diff --git a/src/app.rs b/src/app.rs
index b8b5ebe..2045854 100644
--- a/src/app.rs
+++ b/src/app.rs
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ use std::collections::VecDeque;
 use std::sync::atomic::{AtomicBool, Ordering};
 use std::sync::RwLock;
 
-use color_eyre::eyre::{Result, WrapErr};
+use color_eyre::eyre::{eyre, Result, WrapErr};
 use crossterm::event::KeyEvent;
 use futures::stream::FuturesUnordered;
 use futures::{FutureExt, StreamExt};
@@ -68,15 +68,19 @@ impl App {
       tokio::spawn(async move {
         let server_name = conf.user_id.server_name();
         let user_dir = datadir.join(conf.user_id.to_string());
+        std::fs::create_dir_all(&user_dir)
+          .with_context(|| format!("Could not create {}", user_dir.display()))?;
         // If there is at least one device state for that user, use it. Otherwise,
         // generate a random device id
         let device_dir = std::fs::read_dir(&user_dir)
-          .unwrap_or_else(|e| panic!("Could not read user dir: {}", e))
+          .with_context(|| format!("Could not read {}", user_dir.display()))?
           .next()
-          .map(|dir_entry| {
-            dir_entry
-              .unwrap_or_else(|e| panic!("Could not read entry in {}: {}", user_dir.display(), e))
-              .path()
+          .and_then(|dir_entry| match dir_entry {
+            Ok(dir_entry) => Some(dir_entry.path()),
+            Err(e) => {
+              tracing::error!("Could not read entry in {}: {}", user_dir.display(), e);
+              None
+            },
           })
           .unwrap_or_else(|| user_dir.join(matrix_sdk::ruma::DeviceId::new().as_str()));
         // Extract device id from the path
@@ -85,7 +89,7 @@ impl App {
           .file_name()
           .expect("empty path to state store")
           .to_str()
-          .expect("device id is not valid UTF8");
+          .ok_or_else(|| eyre!("device id in {} is not valid UTF8", device_dir.display()))?;
         let client = matrix_sdk::Client::builder()
           .server_name(server_name)
           .sqlite_store(
@@ -103,6 +107,12 @@ impl App {
           .send()
           .await
           .with_context(|| format!("Could not login as {}", conf.user_id))?;
+        tracing::info!(
+          "Logged in as {}",
+          client
+            .user_id()
+            .ok_or_else(|| eyre!("Unexpectedly not logged in as {}", conf.user_id))?,
+        );
         Ok::<_, color_eyre::eyre::Report>(client)
       })
     });