diff --git a/crates/onboarding/src/editing_page.rs b/crates/onboarding/src/editing_page.rs
index 47dfd84894bf0ca5e7fd4a5a9ad0785d80b07ac5..297016abd4a1499feb6f637d028056ca0b412d31 100644
--- a/crates/onboarding/src/editing_page.rs
+++ b/crates/onboarding/src/editing_page.rs
@@ -449,28 +449,28 @@ impl FontPickerDelegate {
     ) -> Self {
         let font_family_cache = FontFamilyCache::global(cx);
 
-        let fonts: Vec<SharedString> = font_family_cache
-            .list_font_families(cx)
-            .into_iter()
-            .collect();
-
+        let fonts = font_family_cache
+            .try_list_font_families()
+            .unwrap_or_else(|| vec![current_font.clone()]);
         let selected_index = fonts
             .iter()
             .position(|font| *font == current_font)
             .unwrap_or(0);
 
+        let filtered_fonts = fonts
+            .iter()
+            .enumerate()
+            .map(|(index, font)| StringMatch {
+                candidate_id: index,
+                string: font.to_string(),
+                positions: Vec::new(),
+                score: 0.0,
+            })
+            .collect();
+
         Self {
-            fonts: fonts.clone(),
-            filtered_fonts: fonts
-                .iter()
-                .enumerate()
-                .map(|(index, font)| StringMatch {
-                    candidate_id: index,
-                    string: font.to_string(),
-                    positions: Vec::new(),
-                    score: 0.0,
-                })
-                .collect(),
+            fonts,
+            filtered_fonts,
             selected_index,
             current_font,
             on_font_changed: Arc::new(on_font_changed),
diff --git a/crates/onboarding/src/onboarding.rs b/crates/onboarding/src/onboarding.rs
index 7f1bb81d4d7486ea85e23dedcb763e238d53b2f3..9dcf27c7cbebf6621bbeb558619944c768e63fb6 100644
--- a/crates/onboarding/src/onboarding.rs
+++ b/crates/onboarding/src/onboarding.rs
@@ -242,12 +242,25 @@ struct Onboarding {
 
 impl Onboarding {
     fn new(workspace: &Workspace, cx: &mut App) -> Entity<Self> {
-        cx.new(|cx| Self {
-            workspace: workspace.weak_handle(),
-            focus_handle: cx.focus_handle(),
-            selected_page: SelectedPage::Basics,
-            user_store: workspace.user_store().clone(),
-            _settings_subscription: cx.observe_global::<SettingsStore>(move |_, cx| cx.notify()),
+        let font_family_cache = theme::FontFamilyCache::global(cx);
+
+        cx.new(|cx| {
+            cx.spawn(async move |this, cx| {
+                font_family_cache.prefetch(cx).await;
+                this.update(cx, |_, cx| {
+                    cx.notify();
+                })
+            })
+            .detach();
+
+            Self {
+                workspace: workspace.weak_handle(),
+                focus_handle: cx.focus_handle(),
+                selected_page: SelectedPage::Basics,
+                user_store: workspace.user_store().clone(),
+                _settings_subscription: cx
+                    .observe_global::<SettingsStore>(move |_, cx| cx.notify()),
+            }
         })
     }
 
diff --git a/crates/settings/src/settings_ui_core.rs b/crates/settings/src/settings_ui_core.rs
index 896a8bc038bdd8e495cdb6161212f9c722d54f14..e056dfbd5af486e19e2b3e8cfc038dd85c0a2549 100644
--- a/crates/settings/src/settings_ui_core.rs
+++ b/crates/settings/src/settings_ui_core.rs
@@ -78,6 +78,7 @@ impl SettingsValue<serde_json::Value> {
         let fs = <dyn Fs>::global(cx);
 
         let rx = settings_store.update_settings_file_at_path(fs.clone(), path.as_slice(), value);
+
         let path = path.clone();
         cx.background_spawn(async move {
             rx.await?
diff --git a/crates/theme/src/font_family_cache.rs b/crates/theme/src/font_family_cache.rs
index fecaf5b360a91beca3fceb564c87973d6f676384..411cf9b4d41359f4da4520061ac46c984bdd08f2 100644
--- a/crates/theme/src/font_family_cache.rs
+++ b/crates/theme/src/font_family_cache.rs
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ struct FontFamilyCacheState {
 /// so we do it once and then use the cached values each render.
 #[derive(Default)]
 pub struct FontFamilyCache {
-    state: RwLock<FontFamilyCacheState>,
+    state: Arc<RwLock<FontFamilyCacheState>>,
 }
 
 #[derive(Default)]
@@ -52,4 +52,44 @@ impl FontFamilyCache {
 
         lock.font_families.clone()
     }
+
+    /// Returns the list of font families if they have been loaded
+    pub fn try_list_font_families(&self) -> Option<Vec<SharedString>> {
+        self.state
+            .try_read()
+            .filter(|state| state.loaded_at.is_some())
+            .map(|state| state.font_families.clone())
+    }
+
+    /// Prefetch all font names in the background
+    pub async fn prefetch(&self, cx: &gpui::AsyncApp) {
+        if self
+            .state
+            .try_read()
+            .is_none_or(|state| state.loaded_at.is_some())
+        {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        let Ok(text_system) = cx.update(|cx| App::text_system(cx).clone()) else {
+            return;
+        };
+
+        let state = self.state.clone();
+
+        cx.background_executor()
+            .spawn(async move {
+                // We take this lock in the background executor to ensure that synchronous calls to `list_font_families` are blocked while we are prefetching,
+                // while not blocking the main thread and risking deadlocks
+                let mut lock = state.write();
+                let all_font_names = text_system
+                    .all_font_names()
+                    .into_iter()
+                    .map(SharedString::from)
+                    .collect();
+                lock.font_families = all_font_names;
+                lock.loaded_at = Some(Instant::now());
+            })
+            .await;
+    }
 }