach aiohttp as an
+        infinite ClientTimeout); pass a number to override per call.
         """
         attempts = attempts or DEFAULT_ATTEMPTS
         body_data, body_json = _route_body(data)