diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index 6d611ea36..322739c07 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -51,6 +51,9 @@
 - Remove the `expose_rid_and_sid` configuration setting.
 - A `prebind_url` is now mandatory when setting `authentication` to `prebind`.
   It's no longer possible to pass in `rid` and `sid` values to `converse.initialize.
+- Removed events `statusChanged` and `statusMessageChanged`. Instead, you can
+  listen on the `change:status` or `change:status\_message` events on
+  `_converse.xmppstatus`.
 
 ### API changes
 
diff --git a/src/headless/converse-core.js b/src/headless/converse-core.js
index 05baedb1d..599708b10 100644
--- a/src/headless/converse-core.js
+++ b/src/headless/converse-core.js
@@ -1003,7 +1003,8 @@ _converse.initialize = async function (settings, callback) {
             _converse.xmppstatus.browserStorage = new BrowserStorage.session(id);
             _converse.xmppstatus.fetch({
                 'success': _.partial(_converse.onStatusInitialized, reconnecting),
-                'error': _.partial(_converse.onStatusInitialized, reconnecting)
+                'error': _.partial(_converse.onStatusInitialized, reconnecting),
+                'silent': true
             });
         }
     }
@@ -1152,28 +1153,13 @@ _converse.initialize = async function (settings, callback) {
         },
 
         initialize () {
-            this.on('change:status', (item) => {
-                const status = this.get('status');
-                this.sendPresence(status);
-                /**
-                 * Triggered when the current user's status has changed
-                 * @event _converse#statusChanged
-                 * @type { string }
-                 * @example _converse.api.listen.on('statusChanged', status => { ... });
-                 */
-                _converse.api.trigger('statusChanged', status);
-            });
-
-            this.on('change:status_message', () => {
-                const status_message = this.get('status_message');
-                this.sendPresence(this.get('status'), status_message);
-                /**
-                 * Triggered when the current user's custom status message has changed.
-                 * @event _converse#statusMessageChanged
-                 * @type { string }
-                 * @example _converse.api.listen.on('statusMessageChanged', message => { ... });
-                 */
-                _converse.api.trigger('statusMessageChanged', status_message);
+            this.on('change', item => {
+                if (!_.isObject(item.changed)) {
+                    return;
+                }
+                if ('status' in item.changed || 'status_message' in item.changed) {
+                    this.sendPresence(this.get('status'), this.get('status_message'));
+                }
             });
         },
 
diff --git a/src/headless/converse-roster.js b/src/headless/converse-roster.js
index dee4083c4..cb3780719 100644
--- a/src/headless/converse-roster.js
+++ b/src/headless/converse-roster.js
@@ -672,8 +672,8 @@ converse.plugins.add('converse-roster', {
                     const items = sizzle(`item`, query);
                     _.each(items, (item) => this.updateContact(item));
                     this.data.save('version', query.getAttribute('ver'));
-                    _converse.session.save('roster_fetched', true);
                 }
+                _converse.session.save('roster_fetched', true);
                 /**
                  * When the roster has been received from the XMPP server.
                  * See also the `cachedRoster` event further up, which gets called instead of
diff --git a/src/headless/converse-smacks.js b/src/headless/converse-smacks.js
index 5478baa9a..8cbce5e68 100644
--- a/src/headless/converse-smacks.js
+++ b/src/headless/converse-smacks.js
@@ -149,6 +149,7 @@ converse.plugins.add('converse-smacks', {
             resendUnackedStanzas();
             _converse.connection.do_bind = false; // No need to bind our resource anymore
             _converse.connection.authenticated = true;
+            _converse.connection.restored = true;
             _converse.connection._changeConnectStatus(Strophe.Status.CONNECTED, null);
         }