diff --git a/app/src/processing/app/Serial.java b/app/src/processing/app/Serial.java
index c1caaec4a..858c6e276 100644
--- a/app/src/processing/app/Serial.java
+++ b/app/src/processing/app/Serial.java
@@ -185,8 +185,11 @@ public class Serial implements SerialPortEventListener {
       case SerialPortEvent.RXFLAG:
         try {
           byte[] bytes = port.readBytes();
+          if (bytes == null) {
+            return;
+          }
           String bytesAsString = new String(bytes);
-          if(monitor) {
+          if (monitor) {
             System.out.print(bytesAsString);
           }
           if (this.consumer != null) {
@@ -199,7 +202,6 @@ public class Serial implements SerialPortEventListener {
   }
 
 
-
   /**
    * This will handle both ints, bytes and chars transparently.
    */