diff --git a/package/swupdate/swupdate.mk b/package/swupdate/swupdate.mk
index 237a44e233..2b51edb66d 100644
--- a/package/swupdate/swupdate.mk
+++ b/package/swupdate/swupdate.mk
@@ -110,6 +110,10 @@ SWUPDATE_MAKE_ENV += HAVE_MBEDTLS=n
 endif
 endif
 
+ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_SYSTEMD),y)
+SWUPDATE_DEPENDENCIES += systemd
+endif
+
 ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_UBOOT_TOOLS),y)
 SWUPDATE_DEPENDENCIES += uboot-tools
 SWUPDATE_MAKE_ENV += HAVE_LIBUBOOTENV=y