diff --git a/cmd/signaldctl/config/config.go b/cmd/signaldctl/config/config.go
index 3a22c7f..319f0a1 100644
--- a/cmd/signaldctl/config/config.go
+++ b/cmd/signaldctl/config/config.go
@@ -36,9 +36,7 @@ var Path string
 
 // Config is the variable the configuration gets loaded into
 // values shown here are used as defaults
-var Config = Configuration{
-	SocketPath: "/var/run/signald/signald.sock",
-}
+var Config = Configuration{}
 
 func Load() error {
 	f, err := os.Open(Path)
diff --git a/signald/signald.go b/signald/signald.go
index e997f3c..2c55a79 100644
--- a/signald/signald.go
+++ b/signald/signald.go
@@ -31,8 +31,14 @@ import (
 	"gitlab.com/signald/signald-go/signald/client-protocol/v0"
 )
 
+const (
+	defaultSocketPrefix = "/var/run"
+	socketSuffix        = "/signald/signald.sock"
+)
+
 var (
 	debugSignaldIO, _ = strconv.ParseBool(os.Getenv("DEBUG_SIGNALD_IO"))
+	xdgRuntimeDir     = os.Getenv("XDG_RUNTIME_DIR")
 )
 
 func init() {
@@ -59,9 +65,29 @@ type UnexpectedError struct {
 
 // Connect connects to the signad socket
 func (s *Signald) Connect() error {
-	if s.SocketPath == "" {
-		s.SocketPath = "/var/run/signald/signald.sock"
+	if s.SocketPath != "" {
+		return s.connect()
 	}
+
+	s.SocketPath = xdgRuntimeDir + socketSuffix
+	err := s.connect()
+	if err != nil {
+		_, ok := err.(net.Error)
+		if ok {
+			s.SocketPath = defaultSocketPrefix + socketSuffix
+			err = s.connect()
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+		} else {
+			return err
+		}
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (s *Signald) connect() error {
 	socket, err := net.Dial("unix", s.SocketPath)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err