diff --git a/autotests/integration/helper/kill.cpp b/autotests/integration/helper/kill.cpp
--- a/autotests/integration/helper/kill.cpp
+++ b/autotests/integration/helper/kill.cpp
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 This file is part of the KDE project.
 
 Copyright (C) 2016 Martin Gräßlin <mgraesslin@kde.org>
+Copyright (C) 2019 David Edmundson <davidedmundson@kde.org>
 
 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
@@ -23,22 +24,23 @@
 #include <QWidget>
 #include <unistd.h>
 
+#include <signal.h>
+
 int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 {
     qputenv("QT_QPA_PLATFORM", QByteArrayLiteral("wayland"));
     QApplication app(argc, argv);
     QWidget w;
     w.setGeometry(QRect(0, 0, 100, 200));
     w.show();
 
-    //after showing the window block the main thread
-    //1 as we want it to come after the singleshots in qApp construction
-    QTimer::singleShot(1, []() {
-        //block
+    auto freezeHandler = [](int) {
         while(true) {
-            sleep(100000);
+            sleep(10000);
         }
-    });
+    };
+
+    signal(SIGUSR1, freezeHandler);
 
     return app.exec();
 }
diff --git a/autotests/integration/shell_client_test.cpp b/autotests/integration/shell_client_test.cpp
--- a/autotests/integration/shell_client_test.cpp
+++ b/autotests/integration/shell_client_test.cpp
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 This file is part of the KDE project.
 
 Copyright (C) 2016 Martin Gräßlin <mgraesslin@kde.org>
+Copyright (C) 2019 David Edmundson <davidedmundson@kde.org>
 
 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
@@ -48,6 +49,7 @@
 #include <sys/types.h>
 #include <sys/socket.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
+#include <signal.h>
 
 using namespace KWin;
 using namespace KWayland::Client;
@@ -1133,7 +1135,10 @@
     if (shellClientAddedSpy.isEmpty()) {
         QVERIFY(shellClientAddedSpy.wait());
     }
+    ::kill(process->processId(), SIGUSR1); // send a signal to freeze the process
+
     killClient = shellClientAddedSpy.first().first().value<AbstractClient*>();
+    QVERIFY(killClient);
     QSignalSpy unresponsiveSpy(killClient, &AbstractClient::unresponsiveChanged);
     QSignalSpy killedSpy(process.data(), static_cast<void(QProcess::*)(int,QProcess::ExitStatus)>(&QProcess::finished));
     QSignalSpy deletedSpy(killClient, &QObject::destroyed);