diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/app/frontend/controllers/home.js b/app/assets/javascripts/app/frontend/controllers/home.js
index ab19ac160..999afd03d 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/app/frontend/controllers/home.js
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/app/frontend/controllers/home.js
@@ -113,6 +113,14 @@ angular.module('app.frontend')
       })
     }
 
+    $scope.safeApply = function(fn) {
+      var phase = this.$root.$$phase;
+      if(phase == '$apply' || phase == '$digest')
+        this.$eval(fn);
+      else
+        this.$apply(fn);
+    };
+
     $scope.deleteNote = function(note) {
 
       modelManager.setItemToBeDeleted(note);
@@ -129,7 +137,9 @@ angular.module('app.frontend')
       apiController.sync(function(){
         if(!apiController.user) {
           // when deleting items while ofline, we need to explictly tell angular to refresh UI
-          $scope.$apply();
+          setTimeout(function () {
+            $scope.safeApply();
+          }, 50);
         }
       });
     }
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/app/services/apiController.js b/app/assets/javascripts/app/services/apiController.js
index 07e5bffcc..3f02488f6 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/app/services/apiController.js
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/app/services/apiController.js
@@ -221,21 +221,32 @@ angular.module('app.frontend')
 
         var allDirtyItems = modelManager.getDirtyItems();
 
-        if(!this.isUserSignedIn()) {
+        // we want to write all dirty items to disk only if the user is not signed in, or if the sync op fails
+        // if the sync op succeeds, these items will be written to disk by handling the "saved_items" response from the server
+        var writeAllDirtyItemsToDisk = function(completion) {
           this.writeItemsToLocalStorage(allDirtyItems, function(responseItems){
-              // delete anything needing to be deleted
-              allDirtyItems.forEach(function(item){
-                if(item.deleted) {
-                  modelManager.removeItemLocally(item);
-                }
-              }.bind(this))
-              modelManager.clearDirtyItems(allDirtyItems);
-              if(callback) {
-                callback();
-              }
-          }.bind(this))
+            if(completion) {
+              completion();
+            }
+          })
+        }.bind(this);
 
+        if(!this.isUserSignedIn()) {
+          writeAllDirtyItemsToDisk(function(){
+            // delete anything needing to be deleted
+            allDirtyItems.forEach(function(item){
+              if(item.deleted) {
+                modelManager.removeItemLocally(item);
+              }
+            }.bind(this))
+
+            modelManager.clearDirtyItems(allDirtyItems);
+
+          }.bind(this))
           this.syncOpInProgress = false;
+          if(callback) {
+            callback();
+          }
           return;
         }
 
@@ -290,10 +301,14 @@ angular.module('app.frontend')
         }.bind(this))
         .catch(function(response){
           console.log("Sync error: ", response);
+
+          writeAllDirtyItemsToDisk();
+          this.syncOpInProgress = false;
+
           if(callback) {
             callback({error: "Sync error"});
           }
-        })
+        }.bind(this))
       }
 
       this.sync = function(callback) {