diff --git a/js/views/inbox_view.js b/js/views/inbox_view.js
index 3df51ffcf..6e339e502 100644
--- a/js/views/inbox_view.js
+++ b/js/views/inbox_view.js
@@ -233,7 +233,8 @@
             break;
           case WebSocket.OPEN:
             clearInterval(this.interval);
-            // if we've connected, we can wait for real empty event
+            // Default to connected, but lokinet is slow so we pretend empty event
+            this.onEmpty();
             this.interval = null;
             break;
           case WebSocket.CLOSING:
diff --git a/libtextsecure/http-resources.js b/libtextsecure/http-resources.js
index 05b5d76e6..bbd36e2d3 100644
--- a/libtextsecure/http-resources.js
+++ b/libtextsecure/http-resources.js
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@
     if (typeof handleRequest !== 'function') {
       handleRequest = request => request.respond(404, 'Not found');
     }
-    let connected = false;
+    let connected = true;
     const jobQueue = new window.JobQueue();
 
     const processMessages = async messages => {