diff --git a/.github/workflows/desktop-linux.yml b/.github/workflows/desktop-linux.yml
index fa1f7df16d..d794a0c07a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/desktop-linux.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/desktop-linux.yml
@@ -205,7 +205,7 @@ jobs:
           dpkg-query -W xvfb xdotool openbox imagemagick tesseract-ocr
 
       - name: Run smoke test
-        run: scripts/ci/desktop-linux/smoke-test.sh "$RUNNER_TEMP/release/app/opt/simplex" "$RUNNER_TEMP/smoke-test"
+        run: scripts/ci/desktop-linux/smoke-test.sh "$RUNNER_TEMP/release/app/opt/simplex" "$RUNNER_TEMP/smoke-test" onboarding
 
       - name: Upload smoke test results
         if: ${{ !cancelled() }}
diff --git a/scripts/ci/desktop-linux/smoke-test.sh b/scripts/ci/desktop-linux/smoke-test.sh
index cee0a871f3..1708958ca8 100755
--- a/scripts/ci/desktop-linux/smoke-test.sh
+++ b/scripts/ci/desktop-linux/smoke-test.sh
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
 # Starts the desktop app on a virtual display and runs the scripted UI cases with the ui helper:
-# onboarding to the chat list, and typing in the chat list search field.
-# Usage: scripts/ci/desktop-linux/smoke-test.sh <app dir> <output dir>
+# onboarding to the chat list, and typing in the chat list search field, which offers the directory.
+# Usage: scripts/ci/desktop-linux/smoke-test.sh <app dir> <output dir> [onboarding]
+# With "onboarding" it stops at the chat list: releases before directory search show no search field without chats.
 # Each step saves a numbered screenshot and the text read from it to the output dir, prints the text to the log,
 # and adds a line to steps.log there. The app keeps running for later steps of the job, which get UI_OUT.
 
@@ -10,6 +11,7 @@ set -euo pipefail
 
 app_dir=$1
 export UI_OUT=$2
+cases=${3:-all}
 search_text="ci smoke"
 ui=$(dirname "$0")/ui
 mkdir -p "$UI_OUT"
@@ -56,18 +58,18 @@ trap finish EXIT
 "$ui" shot network-commitments
 "$ui" click-text "Accept"
 
-"$ui" wait "Search or paste SimpleX link" 60
+"$ui" wait "Talk to someone" 60
 sleep 3
 "$ui" shot chat-list
+if [ "$cases" = onboarding ]; then
+  echo "smoke test passed: onboarding reached the chat list"
+  exit 0
+fi
 
+# typed text that is not a SimpleX link offers the directory
 "$ui" click-text "Search or paste SimpleX link"
 "$ui" type "$search_text"
 "$ui" wait "$search_text" 15
-# builds with directory search offer it for typed text that is not a SimpleX link; releases before it don't
-if "$ui" wait "Search in Directory" 10; then
-  directory_row=shown
-else
-  directory_row="not shown"
-fi
+"$ui" wait "Search in Directory" 15
 "$ui" shot search-typed
-echo "smoke test passed: onboarding reached the chat list, its search field shows \"$search_text\", and the \"Search in Directory\" row is $directory_row"
+echo "smoke test passed: onboarding reached the chat list, and its search field shows \"$search_text\" and the \"Search in Directory\" row"