diff --git a/src/components/notifications/notifications.js b/src/components/notifications/notifications.js
index 26ffbab6c4..d8a327b05f 100644
--- a/src/components/notifications/notifications.js
+++ b/src/components/notifications/notifications.js
@@ -27,6 +27,11 @@ const Notifications = {
       seenToDisplayCount: DEFAULT_SEEN_TO_DISPLAY_COUNT
     }
   },
+  created () {
+    const store = this.$store
+    const credentials = store.state.users.currentUser.credentials
+    notificationsFetcher.fetchAndUpdate({ store, credentials })
+  },
   computed: {
     mainClass () {
       return this.minimalMode ? '' : 'panel panel-default'
@@ -56,11 +61,6 @@ const Notifications = {
   components: {
     Notification
   },
-  created () {
-    const { dispatch } = this.$store
-
-    dispatch('fetchAndUpdateNotifications')
-  },
   watch: {
     unseenCount (count) {
       if (count > 0) {
diff --git a/src/modules/api.js b/src/modules/api.js
index 748570e564..04ef6ab422 100644
--- a/src/modules/api.js
+++ b/src/modules/api.js
@@ -138,9 +138,6 @@ const api = {
       if (!fetcher) return
       store.commit('removeFetcher', { fetcherName: 'notifications', fetcher })
     },
-    fetchAndUpdateNotifications (store) {
-      store.state.backendInteractor.fetchAndUpdateNotifications({ store })
-    },
 
     // Follow requests
     startFetchingFollowRequests (store) {
diff --git a/src/services/backend_interactor_service/backend_interactor_service.js b/src/services/backend_interactor_service/backend_interactor_service.js
index e1c32860de..45e6bd0e17 100644
--- a/src/services/backend_interactor_service/backend_interactor_service.js
+++ b/src/services/backend_interactor_service/backend_interactor_service.js
@@ -12,10 +12,6 @@ const backendInteractorService = credentials => ({
     return notificationsFetcher.startFetching({ store, credentials })
   },
 
-  fetchAndUpdateNotifications ({ store }) {
-    return notificationsFetcher.fetchAndUpdate({ store, credentials })
-  },
-
   startFetchingFollowRequests ({ store }) {
     return followRequestFetcher.startFetching({ store, credentials })
   },
diff --git a/src/services/notifications_fetcher/notifications_fetcher.service.js b/src/services/notifications_fetcher/notifications_fetcher.service.js
index 4644e4493f..d282074ad5 100644
--- a/src/services/notifications_fetcher/notifications_fetcher.service.js
+++ b/src/services/notifications_fetcher/notifications_fetcher.service.js
@@ -27,14 +27,18 @@ const fetchAndUpdate = ({ store, credentials, older = false }) => {
     }
     const result = fetchNotifications({ store, args, older })
 
-    // load unread notifications repeatedly to provide consistency between browser tabs
+    // If there's any unread notifications, try fetch notifications since
+    // the newest read notification to check if any of the unread notifs
+    // have changed their 'seen' state (marked as read in another session), so
+    // we can update the state in this session to mark them as read as well.
+    // The normal maxId-check does not tell if older notifications have changed
     const notifications = timelineData.data
     const readNotifsIds = notifications.filter(n => n.seen).map(n => n.id)
-    if (readNotifsIds.length) {
+    const numUnseenNotifs = notifications.length - readNotifsIds.length
+    if (numUnseenNotifs > 0) {
       args['since'] = Math.max(...readNotifsIds)
       fetchNotifications({ store, args, older })
     }
-
     return result
   }
 }