diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index 26a0723b9..fefe6ef01 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@
 - #1550: Legitimate carbons being blocked due to erroneous forgery check
 - #1554: Room auto-configuration broke if the config form contained fields with type `fixed`
 - #1558: `this.get` is not a function error when `forward_messages` is set to `true`.
+- #1561: Don't call `clear` on local or session storage
 - #1572: In `fullscreen` view mode the top is cut off on iOS
 - #1575: MUC invitation autocomplete list doesn't appear
 - #1576: Converse gets stuck with spinner when logging out with `auto_login` set to `true`
diff --git a/src/headless/converse-core.js b/src/headless/converse-core.js
index 6291ac43e..bb0909d07 100644
--- a/src/headless/converse-core.js
+++ b/src/headless/converse-core.js
@@ -529,7 +529,7 @@ function clearSession  () {
         _converse.session.browserStorage._clear();
         delete _converse.session;
     }
-    if (_converse.shouldClearCache()) {
+    if (_converse.shouldClearCache() && _converse.xmppstatus) {
         _converse.xmppstatus.destroy();
         _converse.xmppstatus.browserStorage._clear();
         delete _converse.xmppstatus;