diff --git a/cmd/headscale/cli/utils.go b/cmd/headscale/cli/utils.go
index a872ec51..662196e7 100644
--- a/cmd/headscale/cli/utils.go
+++ b/cmd/headscale/cli/utils.go
@@ -121,9 +121,12 @@ func getHeadscaleApp() (*headscale.Headscale, error) {
 	}
 
 	// We are doing this here, as in the future could be cool to have it also hot-reload
-	err = h.LoadACLPolicy(absPath(viper.GetString("acl_policy_path")))
-	if err != nil {
-		log.Printf("Could not load the ACL policy: %s", err)
+
+	if viper.GetString("acl_policy_path") != "" {
+		err = h.LoadACLPolicy(absPath(viper.GetString("acl_policy_path")))
+		if err != nil {
+			log.Printf("Could not load the ACL policy: %s", err)
+		}
 	}
 
 	return h, nil