diff --git a/src/vector/app.js b/src/vector/app.js
index 836b2ef1d0..dee663a16b 100644
--- a/src/vector/app.js
+++ b/src/vector/app.js
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ import SdkConfig from "matrix-react-sdk/src/SdkConfig";
 import {setTheme} from "matrix-react-sdk/src/theme";
 
 import CallHandler from 'matrix-react-sdk/src/CallHandler';
-import {loadConfig, preparePlatform, loadLanguage, loadOlm} from "./init";
+import {loadConfig, preparePlatform, loadLanguage} from "./init";
 
 let lastLocationHashSet = null;
 
@@ -144,8 +144,6 @@ export async function loadApp(fragParams: {}, acceptBrowser: boolean) {
 
     window.addEventListener('hashchange', onHashChange);
 
-    await loadOlm();
-
     // set the platform for react sdk
     preparePlatform();
     const platform = PlatformPeg.get();
diff --git a/src/vector/index.ts b/src/vector/index.ts
index d844827a85..a35f40c70d 100644
--- a/src/vector/index.ts
+++ b/src/vector/index.ts
@@ -81,13 +81,15 @@ function checkBrowserFeatures() {
 // try in react but fallback to an `alert`
 async function start() {
     // load init.ts async so that its code is not executed immediately and we can catch any exceptions
-    const {rageshakePromise, loadSkin, loadApp} = await import(
+    const {rageshakePromise, loadOlm, loadSkin, loadApp} = await import(
         /* webpackChunkName: "init" */
         /* webpackPreload: true */
         "./init");
 
     await settled(rageshakePromise); // give rageshake a chance to load/fail
 
+    const loadOlmPromise = loadOlm();
+
     const fragparts = parseQsFromFragment(window.location);
 
     // don't try to redirect to the native apps if we're
@@ -114,9 +116,11 @@ async function start() {
         acceptBrowser = Boolean(window.localStorage.getItem("mx_accepts_unsupported_browser"));
     }
 
+    // await things starting successfully
+    await loadOlmPromise;
+
     // Finally, load the app. All of the other react-sdk imports are in this file which causes the skinner to
-    // run on the components. We use `require` here to make sure webpack doesn't optimize this into an async
-    // import and thus running before the skin can load.
+    // run on the components.
     await loadApp(fragparts.params, acceptBrowser);
 }
 start();