diff --git a/selfdrive/logcatd/logcatd_android.cc b/selfdrive/logcatd/logcatd_android.cc
index 5579dc0a32..95a0c7b708 100644
--- a/selfdrive/logcatd/logcatd_android.cc
+++ b/selfdrive/logcatd/logcatd_android.cc
@@ -7,14 +7,17 @@
 
 int main() {
   ExitHandler do_exit;
-  log_time last_log_time = {};
 
   PubMaster pm({"androidLog"});
+
+  log_time last_log_time = {};
+  logger_list *logger_list = android_logger_list_alloc(ANDROID_LOG_RDONLY | ANDROID_LOG_NONBLOCK, 0, 0);
+
   while (!do_exit) {
     // setup android logging
-    logger_list *logger_list = last_log_time.tv_sec == 0 ?
-                               android_logger_list_alloc(ANDROID_LOG_RDONLY | ANDROID_LOG_NONBLOCK, 0, 0) :
-                               android_logger_list_alloc_time(ANDROID_LOG_RDONLY | ANDROID_LOG_NONBLOCK, last_log_time, 0);
+    if (!logger_list) {
+      logger_list = android_logger_list_alloc_time(ANDROID_LOG_RDONLY | ANDROID_LOG_NONBLOCK, last_log_time, 0);
+    }
     assert(logger_list);
 
     struct logger *main_logger = android_logger_open(logger_list, LOG_ID_MAIN);
@@ -53,7 +56,13 @@ int main() {
     }
 
     android_logger_list_free(logger_list);
+    logger_list = NULL;
     util::sleep_for(500);
   }
+
+  if (logger_list) {
+    android_logger_list_free(logger_list);
+  }
+
   return 0;
 }
diff --git a/selfdrive/logcatd/tests/test_logcatd_android.py b/selfdrive/logcatd/tests/test_logcatd_android.py
index 552cea5384..a1ca0e2da1 100755
--- a/selfdrive/logcatd/tests/test_logcatd_android.py
+++ b/selfdrive/logcatd/tests/test_logcatd_android.py
@@ -18,28 +18,30 @@ class TestLogcatdAndroid(unittest.TestCase):
     time.sleep(1)
     messaging.drain_sock(sock)
 
-    # write some log messages
-    sent_msgs = {}
-    for _ in range(random.randint(5, 50)):
-      msg = ''.join([random.choice(string.ascii_letters) for _ in range(random.randrange(2, 200))])
-      sent_msgs[msg] = ''.join([random.choice(string.ascii_letters) for _ in range(random.randrange(2, 20))])
-      os.system(f"log -t {sent_msgs[msg]} {msg}")
-
+    for _ in range(random.randint(2, 10)):
+      # write some log messages
+      sent_msgs = {}
+      for __ in range(random.randint(5, 50)):
+        msg = ''.join([random.choice(string.ascii_letters) for _ in range(random.randrange(2, 200))])
+        sent_msgs[msg] = ''.join([random.choice(string.ascii_letters) for _ in range(random.randrange(2, 20))])
+        os.system(f"log -t {sent_msgs[msg]} {msg}")
+
+      time.sleep(1)
+      msgs = messaging.drain_sock(sock)
+      for m in msgs:
+        self.assertTrue(m.valid)
+        self.assertLess(time.monotonic() - (m.logMonoTime / 1e9), 30)
+
+        recv_msg = m.androidLog.message.strip()
+        if recv_msg not in sent_msgs:
+          continue
+
+        self.assertEqual(m.androidLog.tag, sent_msgs[recv_msg])
+        del sent_msgs[recv_msg]
+
+      # ensure we received all the logs we sent
+      self.assertEqual(len(sent_msgs), 0)
     time.sleep(1)
-    msgs = messaging.drain_sock(sock)
-    for m in msgs:
-      self.assertTrue(m.valid)
-      self.assertLess(time.monotonic() - (m.logMonoTime / 1e9), 30)
-
-      recv_msg = m.androidLog.message.strip()
-      if recv_msg not in sent_msgs:
-        continue
-
-      self.assertEqual(m.androidLog.tag, sent_msgs[recv_msg])
-      del sent_msgs[recv_msg]
-
-    # ensure we received all the logs we sent
-    self.assertEqual(len(sent_msgs), 0)
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":