diff --git a/app/lib/task/backend.dart b/app/lib/task/backend.dart
index a82204d9f..154439fdf 100644
--- a/app/lib/task/backend.dart
+++ b/app/lib/task/backend.dart
@@ -121,70 +121,54 @@ class TaskBackend {
     final aborted = _aborted = Completer();
     final stopped = _stopped = Completer();
 
-    // Start scanning for packages to be tracked
-    final _doneScanning = Completer<void>();
+    final scanLoop = _createLoop(
+      name: 'scan-packages',
+      aborted: aborted,
+      fn: (claim, aborted) async {
+        await _scanForPackageUpdates(claim, abort: aborted);
+      },
+    );
+    final scheduleLoop = _createLoop(
+      name: 'schedule',
+      aborted: aborted,
+      fn: (claim, aborted) async {
+        await schedule(claim, taskWorkerCloudCompute, _db, abort: aborted);
+      },
+    );
+
     scheduleMicrotask(() async {
-      try {
-        // Create a lock for task scheduling, so tasks
-        final lock = GlobalLock.create(
-          '$runtimeVersion/task/scanning',
-          expiration: Duration(minutes: 25),
-        );
+      // Wait for background process to finish
+      await Future.wait([scanLoop, scheduleLoop]);
 
-        while (!aborted.isCompleted) {
-          // Acquire the global lock and scan for package changes while lock is
-          // valid.
-          try {
-            await lock.withClaim((claim) async {
-              await _scanForPackageUpdates(claim, abort: aborted);
-            }, abort: aborted);
-          } catch (e, st) {
-            // Log this as very bad, and then move on. Nothing good can come
-            // from straight up stopping.
-            _log.shout(
-              'scanning failed (will retry when lock becomes free)',
-              e,
-              st,
-            );
-            // Sleep 5 minutes to reduce risk of degenerate behavior
-            await clock.delayed(Duration(minutes: 5));
-          }
-        }
-      } catch (e, st) {
-        _log.severe('scanning loop crashed', e, st);
-      } finally {
-        _log.info('scanning loop stopped');
-        _doneScanning.complete();
-      }
+      // Report background processes as stopped
+      stopped.complete();
     });
+  }
 
-    // Start background task to schedule tasks
-    final _doneScheduling = Completer<void>();
-    scheduleMicrotask(() async {
+  Future<void> _createLoop({
+    required String name,
+    required Completer aborted,
+    required Future<void> Function(GlobalLockClaim claim, Completer aborted) fn,
+  }) {
+    return Future.microtask(() async {
       try {
-        // Create a lock for task scheduling, so tasks
+        // A lock for this task loop makes sure we only have one
+        // process at the time that tries to update the state.
         final lock = GlobalLock.create(
-          '$runtimeVersion/task/scheduler',
+          '$runtimeVersion/task/$name-loop',
           expiration: Duration(minutes: 25),
         );
 
         while (!aborted.isCompleted) {
-          // Acquire the global lock and create VMs for pending packages, and
-          // kill overdue VMs.
           try {
             await lock.withClaim((claim) async {
-              await schedule(
-                claim,
-                taskWorkerCloudCompute,
-                _db,
-                abort: aborted,
-              );
+              await fn(claim, aborted);
             }, abort: aborted);
           } catch (e, st) {
             // Log this as very bad, and then move on. Nothing good can come
             // from straight up stopping.
             _log.shout(
-              'scheduling iteration failed (will retry when lock becomes free)',
+              'task loop $name failed (will retry when lock becomes free)',
               e,
               st,
             );
@@ -193,20 +177,11 @@ class TaskBackend {
           }
         }
       } catch (e, st) {
-        _log.severe('scheduling loop crashed', e, st);
+        _log.severe('task loop $name crashed', e, st);
       } finally {
-        _log.info('scheduling loop stopped');
-        _doneScheduling.complete();
+        _log.info('task loop $name stopped');
       }
     });
-
-    scheduleMicrotask(() async {
-      // Wait for background process to finish
-      await Future.wait([_doneScanning.future, _doneScheduling.future]);
-
-      // Report background processes as stopped
-      stopped.complete();
-    });
   }
 
   /// Stop any background process that may be running.