diff --git a/public/src/modules/chat.js b/public/src/modules/chat.js
index 8922e90df4..30c7e163e5 100644
--- a/public/src/modules/chat.js
+++ b/public/src/modules/chat.js
@@ -295,7 +295,7 @@ define('chat', ['taskbar', 'string', 'sounds', 'forum/chats'], function(taskbar,
 	};
 
 	function getChatMessages(chatModal, callback) {
-		socket.emit('modules.chats.get', {touid: chatModal.attr('touid'), since: 'day'}, function(err, messages) {
+		socket.emit('modules.chats.get', {touid: chatModal.attr('touid'), since: 'recent'}, function(err, messages) {
 			module.appendChatMessage(chatModal, messages, callback);
 		});
 	}
diff --git a/src/controllers/accounts.js b/src/controllers/accounts.js
index f211027412..867b208989 100644
--- a/src/controllers/accounts.js
+++ b/src/controllers/accounts.js
@@ -553,7 +553,7 @@ accountsController.getChats = function(req, res, next) {
 			function(toUid, next) {
 				async.parallel({
 					toUser: async.apply(user.getUserFields, toUid, ['uid', 'username']),
-					messages: async.apply(messaging.getMessages, req.user.uid, toUid, 'day', false)
+					messages: async.apply(messaging.getMessages, req.user.uid, toUid, 'recent', false)
 				}, next);
 			}
 		], function(err, data) {
diff --git a/src/messaging.js b/src/messaging.js
index c696ceaeb1..e7ccbeabdc 100644
--- a/src/messaging.js
+++ b/src/messaging.js
@@ -16,6 +16,13 @@ var db = require('./database'),
 (function(Messaging) {
 	Messaging.notifyQueue = {};	// Only used to notify a user of a new chat message, see Messaging.notifyUser
 
+	var terms = {
+		day: 86400000,
+		week: 604800000,
+		month: 2592000000,
+		threemonths: 7776000000
+	};
+
 	function sortUids(fromuid, touid) {
 		return [fromuid, touid].sort();
 	}
@@ -80,15 +87,14 @@ var db = require('./database'),
 	Messaging.getMessages = function(fromuid, touid, since, isNew, callback) {
 		var uids = sortUids(fromuid, touid);
 
-		var terms = {
-			day: 86400000,
-			week: 604800000,
-			month: 2592000000,
-			threemonths: 7776000000
-		};
-		since = terms[since] || terms.day;
 		var count = parseInt(meta.config.chatMessageInboxSize, 10) || 250;
-		db.getSortedSetRevRangeByScore('messages:uid:' + uids[0] + ':to:' + uids[1], 0, count, Infinity, Date.now() - since, function(err, mids) {
+		var min = Date.now() - (terms[since] || terms.day);
+		if (since === 'recent') {
+			count = 49;
+			min = 0;
+		}
+
+		db.getSortedSetRevRangeByScore('messages:uid:' + uids[0] + ':to:' + uids[1], 0, count, Infinity, min, function(err, mids) {
 			if (err) {
 				return callback(err);
 			}