diff --git a/preload.js b/preload.js
index 74aedbe80..5322257b0 100644
--- a/preload.js
+++ b/preload.js
@@ -386,21 +386,25 @@ window.seedNodeList = JSON.parse(config.seedNodeList);
 
 const { OnionPaths } = require('./ts/session/onions');
 
-const { locale } = config;
-window.i18n = i18n.setup(locale, localeMessages);
-// moment does not support es-419 correctly (and cause white screen on app start)
-const localeForMoment = locale === 'es-419' ? 'es' : locale;
+const { locale: localFromEnv } = config;
+window.i18n = i18n.setup(localFromEnv, localeMessages);
 
+// moment does not support es-419 correctly (and cause white screen on app start)
 window.moment = require('moment');
 
-window.moment.updateLocale(localeForMoment, {
+// Default to the locale from env. It will be overriden if moment
+// does not recognize it with what moment knows which is the closest.
+// i.e. es-419 will return 'es'.
+// We just need to use what we got from moment on the updateLocale below
+
+const localeSetForMoment = window.moment.locale(localFromEnv);
+window.moment.updateLocale(localeSetForMoment, {
   relativeTime: {
     s: window.i18n('timestamp_s'),
     m: window.i18n('timestamp_m'),
     h: window.i18n('timestamp_h'),
   },
 });
-window.moment.locale(localeForMoment);
 
 window.OnionPaths = OnionPaths;