diff --git a/src/yunohost/service.py b/src/yunohost/service.py
index 1f77e3545..fe3ea830f 100644
--- a/src/yunohost/service.py
+++ b/src/yunohost/service.py
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ def service_add(name, description=None, log=None, log_type=None, test_status=Non
     if not description:
         # Try to get the description from systemd service
         unit, _ = _get_service_information_from_systemd(name)
-        description = unit.get("Description", "") if unit is not None else ""
+        description = str(unit.get("Description", "")) if unit is not None else ""
         # If the service does not yet exists or if the description is empty,
         # systemd will anyway return foo.service as default value, so we wanna
         # make sure there's actually something here.
diff --git a/src/yunohost/tests/test_service.py b/src/yunohost/tests/test_service.py
index ffe3629c5..c51073c54 100644
--- a/src/yunohost/tests/test_service.py
+++ b/src/yunohost/tests/test_service.py
@@ -25,7 +25,11 @@ def clean():
 
     if "dummyservice" in services:
         del services["dummyservice"]
-        _save_services(services)
+
+    if "networking" in services:
+        del services["networking"]
+
+    _save_services(services)
 
 
 def test_service_status_all():
@@ -60,6 +64,10 @@ def test_service_add():
     service_add("dummyservice", description="A dummy service to run tests")
     assert "dummyservice" in service_status().keys()
 
+def test_service_add_real_service()
+
+    service_add("networking")
+    assert "networking" in service_status().keys()
 
 def test_service_remove():