diff --git a/packages/builder/src/components/start/CreateAppModal.svelte b/packages/builder/src/components/start/CreateAppModal.svelte
index fae0f80f0..7c1602a45 100644
--- a/packages/builder/src/components/start/CreateAppModal.svelte
+++ b/packages/builder/src/components/start/CreateAppModal.svelte
@@ -150,7 +150,6 @@
     showCancelButton={false}
     showCloseIcon={false}
   >
-    <Body size="M">Select a template below, or start from scratch.</Body>
     <TemplateList
       onSelect={selected => {
         if (!selected) {
diff --git a/packages/builder/src/components/start/TemplateList.svelte b/packages/builder/src/components/start/TemplateList.svelte
index deddd9288..d8e65062b 100644
--- a/packages/builder/src/components/start/TemplateList.svelte
+++ b/packages/builder/src/components/start/TemplateList.svelte
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 <script>
-  import { Heading, Layout, Icon } from "@budibase/bbui"
+  import { Heading, Layout, Icon, Body } from "@budibase/bbui"
   import Spinner from "components/common/Spinner.svelte"
   import api from "builderStore/api"
 
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 
   async function fetchTemplates() {
     const response = await api.get("/api/templates?type=app")
+    console.log("Responded")
     return await response.json()
   }
 
@@ -19,6 +20,11 @@
       <Spinner size="30" />
     </div>
   {:then templates}
+    {#if templates?.length > 0}
+      <Body size="M">Select a template below, or start from scratch.</Body>
+    {:else}
+      <Body size="M">Start your app from scratch below.</Body>
+    {/if}
     <div class="templates">
       {#each templates as template}
         <div class="template" on:click={() => onSelect(template)}>
diff --git a/packages/server/src/api/controllers/templates.js b/packages/server/src/api/controllers/templates.js
index f650491d2..03dbbd2ee 100644
--- a/packages/server/src/api/controllers/templates.js
+++ b/packages/server/src/api/controllers/templates.js
@@ -7,11 +7,23 @@ const DEFAULT_TEMPLATES_BUCKET =
 
 exports.fetch = async function (ctx) {
   const { type = "app" } = ctx.query
-  const response = await fetch(
-    `https://${DEFAULT_TEMPLATES_BUCKET}/manifest.json`
-  )
-  const json = await response.json()
-  ctx.body = Object.values(json.templates[type])
+  let response,
+    error = false
+  try {
+    response = await fetch(`https://${DEFAULT_TEMPLATES_BUCKET}/manifest.json`)
+    if (response.status !== 200) {
+      error = true
+    }
+  } catch (err) {
+    error = true
+  }
+  // if there is an error, simply return no templates
+  if (!error && response) {
+    const json = await response.json()
+    ctx.body = Object.values(json.templates[type])
+  } else {
+    ctx.body = []
+  }
 }
 
 // can't currently test this, have to ignore from coverage
