diff --git a/src/matrix/room/Room.js b/src/matrix/room/Room.js
index 40173c3c..369836ee 100644
--- a/src/matrix/room/Room.js
+++ b/src/matrix/room/Room.js
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ export class Room extends EventEmitter {
             // _decryptEntries entries and could even know which events have been decrypted for the first
             // time from DecryptionChanges.write and only pass those to the summary. As timeline changes
             // are not essential to the room summary, it's fine to write this in a separate txn for now.
-            const changes = this._summary.data.applyTimelineEntries(retryEntries, false, this._isTimelineOpen);
+            const changes = this._summary.data.applyTimelineEntries(retryEntries, false, false);
             if (await this._summary.writeAndApplyData(changes, this._storage)) {
                 this._emitUpdate();
             }
@@ -218,7 +218,7 @@ export class Room extends EventEmitter {
         }
         // also apply (decrypted) timeline entries to the summary changes
         summaryChanges = summaryChanges.applyTimelineEntries(
-            entries, isInitialSync, this._isTimelineOpen, this._user.id);
+            entries, isInitialSync, !this._isTimelineOpen, this._user.id);
         // write summary changes, and unset if nothing was actually changed
         summaryChanges = this._summary.writeData(summaryChanges, txn);
         // fetch new members while we have txn open,
diff --git a/src/matrix/room/RoomSummary.js b/src/matrix/room/RoomSummary.js
index b4826fa3..c708ee91 100644
--- a/src/matrix/room/RoomSummary.js
+++ b/src/matrix/room/RoomSummary.js
@@ -17,11 +17,11 @@ limitations under the License.
 import {MEGOLM_ALGORITHM} from "../e2ee/common.js";
 
 
-function applyTimelineEntries(data, timelineEntries, isInitialSync, isTimelineOpen, ownUserId) {
+function applyTimelineEntries(data, timelineEntries, isInitialSync, canMarkUnread, ownUserId) {
     if (timelineEntries.length) {
         data = timelineEntries.reduce((data, entry) => {
             return processTimelineEvent(data, entry,
-                isInitialSync, isTimelineOpen, ownUserId);
+                isInitialSync, canMarkUnread, ownUserId);
         }, data);
     }
     return data;
@@ -105,13 +105,13 @@ function processStateEvent(data, event) {
     return data;
 }
 
-function processTimelineEvent(data, eventEntry, isInitialSync, isTimelineOpen, ownUserId) {
+function processTimelineEvent(data, eventEntry, isInitialSync, canMarkUnread, ownUserId) {
     if (eventEntry.eventType === "m.room.message") {
         if (!data.lastMessageTimestamp || eventEntry.timestamp > data.lastMessageTimestamp) {
             data = data.cloneIfNeeded();
             data.lastMessageTimestamp = eventEntry.timestamp;
         }
-        if (!isInitialSync && eventEntry.sender !== ownUserId && !isTimelineOpen) {
+        if (!isInitialSync && eventEntry.sender !== ownUserId && canMarkUnread) {
             data = data.cloneIfNeeded();
             data.isUnread = true;
         }
@@ -208,8 +208,8 @@ class SummaryData {
         return serializedProps;
     }
 
-    applyTimelineEntries(timelineEntries, isInitialSync, isTimelineOpen, ownUserId) {
-        return applyTimelineEntries(this, timelineEntries, isInitialSync, isTimelineOpen, ownUserId);
+    applyTimelineEntries(timelineEntries, isInitialSync, canMarkUnread, ownUserId) {
+        return applyTimelineEntries(this, timelineEntries, isInitialSync, canMarkUnread, ownUserId);
     }
 
     applySyncResponse(roomResponse, membership) {