diff --git a/crates/matrix-sdk-sqlite/src/event_cache_store.rs b/crates/matrix-sdk-sqlite/src/event_cache_store.rs
index 88cdd18ec..854c7b206 100644
--- a/crates/matrix-sdk-sqlite/src/event_cache_store.rs
+++ b/crates/matrix-sdk-sqlite/src/event_cache_store.rs
@@ -178,6 +178,15 @@ impl SqliteEventCacheStore {
     async fn acquire(&self) -> Result<SqliteAsyncConn> {
         let connection = self.pool.get().await?;
 
+        // Specify a busy timeout so that operations are automatically retried, in case
+        // the database was marked as locked, which can happen under very
+        // peculiar circumstances in WAL mode.
+        //
+        // The timeout value is in milliseconds.
+        //
+        // See also https://www.sqlite.org/wal.html#sometimes_queries_return_sqlite_busy_in_wal_mode.
+        connection.execute_batch("PRAGMA busy_timeout = 2000;").await?;
+
         // Per https://www.sqlite.org/foreignkeys.html#fk_enable, foreign key
         // support must be enabled on a per-connection basis. Execute it every
         // time we try to get a connection, since we can't guarantee a previous