diff --git a/web/apps/photos/src/components/Sidebar/index.tsx b/web/apps/photos/src/components/Sidebar/index.tsx
index 92a69b1ae1..489536e085 100644
--- a/web/apps/photos/src/components/Sidebar/index.tsx
+++ b/web/apps/photos/src/components/Sidebar/index.tsx
@@ -83,7 +83,6 @@ import {
 } from "utils/billing";
 import { openLink } from "utils/common";
 import { getDownloadAppMessage } from "utils/ui";
-import { isInternalUser } from "utils/user";
 import { isFamilyAdmin, isPartOfFamily } from "utils/user/family";
 import { testUpload } from "../../../tests/upload.test";
 import { MemberSubscriptionManage } from "../MemberSubscriptionManage";
@@ -553,7 +552,7 @@ const UtilitySection: React.FC<UtilitySectionProps> = ({ closeSidebar }) => {
                 onClick={openRecoveryKeyModal}
                 label={t("RECOVERY_KEY")}
             />
-            {isInternalUser() && (
+            {isInternalUserViaEmailCheck() && (
                 <EnteMenuItem
                     onClick={toggleTheme}
                     variant="secondary"
@@ -572,7 +571,7 @@ const UtilitySection: React.FC<UtilitySectionProps> = ({ closeSidebar }) => {
                 label={t("TWO_FACTOR")}
             />
 
-            {isInternalUser() && (
+            {isInternalUserViaEmailCheck() && (
                 <EnteMenuItem
                     variant="secondary"
                     onClick={redirectToAccountsPage}
@@ -768,7 +767,7 @@ const DebugSection: React.FC = () => {
                     {appVersion}
                 </Typography>
             )}
-            {isInternalUser() && (
+            {isInternalUserViaEmailCheck() && (
                 <EnteMenuItem
                     variant="secondary"
                     onClick={testUpload}
@@ -778,3 +777,11 @@ const DebugSection: React.FC = () => {
         </>
     );
 };
+
+// TODO: Legacy synchronous check, use the one for feature-flags.ts instead.
+const isInternalUserViaEmailCheck = () => {
+    const userEmail = getData(LS_KEYS.USER)?.email;
+    if (!userEmail) return false;
+
+    return userEmail.endsWith("@ente.io");
+};
diff --git a/web/apps/photos/src/pages/gallery/index.tsx b/web/apps/photos/src/pages/gallery/index.tsx
index 130c66141b..d63a33c14e 100644
--- a/web/apps/photos/src/pages/gallery/index.tsx
+++ b/web/apps/photos/src/pages/gallery/index.tsx
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import { fetchAndSaveFeatureFlagsIfNeeded } from "@/new/photos/services/feature-flags";
 import log from "@/next/log";
 import { APPS } from "@ente/shared/apps/constants";
 import { CenteredFlex } from "@ente/shared/components/Container";
@@ -87,7 +88,6 @@ import {
 import downloadManager from "services/download";
 import { syncCLIPEmbeddings } from "services/embeddingService";
 import { syncEntities } from "services/entityService";
-import { fetchAndSaveFeatureFlagsIfNeeded } from "@/new/photos/services/feature-flags";
 import { getLocalFiles, syncFiles } from "services/fileService";
 import locationSearchService from "services/locationSearchService";
 import { getLocalTrashedFiles, syncTrash } from "services/trashService";
@@ -720,7 +720,7 @@ export default function Gallery() {
                 await syncCLIPEmbeddings();
                 // TODO-ML(MR): Disable fetch until we start storing it in the
                 // same place as the local ones.
-                // if (isInternalUserForML()) await syncFaceEmbeddings();
+                // if (isFaceIndexingEnabled()) await syncFaceEmbeddings();
             }
             if (clipService.isPlatformSupported()) {
                 void clipService.scheduleImageEmbeddingExtraction();
diff --git a/web/apps/photos/src/services/face/indexer.ts b/web/apps/photos/src/services/face/indexer.ts
index b49c4dc053..5314a15e0b 100644
--- a/web/apps/photos/src/services/face/indexer.ts
+++ b/web/apps/photos/src/services/face/indexer.ts
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ import { ensure } from "@/utils/ensure";
 import type { Remote } from "comlink";
 import { getAllLocalFiles } from "services/fileService";
 import type { EnteFile } from "types/file";
-import { isInternalUserForML } from "utils/user";
 import {
     faceIndex,
     indexableFileIDs,
@@ -202,7 +201,7 @@ export const unidentifiedFaceIDs = async (
  * face search in the UI.
  */
 export const canEnableFaceIndexing = async () =>
-    isInternalUserForML() || (await isInternalUser()) || (await isBetaUser());
+    (await isInternalUser()) || (await isBetaUser());
 
 /**
  * Return true if the user has enabled face indexing in the app's settings.
diff --git a/web/apps/photos/src/utils/user/index.ts b/web/apps/photos/src/utils/user/index.ts
index 0f8ef142fb..adb463b502 100644
--- a/web/apps/photos/src/utils/user/index.ts
+++ b/web/apps/photos/src/utils/user/index.ts
@@ -1,21 +1,7 @@
 import { getData, LS_KEYS } from "@ente/shared/storage/localStorage";
-import type { User } from "@ente/shared/user/types";
 import { UserDetails } from "types/user";
 
 export function getLocalUserDetails(): UserDetails {
     return getData(LS_KEYS.USER_DETAILS)?.value;
 }
 
-export const isInternalUser = () => {
-    const userEmail = getData(LS_KEYS.USER)?.email;
-    if (!userEmail) return false;
-
-    return userEmail.endsWith("@ente.io");
-};
-
-export const isInternalUserForML = () => {
-    const userID = (getData(LS_KEYS.USER) as User)?.id;
-    if (userID == 1 || userID == 2) return true;
-
-    return isInternalUser();
-};
diff --git a/web/packages/new/photos/services/feature-flags.ts b/web/packages/new/photos/services/feature-flags.ts
index ae71343b98..419c6baf26 100644
--- a/web/packages/new/photos/services/feature-flags.ts
+++ b/web/packages/new/photos/services/feature-flags.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+import { isDevBuild } from "@/next/env";
+import { localUser } from "@/next/local-user";
 import log from "@/next/log";
 import { ensure } from "@/utils/ensure";
 import { nullToUndefined } from "@/utils/transform";
@@ -105,14 +107,28 @@ const remoteFeatureFlagsFetchingIfNeeded = async () => {
 
 /**
  * Return `true` if the current user is marked as an "internal" user.
+ *
+ * 1. Everyone is considered as an internal user in dev builds.
+ * 2. Emails that end in `@ente.io` are always considered as internal users.
+ * 3. If the "internalUser" remote feature flag is set, the user is internal.
+ * 4. Otherwise false.
+ *
+ * See also: [Note: Feature Flags].
  */
 export const isInternalUser = async () => {
+    if (isDevBuild) return true;
+
+    const user = localUser();
+    if (user?.email.endsWith("@ente.io")) return true;
+
     const flags = await remoteFeatureFlagsFetchingIfNeeded();
     return flags?.internalUser ?? false;
 };
 
 /**
  * Return `true` if the current user is marked as a "beta" user.
+ *
+ * See also: [Note: Feature Flags].
  */
 export const isBetaUser = async () => {
     const flags = await remoteFeatureFlagsFetchingIfNeeded();