diff --git a/apps/src/uptime.c b/apps/src/uptime.c
index 4ee27daa..03e1ac01 100644
--- a/apps/src/uptime.c
+++ b/apps/src/uptime.c
@@ -10,17 +10,15 @@ int main()
         return 1;
     }
 
-    char buf[4096];
-    size_t nread = fread(buf, sizeof(buf) - 1, 1, fp);
+    char buf[32];
+    fgets(buf, sizeof(buf), fp);
 
     if (ferror(fp))
     {
-        perror("fread");
+        perror("fgets");
         return 1;
     }
 
-    buf[nread] = 0; // null terminate it :)
-
     long ms_uptime = atol(buf);
 
     printf("up for %ld seconds\n", ms_uptime / 1000);