diff --git a/roles/mote/tasks/main.yml b/roles/mote/tasks/main.yml
index 9518be815b..b5829399d5 100644
--- a/roles/mote/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/roles/mote/tasks/main.yml
@@ -23,6 +23,13 @@
   notify:
   - restart apache
 
+- name: start mote-updater service
+  service: name={{ item }} state=started
+  with_items:
+  - mote-updater
+  tags:
+  - services
+
 - name: apply selinux type to static files
   file: >
     dest=/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/mote/static/