diff --git a/src/core/display-private.h b/src/core/display-private.h
index 829b34acf..bd67dc0f0 100644
--- a/src/core/display-private.h
+++ b/src/core/display-private.h
@@ -255,7 +255,6 @@ void meta_display_accelerator_activate (MetaDisplay           *display,
                                         const ClutterKeyEvent *event);
 gboolean meta_display_modifiers_accelerator_activate (MetaDisplay *display);
 
-void meta_display_sync_wayland_input_focus (MetaDisplay *display);
 void meta_display_update_focus_window (MetaDisplay *display,
                                        MetaWindow  *window);
 
diff --git a/src/core/display.c b/src/core/display.c
index 4d4b72af3..d5a448f82 100644
--- a/src/core/display.c
+++ b/src/core/display.c
@@ -1488,16 +1488,6 @@ meta_display_queue_autoraise_callback (MetaDisplay *display,
   display->autoraise_window = window;
 }
 
-void
-meta_display_sync_wayland_input_focus (MetaDisplay *display)
-{
-#ifdef HAVE_WAYLAND
-  MetaWaylandCompositor *compositor = wayland_compositor_from_display (display);
-
-  meta_wayland_compositor_sync_focus (compositor);
-#endif
-}
-
 static void
 meta_window_set_inactive_since (MetaWindow  *window,
                                 int64_t      inactive_since_us)
@@ -1567,9 +1557,6 @@ meta_display_update_focus_window (MetaDisplay *display,
         meta_window_set_inactive_since (display->focus_window, -1);
     }
 
-  if (meta_is_wayland_compositor ())
-    meta_display_sync_wayland_input_focus (display);
-
   g_object_notify (G_OBJECT (display), "focus-window");
 }
 
diff --git a/src/wayland/meta-wayland.c b/src/wayland/meta-wayland.c
index 36ce5aed2..ac7f0e250 100644
--- a/src/wayland/meta-wayland.c
+++ b/src/wayland/meta-wayland.c
@@ -100,6 +100,9 @@ typedef struct
   int64_t target_presentation_time_us;
 } FrameCallbackSource;
 
+static void meta_wayland_compositor_update_focus (MetaWaylandCompositor *compositor,
+                                                  MetaWindow            *window);
+
 static gboolean
 wayland_event_source_prepare (GSource *base,
                               int     *timeout)
@@ -465,6 +468,18 @@ on_presented (ClutterStage          *stage,
     }
 }
 
+static void
+on_started (MetaContext           *context,
+            MetaWaylandCompositor *compositor)
+{
+  MetaDisplay *display = meta_context_get_display (context);
+
+  g_signal_connect_object (display, "focus-window",
+                           G_CALLBACK (meta_wayland_compositor_update_focus),
+                           compositor,
+                           G_CONNECT_SWAPPED);
+}
+
 /**
  * meta_wayland_compositor_handle_event:
  * @compositor: the #MetaWaylandCompositor instance
@@ -780,6 +795,9 @@ meta_wayland_compositor_new (MetaContext *context)
   g_signal_connect (stage, "presented",
                     G_CALLBACK (on_presented), compositor);
 
+  g_signal_connect (context, "started",
+                    G_CALLBACK (on_started), compositor);
+
   if (!wl_global_create (compositor->wayland_display,
                          &wl_compositor_interface,
                          META_WL_COMPOSITOR_VERSION,