diff --git a/src/ssb.db.c b/src/ssb.db.c
index c30ce94c..8b6a6f24 100644
--- a/src/ssb.db.c
+++ b/src/ssb.db.c
@@ -107,10 +107,25 @@ void tf_ssb_db_init(tf_ssb_t* ssb)
 		")");
 	_tf_ssb_db_exec(db, "CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS identities_user ON identities (user, public_key)");
 
-	if (!_tf_ssb_db_has_rows(db, "PRAGMA table_list('messages_fts')") ||
-		sqlite3_exec(db, "INSERT INTO messages_fts(messages_fts, rank) VALUES ('integrity-check', 0)", NULL, NULL, NULL) == SQLITE_CORRUPT_VTAB)
+	bool populate_fts = false;
+	if (!_tf_ssb_db_has_rows(db, "PRAGMA table_list('messages_fts')"))
 	{
 		_tf_ssb_db_exec(db, "CREATE VIRTUAL TABLE IF NOT EXISTS messages_fts USING fts5(content, content=messages, content_rowid=rowid)");
+		populate_fts = true;
+	}
+
+	if (!populate_fts)
+	{
+		printf("Checking FTS5 integrity...\n");
+		if (sqlite3_exec(db, "INSERT INTO messages_fts(messages_fts, rank) VALUES ('integrity-check', 0)", NULL, NULL, NULL) == SQLITE_CORRUPT_VTAB)
+		{
+			populate_fts = true;
+		}
+		printf("Done.\n");
+	}
+
+	if (populate_fts)
+	{
 		printf("Populating full-text search...\n");
 		_tf_ssb_db_exec(db, "INSERT INTO messages_fts (rowid, content) SELECT rowid, content FROM messages");
 		printf("Done.\n");