diff --git a/web/apps/photos/src/services/face/indexer.ts b/web/apps/photos/src/services/face/indexer.ts
index 41d3fefd7d..509037e101 100644
--- a/web/apps/photos/src/services/face/indexer.ts
+++ b/web/apps/photos/src/services/face/indexer.ts
@@ -221,9 +221,12 @@ export const setIsFaceIndexingEnabled = async (enabled: boolean) => {
     else localStorage.removeItem("faceIndexingEnabled");
 };
 
+export type IndexableEnteFile = { enteFile: EnteFile; isHidden: boolean };
+
 /**
  * Sync face DB with the local indexable files that we know about. Then return
- * the next {@link count} files that still need to be indexed.
+ * the next {@link count} files that still need to be indexed alongwith a flag
+ * for whether they are currently hidden.
  *
  * For more specifics of what a "sync" entails, see
  * {@link syncWithLocalFiles}.
@@ -232,7 +235,10 @@ export const setIsFaceIndexingEnabled = async (enabled: boolean) => {
  *
  * @param count Limit the resulting list of files to {@link count}.
  */
-export const syncAndGetFilesToIndex = async (userID: number, count: number) => {
+export const syncAndGetFilesToIndex = async (
+    userID: number,
+    count: number,
+): Promise<IndexableEnteFile[]> => {
     const indexableTypes = [FILE_TYPE.IMAGE, FILE_TYPE.LIVE_PHOTO];
     const isIndexable = (f: EnteFile) =>
         f.ownerID == userID && indexableTypes.includes(f.metadata.fileType);
@@ -253,10 +259,12 @@ export const syncAndGetFilesToIndex = async (userID: number, count: number) => {
     );
 
     const fileIDsToIndex = await indexableFileIDs(count);
-    return fileIDsToIndex.map((id) =>
-        ensure(
-            indexableNormalFilesByID.get(id) ??
-                indexableHiddenFilesByID.get(id),
-        ),
-    );
+    return fileIDsToIndex.map((id) => {
+        const f = indexableNormalFilesByID.get(id);
+        if (f) return { enteFile: f, isHidden: false };
+        return {
+            enteFile: ensure(indexableHiddenFilesByID.get(id)),
+            isHidden: true,
+        };
+    });
 };
diff --git a/web/apps/photos/src/services/machineLearning/machineLearningService.ts b/web/apps/photos/src/services/machineLearning/machineLearningService.ts
index b4536d2b46..2b16b7b255 100644
--- a/web/apps/photos/src/services/machineLearning/machineLearningService.ts
+++ b/web/apps/photos/src/services/machineLearning/machineLearningService.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,10 @@
 import log from "@/next/log";
 import { CustomError, parseUploadErrorCodes } from "@ente/shared/error";
 import PQueue from "p-queue";
-import { syncAndGetFilesToIndex } from "services/face/indexer";
+import {
+    syncAndGetFilesToIndex,
+    type IndexableEnteFile,
+} from "services/face/indexer";
 import { FaceIndexerWorker } from "services/face/indexer.worker";
 import { EnteFile } from "types/file";
 
@@ -13,7 +16,7 @@ class MLSyncContext {
     public userAgent: string;
 
     public localFilesMap: Map<number, EnteFile>;
-    public outOfSyncFiles: EnteFile[];
+    public outOfSyncFiles: IndexableEnteFile[];
     public nSyncedFiles: number;
     public error?: Error;
 
@@ -138,12 +141,18 @@ class MachineLearningService {
     }
 
     public async syncLocalFile(
+        // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-unused-vars
         token: string,
+        // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-unused-vars
         userID: number,
+        // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-unused-vars
         userAgent: string,
+        // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-unused-vars
         enteFile: EnteFile,
+        // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-unused-vars
         localFile?: globalThis.File,
     ) {
+        /* TODO-ML(MR): Currently not used
         const syncContext = await this.getLocalSyncContext(
             token,
             userID,
@@ -164,15 +173,21 @@ class MachineLearningService {
         } catch (e) {
             console.error("Error while syncing local file: ", enteFile.id, e);
         }
+        */
     }
 
     private async syncFileWithErrorHandler(
         syncContext: MLSyncContext,
-        enteFile: EnteFile,
+        { enteFile, isHidden }: IndexableEnteFile,
         localFile?: globalThis.File,
     ) {
         try {
-            await this.syncFile(enteFile, localFile, syncContext.userAgent);
+            await this.syncFile(
+                enteFile,
+                localFile,
+                isHidden,
+                syncContext.userAgent,
+            );
             syncContext.nSyncedFiles += 1;
         } catch (e) {
             let error = e;
@@ -197,11 +212,12 @@ class MachineLearningService {
     private async syncFile(
         enteFile: EnteFile,
         file: File | undefined,
+        isHidden: boolean,
         userAgent: string,
     ) {
         const worker = new FaceIndexerWorker();
 
-        await worker.index(enteFile, file, userAgent);
+        await worker.index(enteFile, file, isHidden, userAgent);
     }
 }