diff --git a/src/DeviceListener.js b/src/DeviceListener.js
index 3201e4af45..4ec2ec0fa0 100644
--- a/src/DeviceListener.js
+++ b/src/DeviceListener.js
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ export default class DeviceListener {
         MatrixClientPeg.get().on('userTrustStatusChanged', this._onUserTrustStatusChanged);
         MatrixClientPeg.get().on('crossSigning.keysChanged', this._onCrossSingingKeysChanged);
         MatrixClientPeg.get().on('accountData', this._onAccountData);
+        MatrixClientPeg.get().on('sync', this._onSync);
         this._recheck();
     }
 
@@ -62,6 +63,7 @@ export default class DeviceListener {
             MatrixClientPeg.get().removeListener('userTrustStatusChanged', this._onUserTrustStatusChanged);
             MatrixClientPeg.get().removeListener('crossSigning.keysChanged', this._onCrossSingingKeysChanged);
             MatrixClientPeg.get().removeListener('accountData', this._onAccountData);
+            MatrixClientPeg.get().removeListener('sync', this._onSync);
         }
         this._dismissed.clear();
     }
@@ -109,6 +111,10 @@ export default class DeviceListener {
         }
     }
 
+    _onSync = (state, prevState) => {
+        if (state === 'PREPARED' && prevState === null) this._recheck();
+    }
+
     // The server doesn't tell us when key backup is set up, so we poll
     // & cache the result
     async _getKeyBackupInfo() {
@@ -129,6 +135,10 @@ export default class DeviceListener {
         ) return;
 
         if (!cli.isCryptoEnabled()) return;
+        // don't recheck until the initial sync is complete: lots of account data events will fire
+        // while the initial sync is processing and we don't need to recheck on each one of them
+        // (we add a listener on sync to do once check after the initial sync is done)
+        if (!cli.isInitialSyncComplete()) return;
 
         const crossSigningReady = await cli.isCrossSigningReady();