diff --git a/cogl/cogl/cogl-onscreen.c b/cogl/cogl/cogl-onscreen.c
index ce07145c7..3bcb23307 100644
--- a/cogl/cogl/cogl-onscreen.c
+++ b/cogl/cogl/cogl-onscreen.c
@@ -291,11 +291,10 @@ cogl_onscreen_swap_buffers_with_damage (CoglOnscreen *onscreen,
 
   _cogl_framebuffer_flush_journal (framebuffer);
 
-  /* Update our "latest" sync fd to contain all previous work */
-  _cogl_context_update_sync (context);
-
   if (G_UNLIKELY (COGL_DEBUG_ENABLED (COGL_DEBUG_SYNC_FRAME)))
     cogl_framebuffer_finish (framebuffer);
+  else
+    _cogl_context_update_sync (context);
 
   cogl_framebuffer_discard_buffers (framebuffer,
                                     COGL_BUFFER_BIT_DEPTH |
diff --git a/cogl/cogl/driver/gl/cogl-framebuffer-gl.c b/cogl/cogl/driver/gl/cogl-framebuffer-gl.c
index 8c80d9a25..35f811100 100644
--- a/cogl/cogl/driver/gl/cogl-framebuffer-gl.c
+++ b/cogl/cogl/driver/gl/cogl-framebuffer-gl.c
@@ -294,6 +294,9 @@ cogl_gl_framebuffer_finish (CoglFramebufferDriver *driver)
 {
   CoglContext *ctx = context_from_driver (driver);
 
+  /* Update our "latest" sync fd to contain all previous work */
+  _cogl_context_update_sync (ctx);
+
   ctx->glFinish ();
 }
 
@@ -302,6 +305,9 @@ cogl_gl_framebuffer_flush (CoglFramebufferDriver *driver)
 {
   CoglContext *ctx = context_from_driver (driver);
 
+  /* Update our "latest" sync fd to contain all previous work */
+  _cogl_context_update_sync (ctx);
+
   ctx->glFlush ();
 }