diff --git a/spec/chatbox.js b/spec/chatbox.js
index 4208df531..b011c0218 100644
--- a/spec/chatbox.js
+++ b/spec/chatbox.js
@@ -224,16 +224,19 @@
                 // visible, but no other chat boxes have been created.
                 expect(_converse.chatboxes.length).toEqual(1);
 
-                spyOn(_converse.ChatBoxView.prototype, 'focus');
                 chatbox = test_utils.openChatBoxFor(_converse, contact_jid);
-
                 $el = $(_converse.rosterview.el).find('a.open-chat:contains("'+chatbox.get('fullname')+'")');
                 jid = $el.text().replace(/ /g,'.').toLowerCase() + '@localhost';
+
+                spyOn(_converse, 'emit');
                 $el[0].click();
-                expect(_converse.chatboxes.length).toEqual(2);
-                var chatboxview = _converse.chatboxviews.get(contact_jid);
-                expect(chatboxview.focus).toHaveBeenCalled();
-                done();
+                test_utils.waitUntil(function () {
+                    return _converse.emit.calls.count();
+                }, 300).then(function () {
+                    expect(_converse.chatboxes.length).toEqual(2);
+                    expect(_converse.emit).toHaveBeenCalledWith('chatBoxFocused', jasmine.any(Object));
+                    done();
+                });
             }));
 
 
@@ -280,9 +283,8 @@
                 test_utils.createContacts(_converse, 'current');
                 test_utils.openControlBox();
                 test_utils.waitUntil(function () {
-                        return $(_converse.rosterview.el).find('.roster-group').length;
-                    }, 300)
-                .then(function () {
+                    return $(_converse.rosterview.el).find('.roster-group').length;
+                }, 300).then(function () {
                     var chatbox = test_utils.openChatBoxes(_converse, 1)[0],
                         controlview = _converse.chatboxviews.get('controlbox'), // The controlbox is currently open
                         chatview = _converse.chatboxviews.get(chatbox.get('jid'));
diff --git a/src/converse-chatview.js b/src/converse-chatview.js
index 0e6386ba2..e1b679233 100644
--- a/src/converse-chatview.js
+++ b/src/converse-chatview.js
@@ -1083,7 +1083,7 @@
                     return this;
                 },
 
-                afterShown (focus) {
+                afterShown () {
                     if (u.isPersistableModel(this.model)) {
                         this.model.clearUnreadMsgCounter();
                         this.model.save();
@@ -1091,21 +1091,18 @@
                     this.setChatState(_converse.ACTIVE);
                     this.renderEmojiPicker();
                     this.scrollDown();
-                    if (focus) {
-                        this.focus();
-                    }
                 },
 
-                _show (focus) {
+                _show (f) {
                     /* Inner show method that gets debounced */
                     if (u.isVisible(this.el)) {
-                        if (focus) { this.focus(); }
+                        this.focus();
                         return;
                     }
-                    u.fadeIn(this.el, _.bind(this.afterShown, this, focus));
+                    u.fadeIn(this.el, _.bind(this.afterShown, this));
                 },
 
-                show (focus) {
+                show () {
                     if (_.isUndefined(this.debouncedShow)) {
                         /* We wrap the method in a debouncer and set it on the
                          * instance, so that we have it debounced per instance.
diff --git a/src/converse-muc-views.js b/src/converse-muc-views.js
index 5950ede6a..e4a727a06 100644
--- a/src/converse-muc-views.js
+++ b/src/converse-muc-views.js
@@ -517,7 +517,7 @@
                     }));
                 },
 
-                afterShown (focus) {
+                afterShown () {
                     /* Override from converse-chatview, specifically to avoid
                      * the 'active' chat state from being sent out prematurely.
                      *
@@ -530,18 +530,17 @@
                     this.occupantsview.setOccupantsHeight();
                     this.scrollDown();
                     this.renderEmojiPicker();
-                    if (focus) { this.focus(); }
                 },
 
-                show (focus) {
+                show () {
                     if (u.isVisible(this.el)) {
-                        if (focus) { this.focus(); }
+                        this.focus();
                         return;
                     }
                     // Override from converse-chatview in order to not use
                     // "fadeIn", which causes flashing.
                     u.showElement(this.el);
-                    this.afterShown(focus);
+                    this.afterShown();
                 },
 
                 afterConnected () {