diff --git a/appview/ingester.go b/appview/ingester.go
--- a/appview/ingester.go
+++ b/appview/ingester.go
@@ -347,6 +347,7 @@
 		if err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("failed to start transaction")
 		}
+		defer tx.Rollback()
 
 		err = db.ValidateProfile(tx, &profile)
 		if err != nil {
@@ -354,6 +355,11 @@
 		}
 
 		err = db.UpsertProfile(tx, &profile)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("upserting profile: %w", err)
+		}
+
+		err = tx.Commit()
 	case jmodels.CommitOperationDelete:
 		err = db.DeleteArtifact(i.Db, orm.FilterEq("did", did), orm.FilterEq("rkey", e.Commit.RKey))
 	}
diff --git a/appview/db/profile.go b/appview/db/profile.go
--- a/appview/db/profile.go
+++ b/appview/db/profile.go
@@ -131,8 +131,6 @@
 }
 
 func UpsertProfile(tx *sql.Tx, profile *models.Profile) error {
-	defer tx.Rollback()
-
 	// update links
 	_, err := tx.Exec(`delete from profile_links where did = ?`, profile.Did)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -228,8 +226,7 @@
 			return err
 		}
 	}
-
-	return tx.Commit()
+	return nil
 }
 
 func GetProfiles(e Execer, filters ...orm.Filter) (map[string]*models.Profile, error) {
diff --git a/appview/state/profile.go b/appview/state/profile.go
--- a/appview/state/profile.go
+++ b/appview/state/profile.go
@@ -661,6 +661,14 @@
 		s.pages.Notice(w, "update-profile", "Failed to update profile, try again later.")
 		return
 	}
+	defer tx.Rollback()
+
+	err = db.UpsertProfile(tx, profile)
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Println("failed to update profile", err)
+		s.pages.Notice(w, "update-profile", "Failed to update profile, try again later.")
+		return
+	}
 
 	client, err := s.oauth.AuthorizedClient(r)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -709,11 +717,10 @@
 		return
 	}
 
-	err = db.UpsertProfile(tx, profile)
-	if err != nil {
-		log.Println("failed to update profile", err)
-		s.pages.Notice(w, "update-profile", "Failed to update profile, try again later.")
-		return
+	if err := tx.Commit(); err != nil {
+		s.logger.Error("failed to commit transaction", "err", err)
+		// db failed, but PDS operation succeed.
+		// log error and continue
 	}
 
 	s.notifier.UpdateProfile(r.Context(), profile)