diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index c4462e7..209de03 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 ### master
 - properly quote scripts
+- bugfix: "auto restore" feature does not work on tmux `1.9a`
 
 ### v3.0.0, 2015-02-20
 - rename the plugin from `tmux-resurrect-auto` to `tmux-continuum`
diff --git a/continuum.tmux b/continuum.tmux
index ec20856..30dc8be 100755
--- a/continuum.tmux
+++ b/continuum.tmux
@@ -41,11 +41,15 @@ add_resurrect_save_interpolation() {
 	fi
 }
 
-# on tmux server start, when tmux.conf is sourced there are no sessions and
-# `tmux has` reports 1
+number_of_sessions() {
+	tmux list-sessions |
+		wc -l |
+		sed "s/ //g"
+}
+
+# when tmux server is first started, number of sessions is 0
 just_started_tmux_server() {
-	tmux has
-	[ $? -eq 1 ]
+	[ "$(number_of_sessions)" -eq 0 ]
 }
 
 start_auto_restore_in_background() {