diff --git a/js/portalHelper/main.js b/js/portalHelper/main.js
index 7000089fa..d9a768a3f 100644
--- a/js/portalHelper/main.js
+++ b/js/portalHelper/main.js
@@ -3,7 +3,13 @@ import Gio from 'gi://Gio';
 import GLib from 'gi://GLib';
 import GObject from 'gi://GObject';
 import Gtk from 'gi://Gtk?version=4.0';
-import WebKit from 'gi://WebKit?version=6.0';
+
+let WebKit;
+try {
+    WebKit = (await import('gi://WebKit?version=6.0')).default;
+} catch {
+    WebKit = null;
+}
 
 import * as Gettext from 'gettext';
 import {programInvocationName, programArgs} from 'system';
@@ -365,5 +371,9 @@ class WebPortalHelper extends Adw.Application {
 Gettext.bindtextdomain(Config.GETTEXT_PACKAGE, Config.LOCALEDIR);
 Gettext.textdomain(Config.GETTEXT_PACKAGE);
 
-const app = new WebPortalHelper();
-await app.runAsync([programInvocationName, ...programArgs]);
+if (WebKit) {
+    const app = new WebPortalHelper();
+    await app.runAsync([programInvocationName, ...programArgs]);
+} else {
+    log('WebKit typelib is not installed, captive portal helper will be disabled');
+}
diff --git a/js/ui/status/network.js b/js/ui/status/network.js
index 322d7d91a..afca42e31 100644
--- a/js/ui/status/network.js
+++ b/js/ui/status/network.js
@@ -2147,7 +2147,9 @@ class Indicator extends SystemIndicator {
                 await this._portalHelperProxy.init_async(
                     GLib.PRIORITY_DEFAULT, null);
             } catch (e) {
-                console.error(`Error launching the portal helper: ${e.message}`);
+                // Timeout is expected if WebKit is unavailable
+                if (!error.matches(Gio.IOErrorEnum, Gio.IOErrorEnum.TIMED_OUT))
+                    console.error(`Error launching the portal helper: ${e.message}`);
             }
         }