diff --git a/ESP32_AP-Flasher/data/www/content_cards.json b/ESP32_AP-Flasher/data/www/content_cards.json
index 5a35dd7f..1f84f4e5 100644
--- a/ESP32_AP-Flasher/data/www/content_cards.json
+++ b/ESP32_AP-Flasher/data/www/content_cards.json
@@ -357,7 +357,7 @@
       {
         "key": "bytes",
         "name": "bytes",
-        "desc": "70 bytes, formatted as 0x00,0x00,...",
+        "desc": "76 bytes, formatted as 0x00,0x00,...",
         "type": "text"
       }      
     ]
diff --git a/ESP32_AP-Flasher/src/tag_db.cpp b/ESP32_AP-Flasher/src/tag_db.cpp
index 3d82e178..490c0797 100644
--- a/ESP32_AP-Flasher/src/tag_db.cpp
+++ b/ESP32_AP-Flasher/src/tag_db.cpp
@@ -248,15 +248,16 @@ void initAPconfig() {
     LittleFS.begin(true);
     DynamicJsonDocument APconfig(150);
     File configFile = LittleFS.open("/current/apconfig.json", "r");
-    DeserializationError error = deserializeJson(APconfig, configFile);
-    if (error) {
+    if (configFile) {
+        DeserializationError error = deserializeJson(APconfig, configFile);
+        if (error) {
+            configFile.close();
+            Serial.println("failed to read apconfig.json. Using default config");
+        }
         configFile.close();
-        Serial.println("failed to read apconfig.json. Using default config");
     }
-    configFile.close();
-
     config.channel = APconfig["channel"] | 25;
-    strlcpy(config.alias, APconfig["alias"], sizeof(config.alias));
+    if (APconfig["alias"]) strlcpy(config.alias, APconfig["alias"], sizeof(config.alias));
     config.led = APconfig["led"] | 255;
     config.language = APconfig["language"] | getDefaultLanguage();
     config.maxsleep = APconfig["maxsleep"] | 10;