diff --git a/lcviz/plugins/flatten/flatten.py b/lcviz/plugins/flatten/flatten.py
index b96de0dc..87cc534b 100644
--- a/lcviz/plugins/flatten/flatten.py
+++ b/lcviz/plugins/flatten/flatten.py
@@ -6,7 +6,8 @@
 from jdaviz.core.events import ViewerAddedMessage
 from jdaviz.core.registries import tray_registry
 from jdaviz.core.template_mixin import (PluginTemplateMixin,
-                                        DatasetSelectMixin, AddResultsMixin)
+                                        DatasetSelectMixin, AddResultsMixin,
+                                        skip_if_no_updates_since_last_active)
 from jdaviz.core.user_api import PluginUserApi
 
 from lcviz.marks import LivePreviewTrend, LivePreviewFlattened
@@ -159,16 +160,25 @@ def _clear_marks(self):
                     mark.clear()
                     mark.visible = False
 
-    @observe('show_live_preview', 'is_active',
+    @observe('is_active', 'show_live_preview')
+    def _toggle_marks(self, event={}):
+        visible = self.show_live_preview and self.is_active
+
+        trend_marks, flattened_marks = self.marks
+        for mark in trend_marks.values():
+            mark.visible = visible
+        for mark in flattened_marks.values():
+            mark.visible = visible
+
+        if visible:
+            self._live_update(event)
+
+    @observe('is_active', 'show_live_preview',
              'dataset_selected',
              'window_length', 'polyorder', 'break_tolerance',
              'niters', 'sigma')
+    @skip_if_no_updates_since_last_active()
     def _live_update(self, event={}):
-        if not self.show_live_preview or not self.is_active:
-            self._clear_marks()
-            self.flatten_err = ''
-            return
-
         try:
             output_lc, trend_lc = self.flatten(add_data=False)
         except Exception as e:
@@ -188,10 +198,8 @@ def _live_update(self, event={}):
         for mark in trend_marks.values():
             # TODO: need to account for phasing
             mark.update_ty(times.value, trend_lc.flux.value)
-            mark.visible = True
         for mark in flattened_marks.values():
             mark.update_ty(times.value, output_flux)
-            mark.visible = True
 
     def vue_apply(self, *args, **kwargs):
         try: