diff --git a/src/app/helpers.coffee b/src/app/helpers.coffee
index c3118253ce..89495d4570 100644
--- a/src/app/helpers.coffee
+++ b/src/app/helpers.coffee
@@ -183,7 +183,7 @@ viewHelpers = (view) ->
 
   view.fn 'newChatMessages', (messages, lastMessageSeen) ->
     return false unless messages?.length > 0
-    messages && messages[0].id != lastMessageSeen
+    messages?[0] and (messages[0].id != lastMessageSeen)
 
   view.fn 'indexOf', (str1, str2) ->
     return false unless str1 && str2