diff --git a/apps/studio/components/interfaces/Realtime/Inspector/RealtimeFilterPopover/index.tsx b/apps/studio/components/interfaces/Realtime/Inspector/RealtimeFilterPopover/index.tsx
index 1e5ac85c025..e001132c535 100644
--- a/apps/studio/components/interfaces/Realtime/Inspector/RealtimeFilterPopover/index.tsx
+++ b/apps/studio/components/interfaces/Realtime/Inspector/RealtimeFilterPopover/index.tsx
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { PlusCircle } from 'lucide-react'
 import Link from 'next/link'
-import { Dispatch, SetStateAction, useState } from 'react'
+import { Dispatch, SetStateAction, useState, useEffect } from 'react'
 
 import { useParams } from 'common'
 import { useSendEventMutation } from 'data/telemetry/send-event-mutation'
@@ -38,6 +38,11 @@ export const RealtimeFilterPopover = ({ config, onChangeConfig }: RealtimeFilter
   const { data: org } = useSelectedOrganizationQuery()
   const { mutate: sendEvent } = useSendEventMutation()
 
+  // Update tempConfig when config changes to ensure consistency
+  useEffect(() => {
+    setTempConfig(config)
+  }, [config])
+
   const onOpen = (v: boolean) => {
     // when opening, copy the outside config into the intermediate one
     if (v === true) {
@@ -127,9 +132,15 @@ export const RealtimeFilterPopover = ({ config, onChangeConfig }: RealtimeFilter
               <div className="flex gap-2.5 items-center">
                 <IconDatabaseChanges
                   size="xlarge"
-                  className="bg-foreground rounded text-background-muted"
+                  className={cn(
+                    'rounded text-background-muted',
+                    config.enableDbChanges ? 'bg-foreground' : 'bg-foreground-lighter'
+                  )}
                 />
-                <label htmlFor="toggle-db-changes" className="text-sm">
+                <label
+                  htmlFor="toggle-db-changes"
+                  className={cn('text-sm', !config.enableDbChanges && 'text-foreground-lighter')}
+                >
                   Database changes
                 </label>
               </div>
@@ -137,17 +148,20 @@ export const RealtimeFilterPopover = ({ config, onChangeConfig }: RealtimeFilter
                 id="toggle-db-changes"
                 size="tiny"
                 checked={tempConfig.enableDbChanges}
+                disabled={!config.enableDbChanges}
                 onChange={() =>
                   setTempConfig({ ...tempConfig, enableDbChanges: !tempConfig.enableDbChanges })
                 }
               />
             </div>
             <p className="text-xs text-foreground-light pt-1">
-              Listen for Database inserts, updates, deletes and more
+              {config.enableDbChanges
+                ? 'Listen for Database inserts, updates, deletes and more'
+                : 'Enable realtime publications to listen for database changes'}
             </p>
           </div>
 
-          {tempConfig.enableDbChanges && (
+          {tempConfig.enableDbChanges && config.enableDbChanges && (
             <>
               <div className="border-b border-overlay text-xs px-4 py-3 text-foreground">
                 Filter messages from database changes
diff --git a/apps/studio/components/interfaces/Realtime/Inspector/index.tsx b/apps/studio/components/interfaces/Realtime/Inspector/index.tsx
index 116ce210093..098da67887c 100644
--- a/apps/studio/components/interfaces/Realtime/Inspector/index.tsx
+++ b/apps/studio/components/interfaces/Realtime/Inspector/index.tsx
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 import { useParams } from 'common'
 import { useState, useEffect } from 'react'
-import { motion } from 'framer-motion'
-import { MousePointer2 } from 'lucide-react'
 
 import { useSendEventMutation } from 'data/telemetry/send-event-mutation'
+import { useDatabasePublicationsQuery } from 'data/database-publications/database-publications-query'
 import { useSelectedOrganizationQuery } from 'hooks/misc/useSelectedOrganization'
+import { useSelectedProjectQuery } from 'hooks/misc/useSelectedProject'
 import { Header } from './Header'
 import MessagesTable from './MessagesTable'
 import { SendMessageModal } from './SendMessageModal'
@@ -17,6 +17,19 @@ import { EmptyRealtime } from './EmptyRealtime'
 export const RealtimeInspector = () => {
   const { ref } = useParams()
   const { data: org } = useSelectedOrganizationQuery()
+  const { data: project } = useSelectedProjectQuery()
+
+  // Check if realtime publications are available
+  const { data: publications } = useDatabasePublicationsQuery({
+    projectRef: project?.ref,
+    connectionString: project?.connectionString,
+  })
+  const realtimePublication = (publications ?? []).find(
+    (publication) => publication.name === 'supabase_realtime'
+  )
+  const isRealtimeAvailable =
+    !!realtimePublication &&
+    ((realtimePublication?.tables ?? []).length > 0 || realtimePublication?.tables === null)
 
   const [sendMessageShown, setSendMessageShown] = useState(false)
   const [realtimeConfig, setRealtimeConfig] = useState<RealtimeConfig>({
@@ -31,13 +44,18 @@ export const RealtimeInspector = () => {
     filter: undefined,
     bearer: null,
     enablePresence: true,
-    enableDbChanges: true,
+    enableDbChanges: isRealtimeAvailable, // Initialize based on publications availability
     enableBroadcast: true,
   })
 
   const { mutate: sendEvent } = useSendEventMutation()
   const { logData, sendMessage } = useRealtimeMessages(realtimeConfig, setRealtimeConfig)
 
+  // Update enableDbChanges when publications change
+  useEffect(() => {
+    setRealtimeConfig((prev) => ({ ...prev, enableDbChanges: isRealtimeAvailable }))
+  }, [isRealtimeAvailable])
+
   return (
     <div className="flex flex-col grow h-full">
       <Header config={realtimeConfig} onChangeConfig={setRealtimeConfig} />
diff --git a/apps/studio/components/interfaces/Realtime/Inspector/useRealtimeMessages.ts b/apps/studio/components/interfaces/Realtime/Inspector/useRealtimeMessages.ts
index adfff8d9a1e..40643867f1b 100644
--- a/apps/studio/components/interfaces/Realtime/Inspector/useRealtimeMessages.ts
+++ b/apps/studio/components/interfaces/Realtime/Inspector/useRealtimeMessages.ts
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ export const useRealtimeMessages = (
     }
 
     // Finally, subscribe to the Channel we just setup
-    newChannel.subscribe(async (status) => {
+    newChannel.subscribe(async (status, err) => {
       if (status === 'SUBSCRIBED') {
         // Let LiveView know we connected so we can update the button text
         // pushMessageTo('#conn_info', 'broadcast_subscribed', { host: host })
@@ -192,9 +192,11 @@ export const useRealtimeMessages = (
           })
         }
       } else if (status === 'CHANNEL_ERROR') {
-        toast.error(
-          `Failed to connect to the channel ${channelName}: This may be due to restrictive RLS policies. Check your role and try again.`
-        )
+        if (err?.message) {
+          toast.error(`Failed to connect with the following error: ${err.message}`)
+        } else {
+          toast.error(`Failed to connect. Please check your RLS policies and try again.`)
+        }
 
         newChannel.unsubscribe()
         setChannel(undefined)