diff --git a/src/converse-chatview.js b/src/converse-chatview.js
index e1c9bd1d5..9c254ffba 100644
--- a/src/converse-chatview.js
+++ b/src/converse-chatview.js
@@ -777,7 +777,7 @@
                 },
 
                 afterShown: function (focus) {
-                    if (_converse.connection.connected) {
+                    if (this.model.collection.browserStorage) {
                         // Without a connection, we haven't yet initialized
                         // localstorage
                         this.model.save();