diff --git a/js/portalHelper/main.js b/js/portalHelper/main.js
index 25f866281..a221c3b88 100644
--- a/js/portalHelper/main.js
+++ b/js/portalHelper/main.js
@@ -4,10 +4,17 @@ imports.gi.versions.Soup = '2.4';
 
 const Format = imports.format;
 const Gettext = imports.gettext;
-const { Gio, GLib, GObject, Gtk, Pango, Soup, WebKit2: WebKit } = imports.gi;
+const { Gio, GLib, GObject, Gtk, Pango, Soup } = imports.gi;
 
 const _ = Gettext.gettext;
 
+let WebKit;
+try {
+    WebKit = imports.gi.WebKit2;
+} catch {
+    WebKit = null;
+}
+
 const Config = imports.misc.config;
 const { loadInterfaceXML } = imports.misc.fileUtils;
 
@@ -346,6 +353,11 @@ function initEnvironment() {
 function main(argv) {
     initEnvironment();
 
+    if (!WebKit) {
+        log('WebKit2 typelib is not installed, captive portal helper will be disabled');
+        return 1;
+    }
+
     if (!WebKit.WebContext.new_ephemeral) {
         log('WebKitGTK 2.16 is required for the portal-helper, see https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=780453');
         return 1;
diff --git a/js/ui/status/network.js b/js/ui/status/network.js
index 01c83c86b..8c5bd8dcb 100644
--- a/js/ui/status/network.js
+++ b/js/ui/status/network.js
@@ -2070,7 +2070,9 @@ class Indicator extends PanelMenu.SystemIndicator {
             new PortalHelperProxy(Gio.DBus.session, 'org.gnome.Shell.PortalHelper',
                                   '/org/gnome/Shell/PortalHelper', (proxy, error) => {
                                       if (error) {
-                                          log('Error launching the portal helper: %s'.format(error));
+                                          // Timeout is expected if WebKit is unavailable
+                                          if (!error.matches(Gio.IOErrorEnum, Gio.IOErrorEnum.TIMED_OUT))
+                                              log('Error launching the portal helper: ' + error);
                                           return;
                                       }