diff --git a/src/freedreno/ir3/ir3_nir.c b/src/freedreno/ir3/ir3_nir.c
index 6a76b0c6c77..eadda4d6432 100644
--- a/src/freedreno/ir3/ir3_nir.c
+++ b/src/freedreno/ir3/ir3_nir.c
@@ -157,12 +157,13 @@ ir3_nir_should_vectorize_mem(unsigned align_mul, unsigned align_offset,
 
 #define OPT_V(nir, pass, ...) NIR_PASS_V(nir, pass, ##__VA_ARGS__)
 
-void
+bool
 ir3_optimize_loop(struct ir3_compiler *compiler, nir_shader *s)
 {
    MESA_TRACE_FUNC();
 
    bool progress;
+   bool did_progress = false;
    unsigned lower_flrp = (s->options->lower_flrp16 ? 16 : 0) |
                          (s->options->lower_flrp32 ? 32 : 0) |
                          (s->options->lower_flrp64 ? 64 : 0);
@@ -262,9 +263,11 @@ ir3_optimize_loop(struct ir3_compiler *compiler, nir_shader *s)
       progress |= OPT(s, nir_lower_64bit_phis);
       progress |= OPT(s, nir_opt_remove_phis);
       progress |= OPT(s, nir_opt_undef);
+      did_progress |= progress;
    } while (progress);
 
    OPT(s, nir_lower_var_copies);
+   return did_progress;
 }
 
 static bool
@@ -857,6 +860,9 @@ ir3_nir_lower_variant(struct ir3_shader_variant *so, nir_shader *s)
    if (progress)
       ir3_optimize_loop(so->compiler, s);
 
+   /* verify that progress is always set */
+   assert(!ir3_optimize_loop(so->compiler, s));
+
    /* Fixup indirect load_uniform's which end up with a const base offset
     * which is too large to encode.  Do this late(ish) so we actually
     * can differentiate indirect vs non-indirect.
diff --git a/src/freedreno/ir3/ir3_nir.h b/src/freedreno/ir3/ir3_nir.h
index a17e2883c96..b5ded1c554c 100644
--- a/src/freedreno/ir3/ir3_nir.h
+++ b/src/freedreno/ir3/ir3_nir.h
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ bool ir3_nir_lower_64b_global(nir_shader *shader);
 bool ir3_nir_lower_64b_regs(nir_shader *shader);
 
 bool ir3_nir_opt_branch_and_or_not(nir_shader *nir);
-void ir3_optimize_loop(struct ir3_compiler *compiler, nir_shader *s);
+bool ir3_optimize_loop(struct ir3_compiler *compiler, nir_shader *s);
 void ir3_nir_lower_io_to_temporaries(nir_shader *s);
 void ir3_finalize_nir(struct ir3_compiler *compiler, nir_shader *s);
 void ir3_nir_post_finalize(struct ir3_shader *shader);