diff --git a/packages/auth/src/db/utils.js b/packages/auth/src/db/utils.js
index a6250b0791..3fbf234db6 100644
--- a/packages/auth/src/db/utils.js
+++ b/packages/auth/src/db/utils.js
@@ -169,7 +169,8 @@ exports.getAllApps = async ({ CouchDB, dev, all } = {}) => {
     dbName.startsWith(exports.APP_PREFIX)
   )
   const appPromises = appDbNames.map(db =>
-    new CouchDB(db).get(DocumentTypes.APP_METADATA)
+    // skip setup otherwise databases could be re-created
+    new CouchDB(db, { skip_setup: true }).get(DocumentTypes.APP_METADATA)
   )
   if (appPromises.length === 0) {
     return []
@@ -194,6 +195,21 @@ exports.getAllApps = async ({ CouchDB, dev, all } = {}) => {
   }
 }
 
+exports.dbExists = async (CouchDB, dbName) => {
+  let exists = false
+  try {
+    const db = CouchDB(dbName, {skip_setup: true})
+    // check if database exists
+    const info = await db.info()
+    if (info && !info.error) {
+      exists = true
+    }
+  } catch (err) {
+    exists = false
+  }
+  return exists
+}
+
 /**
  * Generates a new configuration ID.
  * @returns {string} The new configuration ID which the config doc can be stored under.
diff --git a/packages/server/src/api/controllers/application.js b/packages/server/src/api/controllers/application.js
index 36dc399996..4b203eec95 100644
--- a/packages/server/src/api/controllers/application.js
+++ b/packages/server/src/api/controllers/application.js
@@ -105,12 +105,6 @@ async function createInstance(template) {
     if (!ok) {
       throw "Error loading database dump from template."
     }
-    try {
-      const response = await db.get(DocumentTypes.APP_METADATA)
-      _rev = response._rev
-    } catch (err) {
-      _rev = null
-    }
   } else {
     // create the users table
     await db.put(USERS_TABLE_SCHEMA)
@@ -121,7 +115,7 @@ async function createInstance(template) {
   await createRoutingView(appId)
   await createAllSearchIndex(appId)
 
-  return { _id: appId, _rev }
+  return { _id: appId }
 }
 
 exports.fetch = async function (ctx) {
@@ -188,11 +182,21 @@ exports.create = async function (ctx) {
     instanceConfig.file = ctx.request.files.templateFile
   }
   const instance = await createInstance(instanceConfig)
+  const appId = instance._id
 
   const url = await getAppUrlIfNotInUse(ctx)
-  const appId = instance._id
+  const db = new CouchDB(appId)
+  let _rev
+  try {
+    // if template there will be an existing doc
+    const existing = await db.get(DocumentTypes.APP_METADATA)
+    _rev = existing._rev
+  } catch (err) {
+    // nothing to do
+  }
   const newApplication = {
     _id: DocumentTypes.APP_METADATA,
+    _rev,
     appId: instance._id,
     type: "app",
     version: packageJson.version,
@@ -204,11 +208,7 @@ exports.create = async function (ctx) {
     updatedAt: new Date().toISOString(),
     createdAt: new Date().toISOString(),
   }
-  if (instance._rev) {
-    newApplication._rev = instance._rev
-  }
-  const instanceDb = new CouchDB(appId)
-  await instanceDb.put(newApplication)
+  await db.put(newApplication, { force: true })
 
   await createEmptyAppPackage(ctx, newApplication)
   /* istanbul ignore next */
diff --git a/packages/server/src/db/utils.js b/packages/server/src/db/utils.js
index 270cc9b312..be57f8b70f 100644
--- a/packages/server/src/db/utils.js
+++ b/packages/server/src/db/utils.js
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@ exports.StaticDatabases = {
 exports.APP_PREFIX = APP_PREFIX
 exports.APP_DEV_PREFIX = APP_DEV_PREFIX
 exports.USER_METDATA_PREFIX = `${DocumentTypes.ROW}${SEPARATOR}${InternalTables.USER_METADATA}${SEPARATOR}`
+exports.LINK_USER_METADATA_PREFIX = `${DocumentTypes.LINK}${SEPARATOR}${InternalTables.USER_METADATA}${SEPARATOR}`
 exports.ViewNames = ViewNames
 exports.InternalTables = InternalTables
 exports.DocumentTypes = DocumentTypes
diff --git a/packages/server/src/middleware/currentapp.js b/packages/server/src/middleware/currentapp.js
index e47c9894fa..7d4f948731 100644
--- a/packages/server/src/middleware/currentapp.js
+++ b/packages/server/src/middleware/currentapp.js
@@ -1,9 +1,11 @@
-const { getAppId, setCookie, getCookie } = require("@budibase/auth").utils
+const { getAppId, setCookie, getCookie, clearCookie } = require("@budibase/auth").utils
 const { Cookies } = require("@budibase/auth").constants
 const { getRole } = require("@budibase/auth/roles")
 const { getGlobalSelf } = require("../utilities/workerRequests")
 const { BUILTIN_ROLE_IDS } = require("@budibase/auth/roles")
 const { generateUserMetadataID } = require("../db/utils")
+const { dbExists } = require("@budibase/auth/db")
+const CouchDB = require("../db")
 
 module.exports = async (ctx, next) => {
   // try to get the appID from the request
@@ -13,6 +15,15 @@ module.exports = async (ctx, next) => {
   if (!appCookie && !requestAppId) {
     return next()
   }
+  // check the app exists referenced in cookie
+  if (appCookie) {
+    const appId = appCookie.appId
+    const exists = await dbExists(CouchDB, appId)
+    if (!exists) {
+      clearCookie(ctx, Cookies.CurrentApp)
+      return next()
+    }
+  }
 
   let updateCookie = false,
     appId,
diff --git a/packages/server/src/utilities/fileSystem/index.js b/packages/server/src/utilities/fileSystem/index.js
index 750414826a..c80b9ea08d 100644
--- a/packages/server/src/utilities/fileSystem/index.js
+++ b/packages/server/src/utilities/fileSystem/index.js
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ const download = require("download")
 const env = require("../../environment")
 const { homedir } = require("os")
 const fetch = require("node-fetch")
+const { USER_METDATA_PREFIX, LINK_USER_METADATA_PREFIX } = require("../../db/utils")
 
 const DEFAULT_AUTOMATION_BUCKET =
   "https://prod-budi-automations.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com"
@@ -117,7 +118,10 @@ exports.performBackup = async (appId, backupName) => {
   const writeStream = fs.createWriteStream(path)
   // perform couch dump
   const instanceDb = new CouchDB(appId)
-  await instanceDb.dump(writeStream, {})
+  await instanceDb.dump(writeStream, {
+    // filter out anything that has a user metadata structure in its ID
+    filter: doc => !(doc._id.includes(USER_METDATA_PREFIX) || doc.includes(LINK_USER_METADATA_PREFIX))
+  })
   // write the file to the object store
   await streamUpload(
     ObjectStoreBuckets.BACKUPS,
diff --git a/packages/worker/src/api/controllers/app.js b/packages/worker/src/api/controllers/app.js
index 75366c2365..9256b93a46 100644
--- a/packages/worker/src/api/controllers/app.js
+++ b/packages/worker/src/api/controllers/app.js
@@ -7,13 +7,8 @@ const APP_PREFIX = "app_"
 const URL_REGEX_SLASH = /\/|\\/g
 
 exports.getApps = async ctx => {
-  let allDbs
   // allDbs call of CouchDB is very inaccurate in production
-  if (env.COUCH_DB_URL) {
-    allDbs = await (await fetch(`${env.COUCH_DB_URL}/_all_dbs`)).json()
-  } else {
-    allDbs = await CouchDB.allDbs()
-  }
+  const allDbs = await CouchDB.allDbs()
   const appDbNames = allDbs.filter(dbName => dbName.startsWith(APP_PREFIX))
   const appPromises = appDbNames.map(db =>
     new CouchDB(db).get(DocumentTypes.APP_METADATA)