diff --git a/securedrop_client/gui/widgets.py b/securedrop_client/gui/widgets.py
index 3cf1b06a63..659c45068b 100644
--- a/securedrop_client/gui/widgets.py
+++ b/securedrop_client/gui/widgets.py
@@ -230,7 +230,7 @@ def setup(self, controller):
         self.controller.sync_events.connect(self._on_refresh_complete)
 
     def _on_clicked(self):
-        self.controller.sync_api()
+        self.controller.sync_api(manual_retry=True)
         # This is a temporary solution for showing the icon as active for the entire duration of a
         # refresh, rather than for just the duration of a click. The icon image will be replaced
         # when the controller tells us the refresh has finished. A cleaner solution would be to
diff --git a/securedrop_client/logic.py b/securedrop_client/logic.py
index b6dd34491f..5d2b3916fc 100644
--- a/securedrop_client/logic.py
+++ b/securedrop_client/logic.py
@@ -305,10 +305,12 @@ def completed_api_call(self, thread_id, user_callback):
 
     def login(self, username, password, totp):
         """
-        Given a username, password and time based one-time-passcode (TOTP),
-        create a new instance representing the SecureDrop api and authenticate.
+        Given a username, password and time based one-time-passcode (TOTP), create a new instance
+        representing the SecureDrop api and authenticate.
 
-        Default to 60 seconds until we implement a better request timeout strategy.
+        Default to 60 seconds until we implement a better request timeout strategy. We lower the
+        default_request_timeout for Queue API requests in ApiJobQueue in order to display errors
+        faster.
         """
         storage.mark_all_pending_drafts_as_failed(self.session)
         self.api = sdclientapi.API(
@@ -377,7 +379,7 @@ def authenticated(self):
         """
         return bool(self.api and self.api.token is not None)
 
-    def sync_api(self):
+    def sync_api(self, manual_retry: bool = False):
         """
         Grab data from the remote SecureDrop API in a non-blocking manner.
         """
@@ -386,7 +388,13 @@ def sync_api(self):
 
         if self.authenticated():
             logger.debug("You are authenticated, going to make your call")
-            self.call_api(storage.get_remote_data,
+            if manual_retry:
+                self.call_api(storage.get_remote_data,
+                          self.on_sync_success,
+                          self.on_refresh_failure,
+                          self.api)
+            else:
+                self.call_api(storage.get_remote_data,
                           self.on_sync_success,
                           self.on_sync_failure,
                           self.api)
@@ -443,8 +451,17 @@ def on_sync_success(self, result) -> None:
 
     def on_sync_failure(self, result: Exception) -> None:
         """
-        Called when syncronisation of data via the API fails.
+        Called when syncronisation of data via the API fails. Just log and try again since this is
+        a background task.
+        """
+        logger.debug('The SecureDrop server cannot be reached due to Error: {}'.format(result))
+        self.sync_api()
+
+    def on_refresh_failure(self, result: Exception) -> None:
+        """
+        Called when syncronisation of data via the API fails after a user manual clicks refresh.
         """
+        logger.debug('The SecureDrop server cannot be reached due to Error: {}'.format(result))
         self.gui.update_error_status(
             _('The SecureDrop server cannot be reached.'),
             duration=0,
diff --git a/securedrop_client/queue.py b/securedrop_client/queue.py
index 58aec7f2aa..861a06f76c 100644
--- a/securedrop_client/queue.py
+++ b/securedrop_client/queue.py
@@ -158,6 +158,16 @@ def logout(self) -> None:
 
     def login(self, api_client: API) -> None:
         logger.debug('Passing API token to queues')
+
+        # Setting realistic (shorter) timeout for general requests so that user feedback is faster.
+        # General requests includes:
+        #       FileDownloadJob
+        #       MessageDownloadJob
+        #       ReplyDownloadJo
+        #       SendReplyJob
+        #       UpdateStarJob
+        api_client.default_request_timeout = 5
+
         self.main_queue.api_client = api_client
         self.download_file_queue.api_client = api_client
         self.start_queues()