diff --git a/frontend_tests/node_tests/reload.js b/frontend_tests/node_tests/reload.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..68d5c6077c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend_tests/node_tests/reload.js
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+"use strict";
+
+const {strict: assert} = require("assert");
+
+const {zrequire} = require("../zjsunit/namespace");
+// override file-level function call in reload.js
+window.addEventListener = () => {};
+const reload = zrequire("reload");
+const {run_test} = require("../zjsunit/test");
+
+run_test("old_metadata_string_is_stale", () => {
+    assert.ok(reload.is_stale_refresh_token("1663886962834", "1663883954033"), true);
+});
+
+run_test("recent_token_is_not_stale ", () => {
+    assert.ok(
+        !reload.is_stale_refresh_token(
+            {
+                url: "#reload:234234235234",
+                timestamp: Date.parse("21 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT"),
+            },
+            Date.parse("23 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT"),
+        ),
+    );
+});
+
+run_test("old_token_is_stale ", () => {
+    assert.ok(
+        reload.is_stale_refresh_token(
+            {
+                url: "#reload:234234235234",
+                timestamp: Date.parse("13 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT"),
+            },
+            Date.parse("23 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT"),
+        ),
+    );
+});
diff --git a/static/js/localstorage.js b/static/js/localstorage.js
index 68dcdf5930..475dc8d010 100644
--- a/static/js/localstorage.js
+++ b/static/js/localstorage.js
@@ -63,10 +63,14 @@ const ls = {
         localStorage.removeItem(key);
     },
 
-    // Remove keys which match a regex.
-    removeDataRegex(version, regex) {
+    // Remove keys which (1) map to a value that satisfies a
+    // property tested by `condition_checker` and (2) which match
+    // the pattern given by `name`.
+    removeDataRegexWithCondition(version, regex, condition_checker) {
         const key_regex = new RegExp(this.formGetter(version, regex));
-        const keys = Object.keys(localStorage).filter((key) => key_regex.test(key));
+        const keys = Object.keys(localStorage).filter(
+            (key) => key_regex.test(key) && condition_checker(localStorage.getItem(key)),
+        );
 
         for (const key of keys) {
             localStorage.removeItem(key);
@@ -141,9 +145,11 @@ export const localstorage = function () {
             ls.removeData(_data.VERSION, name);
         },
 
-        // Remove keys which match the pattern given by name.
-        removeRegex(name) {
-            ls.removeDataRegex(_data.VERSION, name);
+        // Remove keys which (1) map to a value that satisfies a
+        // property tested by `condition_checker` AND (2) which
+        // match the pattern given by `name`.
+        removeDataRegexWithCondition(name, condition_checker) {
+            ls.removeDataRegexWithCondition(_data.VERSION, name, condition_checker);
         },
 
         migrate(name, v1, v2, callback) {
diff --git a/static/js/reload.js b/static/js/reload.js
index 378371235b..8274bc3388 100644
--- a/static/js/reload.js
+++ b/static/js/reload.js
@@ -86,9 +86,9 @@ function preserve_state(send_after_reload, save_pointer, save_narrow, save_compo
 
     url += hash_util.build_reload_url();
 
+    // Delete unused states that have been around for a while.
     const ls = localstorage();
-    // Delete all the previous preserved states.
-    ls.removeRegex("reload:\\d+");
+    delete_stale_tokens(ls);
 
     // To protect the browser against CSRF type attacks, the reload
     // logic uses a random token (to distinct this browser from
@@ -99,11 +99,40 @@ function preserve_state(send_after_reload, save_pointer, save_narrow, save_compo
     // TODO: Remove the now-unnecessary URL-encoding logic above and
     // just pass the actual data structures through local storage.
     const token = util.random_int(0, 1024 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024);
-
-    ls.set("reload:" + token, url);
+    const metadata = {
+        url,
+        timestamp: Date.now(),
+    };
+    ls.set("reload:" + token, metadata);
     window.location.replace("#reload:" + token);
 }
 
+export function is_stale_refresh_token(token_metadata, now) {
+    // TODO/compatibility: the metadata was changed from a string
+    // to a map containing the string and a timestamp. For now we'll
+    // delete all tokens that only contain the url. Remove this
+    // early return once you can no longer directly upgrade from
+    // Zulip 5.x to the current version.
+    if (!token_metadata.timestamp) {
+        return true;
+    }
+
+    // The time between reload token generation and use should usually be
+    // fewer than 30 seconds, but we keep tokens around for a week just in case
+    // (e.g. a tab could fail to load and be refreshed a while later).
+    const milliseconds_in_a_day = 1000 * 60 * 60 * 24;
+    const timedelta = now - token_metadata.timestamp;
+    const days_since_token_creation = timedelta / milliseconds_in_a_day;
+    return days_since_token_creation > 7;
+}
+
+function delete_stale_tokens(ls) {
+    const now = Date.now();
+    ls.removeDataRegexWithCondition("reload:\\d+", (metadata) =>
+        is_stale_refresh_token(metadata, now),
+    );
+}
+
 // Check if we're doing a compose-preserving reload.  This must be
 // done before the first call to get_events
 export function initialize() {
@@ -129,7 +158,12 @@ export function initialize() {
     }
     ls.remove(hash_fragment);
 
-    [, fragment] = /^#reload:(.*)/.exec(fragment);
+    // TODO/compatibility: `fragment` was changed from a string
+    // to a map containing the string and a timestamp. For now we'll
+    // delete all tokens that only contain the url. Remove the
+    // `|| fragment` once you can no longer directly upgrade
+    // from Zulip 5.x to the current version.
+    [, fragment] = /^#reload:(.*)/.exec(fragment.url || fragment);
     const keyvals = fragment.split("+");
     const vars = {};