diff --git a/ATxService/AutoTx.cs b/ATxService/AutoTx.cs
index 88ebd5dcd6dd3ab33af245dd03b5c0fddb6d6a44..b8dcbb0d00f302a5f5c8564d0b319682b77e8d60 100644
--- a/ATxService/AutoTx.cs
+++ b/ATxService/AutoTx.cs
@@ -495,6 +495,10 @@ namespace ATxService
             SendLowSpaceMail(SystemChecks.CheckFreeDiskSpace(_config.SpaceMonitoring));
             UpdateServiceState();
 
+            // update the status heartbeat at least once a minute:
+            if (TimeUtils.SecondsSince(_status.LastStatusUpdate) >= 60)
+                _status.Serialize();
+
             if (TimeUtils.SecondsSince(_lastUserDirCheck) >= 120)
                 CreateIncomingDirectories();