diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index df14b5853..b450f052d 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 - Dev: Ignore unhandled BTTV user-events. (#4438)
 - Dev: Only log debug messages when NDEBUG is not defined. (#4442)
 - Dev: Cleaned up theme related code. (#4450)
+- Dev: Ensure tests have default-initialized settings. (#4498)
 
 ## 2.4.2
 
diff --git a/src/singletons/Settings.cpp b/src/singletons/Settings.cpp
index a4cf20f96..b32623c42 100644
--- a/src/singletons/Settings.cpp
+++ b/src/singletons/Settings.cpp
@@ -140,6 +140,8 @@ Settings::Settings(const QString &settingsDirectory)
 
 Settings &Settings::instance()
 {
+    assert(instance_ != nullptr);
+
     return *instance_;
 }
 
diff --git a/tests/src/HighlightController.cpp b/tests/src/HighlightController.cpp
index eecb9cc37..a3f37b26b 100644
--- a/tests/src/HighlightController.cpp
+++ b/tests/src/HighlightController.cpp
@@ -550,14 +550,14 @@ class HighlightControllerTest : public ::testing::Test
 protected:
     void SetUp() override
     {
-        {
-            // Write default settings to the mock settings json file
-            QDir().mkpath("/tmp/c2-tests");
-            QFile settingsFile("/tmp/c2-tests/settings.json");
-            assert(settingsFile.open(QIODevice::WriteOnly | QIODevice::Text));
-            QTextStream out(&settingsFile);
-            out << DEFAULT_SETTINGS;
-        }
+        // Write default settings to the mock settings json file
+        ASSERT_TRUE(QDir().mkpath("/tmp/c2-tests"));
+
+        QFile settingsFile("/tmp/c2-tests/settings.json");
+        ASSERT_TRUE(settingsFile.open(QIODevice::WriteOnly | QIODevice::Text));
+        ASSERT_GT(settingsFile.write(DEFAULT_SETTINGS.toUtf8()), 0);
+        ASSERT_TRUE(settingsFile.flush());
+        settingsFile.close();
 
         this->mockHelix = new MockHelix;
 
@@ -579,7 +579,7 @@ protected:
 
     void TearDown() override
     {
-        QDir().rmdir("/tmp/c2-tests");
+        ASSERT_TRUE(QDir("/tmp/c2-tests").removeRecursively());
         this->mockApplication.reset();
         this->settings.reset();
         this->paths.reset();
diff --git a/tests/src/main.cpp b/tests/src/main.cpp
index d6452c5a0..098d5b366 100644
--- a/tests/src/main.cpp
+++ b/tests/src/main.cpp
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 #include "common/Outcome.hpp"
 #include "common/QLogging.hpp"
 #include "providers/twitch/api/Helix.hpp"
+#include "singletons/Settings.hpp"
 
 #include <gtest/gtest.h>
 #include <QApplication>
@@ -27,6 +28,9 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 
     chatterino::NetworkManager::init();
 
+    // Ensure settings are initialized before any tests are run
+    chatterino::Settings settings("/tmp/c2-empty-test");
+
     QtConcurrent::run([&app] {
         auto res = RUN_ALL_TESTS();