diff --git a/src/components/settings_modal/helpers/setting.js b/src/components/settings_modal/helpers/setting.js
index 1082dcfa9..fc5f89175 100644
--- a/src/components/settings_modal/helpers/setting.js
+++ b/src/components/settings_modal/helpers/setting.js
@@ -322,9 +322,8 @@ export default {
       switch (this.realSource) {
         case 'profile':
           return {}
-        default: {
-          return get(useSyncConfigStore().mergedConfigDefault, this.path)
-        }
+        default:
+          return get(useInstanceStore().prefsStorage, this.path)
       }
     },
     isProfileSetting() {
diff --git a/src/stores/instance.js b/src/stores/instance.js
index c893cab64..76ad22fb5 100644
--- a/src/stores/instance.js
+++ b/src/stores/instance.js
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ import { defineStore } from 'pinia'
 import { instanceDefaultProperties } from '../modules/config.js'
 import {
   instanceDefaultConfig,
-  defaultConfigLocal,
   staticOrApiConfigDefault,
 } from '../modules/default_config_state.js'
 import apiService from '../services/api/api.service.js'
@@ -56,7 +55,6 @@ const defaultState = {
   // Instance admins can override default settings for the whole instance
   prefsStorage: {
     ...instanceDefaultConfig,
-    ...defaultConfigLocal,
   },
 
   // Known domains list for user's domain-muting
diff --git a/src/stores/sync_config.js b/src/stores/sync_config.js
index 84011e2cf..7a7afe36c 100644
--- a/src/stores/sync_config.js
+++ b/src/stores/sync_config.js
@@ -758,18 +758,6 @@ export const useSyncConfigStore = defineStore('sync_config', {
       )
       return result
     },
-    mergedConfigDefault: (state) => {
-      const instancePrefs = useInstanceStore().prefsStorage
-      const result = Object.fromEntries(
-        Object.entries(state.prefsStorage.simple).map(([k, value]) => [
-          k,
-          LOCAL_ONLY_KEYS.has(k)
-            ? (instancePrefs[k] ?? defaultConfigLocal[k])
-            : (instancePrefs[k] ?? instanceDefaultConfig[k]),
-        ]),
-      )
-      return result
-    },
     mergedConfigWithoutDefaults: (state) => {
       const localPrefs = useLocalConfigStore().prefsStorage
       const result = Object.fromEntries(