diff --git a/umap/static/umap/js/modules/data/layer.js b/umap/static/umap/js/modules/data/layer.js
index ec3d13ab..0529f627 100644
--- a/umap/static/umap/js/modules/data/layer.js
+++ b/umap/static/umap/js/modules/data/layer.js
@@ -1065,7 +1065,7 @@ export class DataLayer extends ServerStored {
 
   setReferenceVersion({ response, sync }) {
     this._referenceVersion = response.headers.get('X-Datalayer-Version')
-    this.sync.update('_referenceVersion', this._referenceVersion)
+    if (sync) this.sync.update('_referenceVersion', this._referenceVersion)
   }
 
   async save() {