diff --git a/lib/components/keyserver-connection-handler.js b/lib/components/keyserver-connection-handler.js
index 675bf46af..3f161da1e 100644
--- a/lib/components/keyserver-connection-handler.js
+++ b/lib/components/keyserver-connection-handler.js
@@ -1,343 +1,354 @@
 // @flow
 
 import invariant from 'invariant';
 import * as React from 'react';
 
 import {
   keyserverAuthActionTypes,
   logOutActionTypes,
   useKeyserverAuth,
   useLogOut,
 } from '../actions/user-actions.js';
 import { extractKeyserverIDFromID } from '../keyserver-conn/keyserver-call-utils.js';
 import {
   CANCELLED_ERROR,
   type CallKeyserverEndpoint,
 } from '../keyserver-conn/keyserver-conn-types.js';
 import { useKeyserverRecoveryLogIn } from '../keyserver-conn/recovery-utils.js';
 import { filterThreadIDsInFilterList } from '../reducers/calendar-filters-reducer.js';
 import {
   connectionSelector,
   cookieSelector,
   deviceTokenSelector,
 } from '../selectors/keyserver-selectors.js';
 import { isLoggedInToKeyserver } from '../selectors/user-selectors.js';
 import { useInitialNotificationsEncryptedMessage } from '../shared/crypto-utils.js';
 import { IdentityClientContext } from '../shared/identity-client-context.js';
 import { OlmSessionCreatorContext } from '../shared/olm-session-creator-context.js';
 import type { BaseSocketProps } from '../socket/socket.react.js';
 import {
   logInActionSources,
   type RecoveryActionSource,
 } from '../types/account-types.js';
 import { authoritativeKeyserverID } from '../utils/authoritative-keyserver.js';
 import type { CallSingleKeyserverEndpoint } from '../utils/call-single-keyserver-endpoint.js';
 import { getConfig } from '../utils/config.js';
 import { useDispatchActionPromise } from '../utils/redux-promise-utils.js';
 import { useSelector } from '../utils/redux-utils.js';
-import { usingCommServicesAccessToken } from '../utils/services-utils.js';
+import {
+  usingCommServicesAccessToken,
+  relyingOnAuthoritativeKeyserver,
+} from '../utils/services-utils.js';
 import sleep from '../utils/sleep.js';
 
 type Props = {
   ...BaseSocketProps,
   +socketComponent: React.ComponentType<BaseSocketProps>,
 };
 
 const AUTH_RETRY_DELAY_MS = 60000;
 
 function KeyserverConnectionHandler(props: Props) {
   const { socketComponent: Socket, ...socketProps } = props;
   const { keyserverID } = props;
 
   const dispatchActionPromise = useDispatchActionPromise();
   const callLogOut = useLogOut();
   const keyserverAuth = useKeyserverAuth();
 
   const hasConnectionIssue = useSelector(
     state => !!connectionSelector(keyserverID)(state)?.connectionIssue,
   );
   const cookie = useSelector(cookieSelector(keyserverID));
   const dataLoaded = useSelector(state => state.dataLoaded);
 
   const keyserverDeviceToken = useSelector(deviceTokenSelector(keyserverID));
   // We have an assumption that we should be always connected to Ashoat's
   // keyserver. It is possible that a token which it has is correct, so we can
   // try to use it. In worst case it is invalid and our push-handler will try
   // to fix it.
   const ashoatKeyserverDeviceToken = useSelector(
     deviceTokenSelector(authoritativeKeyserverID()),
   );
   const deviceToken = keyserverDeviceToken ?? ashoatKeyserverDeviceToken;
 
   const navInfo = useSelector(state => state.navInfo);
   const calendarFilters = useSelector(state => state.calendarFilters);
   const calendarQuery = React.useMemo(() => {
     const filters = filterThreadIDsInFilterList(
       calendarFilters,
       (threadID: string) => extractKeyserverIDFromID(threadID) === keyserverID,
     );
     return {
       startDate: navInfo.startDate,
       endDate: navInfo.endDate,
       filters,
     };
   }, [calendarFilters, keyserverID, navInfo.endDate, navInfo.startDate]);
 
   React.useEffect(() => {
-    if (hasConnectionIssue && !usingCommServicesAccessToken) {
+    if (
+      hasConnectionIssue &&
+      keyserverID === authoritativeKeyserverID &&
+      relyingOnAuthoritativeKeyserver
+    ) {
       void dispatchActionPromise(logOutActionTypes, callLogOut());
     }
-  }, [callLogOut, hasConnectionIssue, dispatchActionPromise]);
+  }, [callLogOut, hasConnectionIssue, dispatchActionPromise, keyserverID]);
 
   const identityContext = React.useContext(IdentityClientContext);
   invariant(identityContext, 'Identity context should be set');
   const { identityClient, getAuthMetadata } = identityContext;
 
   const olmSessionCreator = React.useContext(OlmSessionCreatorContext);
   invariant(olmSessionCreator, 'Olm session creator should be set');
 
   const [authInProgress, setAuthInProgress] = React.useState(false);
   const performAuth = React.useCallback(() => {
     setAuthInProgress(true);
 
     let cancelled = false;
     const cancel = () => {
       cancelled = true;
       setAuthInProgress(false);
     };
 
     const promise = (async () => {
       try {
         const keyserverKeys =
           await identityClient.getKeyserverKeys(keyserverID);
 
         if (cancelled) {
           throw new Error(CANCELLED_ERROR);
         }
 
         const [notifsSession, contentSession, { userID, deviceID }] =
           await Promise.all([
             olmSessionCreator.notificationsSessionCreator(
               cookie,
               keyserverKeys.identityKeysBlob.notificationIdentityPublicKeys,
               keyserverKeys.notifInitializationInfo,
               keyserverID,
             ),
             olmSessionCreator.contentSessionCreator(
               keyserverKeys.identityKeysBlob.primaryIdentityPublicKeys,
               keyserverKeys.contentInitializationInfo,
             ),
             getAuthMetadata(),
           ]);
 
         invariant(userID, 'userID should be set');
         invariant(deviceID, 'deviceID should be set');
 
         const deviceTokenUpdateInput = deviceToken
           ? { [keyserverID]: { deviceToken } }
           : {};
 
         if (cancelled) {
           throw new Error(CANCELLED_ERROR);
         }
 
         await dispatchActionPromise(
           keyserverAuthActionTypes,
           keyserverAuth({
             userID,
             deviceID,
             doNotRegister: false,
             calendarQuery,
             deviceTokenUpdateInput,
             authActionSource: process.env.BROWSER
               ? logInActionSources.keyserverAuthFromWeb
               : logInActionSources.keyserverAuthFromNative,
             keyserverData: {
               [keyserverID]: {
                 initialContentEncryptedMessage: contentSession,
                 initialNotificationsEncryptedMessage: notifsSession,
               },
             },
           }),
         );
       } catch (e) {
         if (cancelled) {
           return;
         }
 
         console.log(
           `Error while authenticating to keyserver with id ${keyserverID}`,
           e,
         );
 
-        if (!dataLoaded && keyserverID === authoritativeKeyserverID()) {
+        if (
+          !dataLoaded &&
+          keyserverID === authoritativeKeyserverID() &&
+          relyingOnAuthoritativeKeyserver
+        ) {
           await dispatchActionPromise(logOutActionTypes, callLogOut());
         }
       } finally {
         if (!cancelled) {
           await sleep(AUTH_RETRY_DELAY_MS);
           setAuthInProgress(false);
         }
       }
     })();
     return [promise, cancel];
   }, [
     calendarQuery,
     callLogOut,
     cookie,
     dataLoaded,
     deviceToken,
     dispatchActionPromise,
     getAuthMetadata,
     identityClient,
     keyserverAuth,
     keyserverID,
     olmSessionCreator,
   ]);
 
   const activeSessionRecovery = useSelector(
     state =>
       state.keyserverStore.keyserverInfos[keyserverID]?.connection
         .activeSessionRecovery,
   );
 
   // This async function asks the keyserver for its keys, whereas performAuth
   // above gets the keyserver's keys from the identity service
   const getInitialNotificationsEncryptedMessageForRecovery =
     useInitialNotificationsEncryptedMessage(keyserverID);
 
   const { resolveKeyserverSessionInvalidationUsingNativeCredentials } =
     getConfig();
   const innerPerformRecovery = React.useCallback(
     (
       recoveryActionSource: RecoveryActionSource,
       hasBeenCancelled: () => boolean,
     ) =>
       async (
         callSingleKeyserverEndpoint: CallSingleKeyserverEndpoint,
         callKeyserverEndpoint: CallKeyserverEndpoint,
       ) => {
         if (!resolveKeyserverSessionInvalidationUsingNativeCredentials) {
           return;
         }
         await resolveKeyserverSessionInvalidationUsingNativeCredentials(
           callSingleKeyserverEndpoint,
           callKeyserverEndpoint,
           dispatchActionPromise,
           recoveryActionSource,
           keyserverID,
           getInitialNotificationsEncryptedMessageForRecovery,
           hasBeenCancelled,
         );
       },
     [
       resolveKeyserverSessionInvalidationUsingNativeCredentials,
       dispatchActionPromise,
       keyserverID,
       getInitialNotificationsEncryptedMessageForRecovery,
     ],
   );
 
   const keyserverRecoveryLogIn = useKeyserverRecoveryLogIn(keyserverID);
   const performRecovery = React.useCallback(
     (recoveryActionSource: RecoveryActionSource) => {
       setAuthInProgress(true);
 
       let cancelled = false;
       const cancel = () => {
         cancelled = true;
         setAuthInProgress(false);
       };
       const hasBeenCancelled = () => cancelled;
 
       const promise = (async () => {
         try {
           await keyserverRecoveryLogIn(
             recoveryActionSource,
             innerPerformRecovery(recoveryActionSource, hasBeenCancelled),
             hasBeenCancelled,
           );
         } finally {
           if (!cancelled) {
             setAuthInProgress(false);
           }
         }
       })();
 
       return [promise, cancel];
     },
     [keyserverRecoveryLogIn, innerPerformRecovery],
   );
 
   const cancelPendingAuth = React.useRef<?() => void>(null);
   const prevPerformAuth = React.useRef(performAuth);
   const isUserAuthenticated = useSelector(isLoggedInToKeyserver(keyserverID));
   const hasAccessToken = useSelector(state => !!state.commServicesAccessToken);
 
   const cancelPendingRecovery = React.useRef<?() => void>(null);
   const prevPerformRecovery = React.useRef(performRecovery);
 
   React.useEffect(() => {
     if (activeSessionRecovery && isUserAuthenticated) {
       cancelPendingAuth.current?.();
       cancelPendingAuth.current = null;
 
       if (prevPerformRecovery.current !== performRecovery) {
         cancelPendingRecovery.current?.();
         cancelPendingRecovery.current = null;
         prevPerformRecovery.current = performRecovery;
       }
 
       if (!authInProgress) {
         const [, cancel] = performRecovery(activeSessionRecovery);
         cancelPendingRecovery.current = cancel;
       }
 
       return;
     }
 
     cancelPendingRecovery.current?.();
     cancelPendingRecovery.current = null;
 
     if (!hasAccessToken) {
       cancelPendingAuth.current?.();
       cancelPendingAuth.current = null;
     }
 
     if (
       !usingCommServicesAccessToken ||
       isUserAuthenticated ||
       !hasAccessToken
     ) {
       return;
     }
 
     if (prevPerformAuth.current !== performAuth) {
       cancelPendingAuth.current?.();
       cancelPendingAuth.current = null;
     }
     prevPerformAuth.current = performAuth;
 
     if (authInProgress) {
       return;
     }
 
     const [, cancel] = performAuth();
     cancelPendingAuth.current = cancel;
   }, [
     activeSessionRecovery,
     authInProgress,
     performRecovery,
     hasAccessToken,
     isUserAuthenticated,
     performAuth,
   ]);
 
   return <Socket {...socketProps} />;
 }
 
 const Handler: React.ComponentType<Props> = React.memo<Props>(
   KeyserverConnectionHandler,
 );
 
 export default Handler;
diff --git a/lib/utils/services-utils.js b/lib/utils/services-utils.js
index 57b858d3b..98359009d 100644
--- a/lib/utils/services-utils.js
+++ b/lib/utils/services-utils.js
@@ -1,38 +1,46 @@
 // @flow
 
 import base64 from 'base-64';
 
 import type { AuthMetadata } from '../shared/identity-client-context.js';
 
+// If this is true then we're using the identity service for auth. After we
+// auth, the identity service gives us a CSAT, which we can use to auth with
+// other Comm services.
 const usingCommServicesAccessToken = false;
 
+// If this is false, then the app no longer needs to rely on being connected to
+// an authoritative keyserver for things like DMs.
+const relyingOnAuthoritativeKeyserver = true;
+
 function handleHTTPResponseError(response: Response): void {
   if (!response.ok) {
     const { status, statusText } = response;
     throw new Error(`Server responded with HTTP ${status}: ${statusText}`);
   }
 }
 
 function createHTTPAuthorizationHeader(authMetadata: AuthMetadata): string {
   // explicit destructure to make it future-proof
   const { userID, deviceID, accessToken } = authMetadata;
   const payload = JSON.stringify({ userID, deviceID, accessToken });
   const base64EncodedPayload = base64.encode(payload);
   return `Bearer ${base64EncodedPayload}`;
 }
 
 function createDefaultHTTPRequestHeaders(authMetadata: AuthMetadata): {
   [string]: string,
 } {
   const authorization = createHTTPAuthorizationHeader(authMetadata);
   return {
     Authorization: authorization,
   };
 }
 
 export {
   handleHTTPResponseError,
   usingCommServicesAccessToken,
+  relyingOnAuthoritativeKeyserver,
   createHTTPAuthorizationHeader,
   createDefaultHTTPRequestHeaders,
 };