diff --git a/lib/crypto/index.js b/lib/crypto/index.js
index 9bfeb3b23..035c81d22 100644
--- a/lib/crypto/index.js
+++ b/lib/crypto/index.js
@@ -55,8 +55,8 @@ function Crypto(baseApis, eventEmitter, sessionStore, userId, deviceId) {
     this._deviceId = deviceId;
 
     this._initialSyncCompleted = false;
-    // userId -> deviceId -> true
-    this._pendingNewDevices = {};
+    // userId -> true
+    this._pendingUsersWithNewDevices = {};
 
     this._olmDevice = new OlmDevice(sessionStore);
 
@@ -77,20 +77,31 @@ function Crypto(baseApis, eventEmitter, sessionStore, userId, deviceId) {
     this._deviceKeys["curve25519:" + this._deviceId] =
         this._olmDevice.deviceCurve25519Key;
 
-    // add our own deviceinfo to the sessionstore
-    var deviceInfo = {
-        keys: this._deviceKeys,
-        algorithms: this._supportedAlgorithms,
-        verified: DeviceVerification.VERIFIED,
-    };
     var myDevices = this._sessionStore.getEndToEndDevicesForUser(
         this._userId
-    ) || {};
-    myDevices[this._deviceId] = deviceInfo;
-    this._sessionStore.storeEndToEndDevicesForUser(
-        this._userId, myDevices
     );
 
+    if (!myDevices) {
+        // we don't yet have a list of our own devices; make sure we
+        // get one when we flush the pendingUsersWithNewDevices.
+        this._pendingUsersWithNewDevices[this._userId] = true;
+        myDevices = {};
+    }
+
+    if (!myDevices[this._deviceId]) {
+        // add our own deviceinfo to the sessionstore
+        var deviceInfo = {
+            keys: this._deviceKeys,
+            algorithms: this._supportedAlgorithms,
+            verified: DeviceVerification.VERIFIED,
+        };
+
+        myDevices[this._deviceId] = deviceInfo;
+        this._sessionStore.storeEndToEndDevicesForUser(
+            this._userId, myDevices
+        );
+    }
+
     _registerEventHandlers(this, eventEmitter);
 
     // map from userId -> deviceId -> roomId -> timestamp
@@ -1134,8 +1145,7 @@ Crypto.prototype._onNewDeviceEvent = function(event) {
         return;
     }
 
-    this._pendingNewDevices[userId] = this._pendingNewDevices[userId] || {};
-    this._pendingNewDevices[userId][deviceId] = true;
+    this._pendingUsersWithNewDevices[userId] = true;
 
     // we delay handling these until the intialsync has completed, so that we
     // can do all of them together.
@@ -1150,10 +1160,7 @@ Crypto.prototype._onNewDeviceEvent = function(event) {
 Crypto.prototype._flushNewDeviceRequests = function() {
     var self = this;
 
-    var pending = this._pendingNewDevices;
-    var users = utils.keys(pending).filter(function(u) {
-        return utils.keys(pending[u]).length > 0;
-    });
+    var users = utils.keys(this._pendingUsersWithNewDevices);
 
     if (users.length === 0) {
         return;
@@ -1163,7 +1170,7 @@ Crypto.prototype._flushNewDeviceRequests = function() {
 
     // we've kicked off requests to these users: remove their
     // pending flag for now.
-    this._pendingNewDevices = {};
+    this._pendingUsersWithNewDevices = {};
 
     users.map(function(u) {
         r[u] = r[u].catch(function(e) {
@@ -1175,8 +1182,7 @@ Crypto.prototype._flushNewDeviceRequests = function() {
             // mean that we will do another download in the future, but won't
             // tight-loop.
             //
-            self._pendingNewDevices[u] = self._pendingNewDevices[u] || {};
-            utils.update(self._pendingNewDevices[u], pending[u]);
+            self._pendingUsersWithNewDevices[u] = true;
         });
     });
 
diff --git a/spec/integ/matrix-client-crypto.spec.js b/spec/integ/matrix-client-crypto.spec.js
index b563a08c8..9d7cbbd5e 100644
--- a/spec/integ/matrix-client-crypto.spec.js
+++ b/spec/integ/matrix-client-crypto.spec.js
@@ -383,6 +383,15 @@ function recvMessage(httpBackend, client, sender, message) {
 
 function aliStartClient() {
     expectAliKeyUpload().catch(test_utils.failTest);
+
+    // ali will try to query her own keys on start
+    aliHttpBackend.when("POST", "/keys/query").respond(200, function(path, content) {
+        expect(content.device_keys[aliUserId]).toEqual({});
+        var result = {};
+        result[aliUserId] = {};
+        return {device_keys: result};
+    });
+
     startClient(aliHttpBackend, aliClient);
     return aliHttpBackend.flush().then(function() {
         console.log("Ali client started");
@@ -391,6 +400,15 @@ function aliStartClient() {
 
 function bobStartClient() {
     expectBobKeyUpload().catch(test_utils.failTest);
+
+    // bob will try to query his own keys on start
+    bobHttpBackend.when("POST", "/keys/query").respond(200, function(path, content) {
+        expect(content.device_keys[bobUserId]).toEqual({});
+        var result = {};
+        result[bobUserId] = {};
+        return {device_keys: result};
+    });
+
     startClient(bobHttpBackend, bobClient);
     return bobHttpBackend.flush().then(function() {
         console.log("Bob client started");
diff --git a/spec/integ/megolm.spec.js b/spec/integ/megolm.spec.js
index 086180fe7..5a8fa5d38 100644
--- a/spec/integ/megolm.spec.js
+++ b/spec/integ/megolm.spec.js
@@ -59,12 +59,25 @@ function TestClient(userId, deviceId, accessToken) {
 /**
  * start the client, and wait for it to initialise.
  *
+ * @param {object?} deviceQueryResponse  the list of our existing devices to return from
+ *    the /query request. Defaults to empty device list
  * @return {Promise}
  */
-TestClient.prototype.start = function() {
+TestClient.prototype.start = function(existingDevices) {
     var self = this;
+
     this.httpBackend.when("GET", "/pushrules").respond(200, {});
     this.httpBackend.when("POST", "/filter").respond(200, { filter_id: "fid" });
+
+    this.httpBackend.when('POST', '/keys/query').respond(200, function(path, content) {
+        expect(content.device_keys[self.userId]).toEqual({});
+        var res = existingDevices;
+        if (!res) {
+            res = { device_keys: {} };
+            res.device_keys[self.userId] = {};
+        }
+        return res;
+    });
     this.httpBackend.when("POST", "/keys/upload").respond(200, function(path, content) {
         expect(content.one_time_keys).not.toBeDefined();
         expect(content.device_keys).toBeDefined();