diff --git a/frontend/src/App.tsx b/frontend/src/App.tsx
index 77d9593..6aebeda 100644
--- a/frontend/src/App.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/App.tsx
@@ -1,12 +1,10 @@
-import { lazy, Suspense, useEffect } from "react";
+import { lazy, Suspense, useEffect, useRef } from "react";
 import { BrowserRouter, Navigate, Route, Routes } from "react-router-dom";
 import { ProtectedRoute, PublicRoute } from "./components/RouteGuards";
 import SplashScreen from "./components/SplashScreen";
 import { ROUTES } from "./config/routes";
 import { useAuth } from "./hooks/useAuth";
 
-let authInitialized = false;
-
 const Activate = lazy(() => import("./pages/Activate"));
 const Drawer = lazy(() => import("./pages/Drawer"));
 const Editor = lazy(() => import("./pages/Editor"));
@@ -18,11 +16,12 @@ const VerifyEmail = lazy(() => import("./pages/VerifyEmail"));
 
 export default function App() {
   const { initialize, isInitializing } = useAuth();
+  const authInitialized = useRef<boolean>(false);
 
   useEffect(() => {
-    if (authInitialized) return;
-    authInitialized = true;
-    initialize();
+    if (authInitialized.current) return;
+    authInitialized.current = true;
+    initialize().then();
   }, [initialize]);
 
   if (isInitializing) {
diff --git a/frontend/src/utils/crypto.ts b/frontend/src/utils/crypto.ts
index 5846afa..942a8aa 100644
--- a/frontend/src/utils/crypto.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/utils/crypto.ts
@@ -26,7 +26,8 @@ interface SealedEnvelope {
 // TODO: try refactoring into a pure function for consistency
 export class CryptoUtils {
   private dek!: CryptoKey;
-  private static readonly PBKDF2_ITERATIONS = 600_000;
+  private static readonly PBKDF2_ITERATIONS =
+    Number(import.meta.env.VITE_PBKDF2_ITERATIONS) || 600_000;
   // NOTE: https://www.w3.org/TR/webcrypto/#aes-gcm
   private static readonly AES_ALGO = { name: "AES-GCM", length: 256 };
   private static readonly IV_BYTE_LENGTH = 12;
diff --git a/frontend/vitest.config.ts b/frontend/vitest.config.ts
index 0aa62f2..64212d1 100644
--- a/frontend/vitest.config.ts
+++ b/frontend/vitest.config.ts
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ export default defineConfig({
     env: {
       VITE_API_URL: "http://piku-server",
       TZ: "Asia/Kolkata",
+      // using the actual 600_000 iterations causes timeout in tests
+      VITE_PBKDF2_ITERATIONS: "1",
     },
     include: ["**/*.test.ts", "**/*.test.tsx"],
     environment: "jsdom",