diff --git a/src/EventIndexPeg.js b/src/EventIndexPeg.js
index 74b7968c70..eb4caa2ca4 100644
--- a/src/EventIndexPeg.js
+++ b/src/EventIndexPeg.js
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ limitations under the License.
 
 import PlatformPeg from "./PlatformPeg";
 import EventIndex from "./EventIndex";
+import SettingsStore from './settings/SettingsStore';
 
 class EventIndexPeg {
     constructor() {
@@ -34,6 +35,10 @@ class EventIndexPeg {
      * EventIndex was successfully initialized, false otherwise.
      */
     async init() {
+        if (!SettingsStore.isFeatureEnabled("feature_event_indexing")) {
+            return false;
+        }
+
         const indexManager = PlatformPeg.get().getEventIndexingManager();
         if (!indexManager || await indexManager.supportsEventIndexing() !== true) {
             console.log("EventIndex: Platform doesn't support event indexing,",
diff --git a/src/i18n/strings/en_EN.json b/src/i18n/strings/en_EN.json
index f524a22d4b..69c3f07f3f 100644
--- a/src/i18n/strings/en_EN.json
+++ b/src/i18n/strings/en_EN.json
@@ -1829,5 +1829,6 @@
     "If you didn't remove the recovery method, an attacker may be trying to access your account. Change your account password and set a new recovery method immediately in Settings.": "If you didn't remove the recovery method, an attacker may be trying to access your account. Change your account password and set a new recovery method immediately in Settings.",
     "Failed to set direct chat tag": "Failed to set direct chat tag",
     "Failed to remove tag %(tagName)s from room": "Failed to remove tag %(tagName)s from room",
-    "Failed to add tag %(tagName)s to room": "Failed to add tag %(tagName)s to room"
+    "Failed to add tag %(tagName)s to room": "Failed to add tag %(tagName)s to room",
+    "Enable local event indexing and E2EE search (requires restart)": "Enable local event indexing and E2EE search (requires restart)"
 }
diff --git a/src/settings/Settings.js b/src/settings/Settings.js
index 3c33ae57fe..8abd845f0c 100644
--- a/src/settings/Settings.js
+++ b/src/settings/Settings.js
@@ -120,6 +120,12 @@ export const SETTINGS = {
         supportedLevels: LEVELS_FEATURE,
         default: false,
     },
+    "feature_event_indexing": {
+        isFeature: true,
+        supportedLevels: LEVELS_DEVICE_ONLY_SETTINGS,
+        displayName: _td("Enable local event indexing and E2EE search (requires restart)"),
+        default: false,
+    },
     "useCiderComposer": {
         displayName: _td("Use the new, faster, composer for writing messages"),
         supportedLevels: LEVELS_ACCOUNT_SETTINGS,