diff --git a/crates/matrix-sdk/CHANGELOG.md b/crates/matrix-sdk/CHANGELOG.md
index aa9ce0cd5..5d8e38346 100644
--- a/crates/matrix-sdk/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/crates/matrix-sdk/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -31,6 +31,13 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 - [**breaking**] The MSRV has been bumped to Rust 1.88.
   ([#5431](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-rust-sdk/pull/5431))
 
+### Bugfix
+
+- All HTTP requests now have a default `read_timeout` of 60s, which means they'll disconnect if the connection stalls.
+ `RequestConfig::timeout` is now optional and can be disabled on a per-request basis. This will be done for
+ the requests used to download media, so they don't get cancelled after the default 30s timeout for no good reason. 
+ ([#5437](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-rust-sdk/pull/5437))
+
 ## [0.13.0] - 2025-07-10
 
 ### Security Fixes
diff --git a/crates/matrix-sdk/src/client/mod.rs b/crates/matrix-sdk/src/client/mod.rs
index c1c5b448a..e9a81164b 100644
--- a/crates/matrix-sdk/src/client/mod.rs
+++ b/crates/matrix-sdk/src/client/mod.rs
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ use std::{
     future::{ready, Future},
     pin::Pin,
     sync::{Arc, Mutex as StdMutex, RwLock as StdRwLock, Weak},
+    time::Duration,
 };
 
 use caches::ClientCaches;
@@ -2312,7 +2313,8 @@ impl Client {
         });
         let mut request_config = self.request_config();
         if let Some(timeout) = sync_settings.timeout {
-            request_config.timeout = Some(timeout);
+            let base_timeout = request_config.timeout.unwrap_or(Duration::from_secs(30));
+            request_config.timeout = Some(base_timeout + timeout);
         }
 
         let response = self.send(request).with_request_config(request_config).await?;