diff --git a/nerfstudio/viewer/app/src/modules/WebSocket/ViserWebSocket.tsx b/nerfstudio/viewer/app/src/modules/WebSocket/ViserWebSocket.tsx
index 5f198d94a..6bc1e312d 100644
--- a/nerfstudio/viewer/app/src/modules/WebSocket/ViserWebSocket.tsx
+++ b/nerfstudio/viewer/app/src/modules/WebSocket/ViserWebSocket.tsx
@@ -287,7 +287,7 @@ export function ViserWebSocket({ children }: { children: React.ReactNode }) {
   const dispatch = useDispatch();
   const store = useStore();
 
-  const ws = React.useRef<WebSocket>();
+  const ws = React.useRef<WebSocket | null>(null);
 
   const websocket_url = useSelector(
     (state) => state.websocketState.websocket_url,
@@ -304,8 +304,19 @@ export function ViserWebSocket({ children }: { children: React.ReactNode }) {
 
       ws.current = new WebSocket(websocket_url);
 
+      const connecting_timeout = setTimeout(() => {
+        if (
+          ws.current != null &&
+          ws.current.readyState === WebSocket.CONNECTING
+        ) {
+          ws.current.close();
+          console.log('WebSocket connection timed out');
+        }
+      }, 5000); // timeout after 5 seconds
+
       ws.current.onopen = () => {
         console.log(`Viser connected! ${websocket_url}`);
+        clearTimeout(connecting_timeout);
         dispatch({
           type: 'write',
           path: 'websocketState/isConnected',
@@ -342,6 +353,11 @@ export function ViserWebSocket({ children }: { children: React.ReactNode }) {
           }
         }
       };
+
+      // add websocket error handling
+      ws.current.onerror = (err) => {
+        console.log('Websocket error: ', err);
+      };
     }
 
     let timeout = setTimeout(tryConnect, 500);