diff --git a/src/apptaskmanager.js b/src/apptaskmanager.js
index 6952ead55..673653adc 100644
--- a/src/apptaskmanager.js
+++ b/src/apptaskmanager.js
@@ -83,6 +83,7 @@ function scheduleTask(appId, taskId, options, onFinished) {
         return;
     }
 
+    // percent 1 is relies on the tasks "active" flag to indicate task is queued but not started yet
     tasks.update(taskId, { percent: 1, message: gStarted ? 'Queued' : 'Waiting for platform to initialize' });
     gPendingTasks.push({ appId, taskId, options, onFinished });
 
diff --git a/src/tasks.js b/src/tasks.js
index 773e3698d..5cacf61b9 100644
--- a/src/tasks.js
+++ b/src/tasks.js
@@ -84,14 +84,17 @@ function postProcess(task) {
 function updateStatus(result) {
     assert.strictEqual(typeof result, 'object');
 
-    result.active = !!gTasks[result.id];
+    // running means actively running
+    // pending means not actively running
+    // active mean task is 'done' or not. at this point, clients can stop polling this task. 
+    // the apptaskmanager sets percent=1 when queued. just a hack to figure non-started but scheduled tasks
+    result.running = !!gTasks[result.id];
+    result.active = result.running || result.percent === 1;
+    result.pending = !gTasks[result.id] && result.active;
 
     // we rely on 'percent' to determine success. maybe this can become a db field
     result.success = result.percent === 100 && !result.error;
 
-    // we rely on 'percent' to determine pending. maybe this can become a db field
-    result.pending = result.percent === 1;
-
     // the error in db will be empty if we didn't get a chance to handle task exit
     if (!result.active && result.percent !== 100 && !result.error) {
         result.error = { message: 'Task was stopped because the server was restarted or crashed', code: exports.ECRASHED };