diff --git a/web/apps/photos/src/pages/_app.tsx b/web/apps/photos/src/pages/_app.tsx
index a816d0b462..4157634aa5 100644
--- a/web/apps/photos/src/pages/_app.tsx
+++ b/web/apps/photos/src/pages/_app.tsx
@@ -50,11 +50,9 @@ import { createContext, useContext, useEffect, useRef, useState } from "react";
 import LoadingBar from "react-top-loading-bar";
 import DownloadManager from "services/download";
 import { resumeExportsIfNeeded } from "services/export";
+import { isFaceIndexingEnabled } from "services/face/indexer";
 import { photosLogout } from "services/logout";
-import {
-    getMLSearchConfig,
-    updateMLSearchConfig,
-} from "services/machineLearning/machineLearningService";
+import { updateMLSearchConfig } from "services/machineLearning/machineLearningService";
 import mlWorkManager from "services/machineLearning/mlWorkManager";
 import {
     getFamilyPortalRedirectURL,
@@ -186,9 +184,9 @@ export default function App({ Component, pageProps }: AppProps) {
         }
         const loadMlSearchState = async () => {
             try {
-                const mlSearchConfig = await getMLSearchConfig();
-                setMlSearchEnabled(mlSearchConfig.enabled);
-                mlWorkManager.setMlSearchEnabled(mlSearchConfig.enabled);
+                const enabled = await isFaceIndexingEnabled();
+                setMlSearchEnabled(enabled);
+                mlWorkManager.setMlSearchEnabled(enabled);
             } catch (e) {
                 log.error("Error while loading mlSearchEnabled", e);
             }
@@ -286,8 +284,7 @@ export default function App({ Component, pageProps }: AppProps) {
     const showNavBar = (show: boolean) => setShowNavBar(show);
     const updateMlSearchEnabled = async (enabled: boolean) => {
         try {
-            const mlSearchConfig = await getMLSearchConfig();
-            mlSearchConfig.enabled = enabled;
+            const mlSearchConfig = { enabled };
             await updateMLSearchConfig(mlSearchConfig);
             setMlSearchEnabled(enabled);
             mlWorkManager.setMlSearchEnabled(enabled);
diff --git a/web/apps/photos/src/services/face/indexer.ts b/web/apps/photos/src/services/face/indexer.ts
index 7436986144..5d5947983f 100644
--- a/web/apps/photos/src/services/face/indexer.ts
+++ b/web/apps/photos/src/services/face/indexer.ts
@@ -225,16 +225,17 @@ export const unidentifiedFaceIDs = async (
  * on any client. This {@link isFaceIndexingEnabled} property, on the other
  * hand, denotes whether or not indexing is enabled on the current client.
  */
-export const isFaceIndexingEnabled = () => {
+export const isFaceIndexingEnabled = async () => {
     if (isInternalUserForML()) {
-        return mlIDbStorage.getConfig(
+        const config = await mlIDbStorage.getConfig(
             ML_SEARCH_CONFIG_NAME,
             DEFAULT_ML_SEARCH_CONFIG,
         );
+        return config.enabled;
     }
     // Force disabled for everyone else while we finalize it to avoid redundant
     // reindexing for users.
-    return DEFAULT_ML_SEARCH_CONFIG;
+    return false;
 };
 
 export const setIsFaceIndexingEnabled = (enabled: boolean) => {
diff --git a/web/apps/photos/src/services/machineLearning/machineLearningService.ts b/web/apps/photos/src/services/machineLearning/machineLearningService.ts
index f952a3202e..8b07e72538 100644
--- a/web/apps/photos/src/services/machineLearning/machineLearningService.ts
+++ b/web/apps/photos/src/services/machineLearning/machineLearningService.ts
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ import mlIDbStorage, {
     ML_SEARCH_CONFIG_NAME,
     type MinimalPersistedFileData,
 } from "services/face/db-old";
-import { isFaceIndexingEnabled } from "services/face/indexer";
 import { FaceIndexerWorker } from "services/face/indexer.worker";
 import { getLocalFiles } from "services/fileService";
 import { EnteFile } from "types/file";
@@ -24,10 +23,6 @@ export const DEFAULT_ML_SEARCH_CONFIG: MLSearchConfig = {
     enabled: false,
 };
 
-export async function getMLSearchConfig() {
-    return isFaceIndexingEnabled();
-}
-
 export async function updateMLSearchConfig(newConfig: MLSearchConfig) {
     return mlIDbStorage.putConfig(ML_SEARCH_CONFIG_NAME, newConfig);
 }