diff --git a/src/components/status/status.js b/src/components/status/status.js
index 4e4447f24..77170a1c4 100644
--- a/src/components/status/status.js
+++ b/src/components/status/status.js
@@ -266,7 +266,7 @@ const Status = {
     },
     muteFilterHits() {
       return muteFilterHits(
-        Object.values(useSyncConfigStore().prefsStorage.simple.muteFilters),
+        Object.values(useSyncConfigStore().prefsStorage.simple.muteFilters || {}),
         this.status,
       )
     },
diff --git a/src/modules/default_config_state.js b/src/modules/default_config_state.js
index 61743c426..e53a9f64b 100644
--- a/src/modules/default_config_state.js
+++ b/src/modules/default_config_state.js
@@ -635,7 +635,7 @@ export const LOCAL_DEFAULT_CONFIG_DEFINITIONS = {
   },
   imageCompression: {
     description: 'Image compression (WebP/JPEG)',
-    default: false,
+    default: true,
   },
   alwaysUseJpeg: {
     description: 'Compress images using JPEG only',
diff --git a/src/stores/sync_config.js b/src/stores/sync_config.js
index 1caa2b030..3010fc738 100644
--- a/src/stores/sync_config.js
+++ b/src/stores/sync_config.js
@@ -796,11 +796,12 @@ export const useSyncConfigStore = defineStore('sync_config', {
     afterLoad(state) {
       console.debug('Validating persisted state of SyncConfig')
       const newState = { ...state }
+      newState.prefsStorage = newState.prefsStorage || {}
       const newEntries = Object.entries(ROOT_CONFIG).map(([path, value]) => {
         const definition = ROOT_CONFIG_DEFINITIONS[path]
         const finalValue = validateSetting({
           path,
-          value: newState.prefsStorage.simple[path],
+          value: newState.prefsStorage.simple?.[path],
           definition,
           throwError: false,
           validateObjects: false,