diff --git a/src/accounts.rs b/src/accounts.rs
index b3a72599be..14b255e622 100644
--- a/src/accounts.rs
+++ b/src/accounts.rs
@@ -663,7 +663,7 @@ impl Config {
     }
 }
 
-/// Spend up to 1 minute trying to do the operation.
+/// Try the operation 5 times, waiting 1 second between retries.
 ///
 /// Even if Delta Chat itself does not hold the file lock,
 /// there may be other processes such as antivirus,
@@ -681,7 +681,7 @@ where
         counter += 1;
 
         if let Err(err) = f().await {
-            if counter > 60 {
+            if counter >= 5 {
                 return Err(err);
             }