diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 5c96188..73b28af 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -61,6 +61,9 @@ A: Go to http://code.earthengine.google.com and make sure you can access code ed
 - [x] Fixed the authentication dialog when the url shortener doesn't work by any reason [#66](https://github.com/gee-community/qgis-earthengine-plugin/issues/66)
 - [x] Fix loading extra python dependencies to the plugin, fix [#62](https://github.com/gee-community/qgis-earthengine-plugin/issues/62)
 
+#### Alpha 0.0.4 (Q1 2021) :heavy_check_mark:
+- [x] Minor bugfix release (EE authentication)
+
 #### 1.0.0 (Q2 2021) :hourglass:
 - [ ] EE vector layer inspector
 - [ ] EE raster collection layer inspector
diff --git a/ee_plugin.py b/ee_plugin.py
index 891d8ef..36751ea 100644
--- a/ee_plugin.py
+++ b/ee_plugin.py
@@ -130,8 +130,16 @@ def updateLayers(self):
             ee_object = l.customProperty('ee-object')
             ee_object_vis = l.customProperty('ee-object-vis')
 
+            # check for backward-compatibility, older file formats (before 0.0.3) store ee-objects in ee-script property an no ee-object-vis is stored
+            # also, it seems that JSON representation of persistent object has been changed, making it difficult to read older EE JSON
+            if ee_object is None:
+                print('\nWARNING:\n Map layer saved with older version of EE plugin is detected, backward-compatibility for versions before 0.0.3 is not supported due to changes in EE library, please re-create EE layer by re-running the Python script\n')
+                return
+
             ee_object = ee.deserializer.fromJSON(ee_object)
-            ee_object_vis = json.loads(ee_object_vis)
+
+            if ee_object_vis is not None:
+                ee_object_vis = json.loads(ee_object_vis)
             
             # update loaded EE layer
 
diff --git a/metadata.txt b/metadata.txt
index cd9106e..0b0979f 100644
--- a/metadata.txt
+++ b/metadata.txt
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 name=Google Earth Engine
 qgisMinimumVersion=3.8
 description=Integrates QGIS with Google Earth Engine
-version=0.0.3
+version=0.0.4
 author=Gennadii Donchyts
 email=gennadiy.donchyts@gmail.com