diff --git a/storage_controller/src/main.rs b/storage_controller/src/main.rs
index 752262b65e..2a851dc25b 100644
--- a/storage_controller/src/main.rs
+++ b/storage_controller/src/main.rs
@@ -6,9 +6,7 @@ use std::time::Duration;
 use anyhow::{Context, anyhow};
 use camino::Utf8PathBuf;
 
-#[cfg(feature = "testing")]
-use clap::ArgAction;
-use clap::Parser;
+use clap::{ArgAction, Parser};
 use futures::future::OptionFuture;
 use http_utils::tls_certs::ReloadingCertificateResolver;
 use hyper0::Uri;
@@ -222,8 +220,7 @@ struct Cli {
     /// When set, actively checks and initiates heatmap downloads/uploads during reconciliation.
     /// This speed up migrations by avoiding the default wait for the heatmap download interval.
     /// Primarily useful for testing to reduce test execution time.
-    #[cfg(feature = "testing")]
-    #[arg(long, default_value = "true", action=ArgAction::Set)]
+    #[arg(long, default_value = "false", action=ArgAction::Set)]
     kick_secondary_downloads: bool,
 }
 
@@ -472,7 +469,6 @@ async fn async_main() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
         use_local_compute_notifications: args.use_local_compute_notifications,
         timeline_safekeeper_count: args.timeline_safekeeper_count,
         posthog_config: posthog_config.clone(),
-        #[cfg(feature = "testing")]
         kick_secondary_downloads: args.kick_secondary_downloads,
     };
 
diff --git a/storage_controller/src/service.rs b/storage_controller/src/service.rs
index 19bb0f8671..75ce7bc37b 100644
--- a/storage_controller/src/service.rs
+++ b/storage_controller/src/service.rs
@@ -476,7 +476,7 @@ pub struct Config {
     /// PostHog integration config
     pub posthog_config: Option<PostHogConfig>,
 
-    #[cfg(feature = "testing")]
+    /// When set, actively checks and initiates heatmap downloads/uploads.
     pub kick_secondary_downloads: bool,
 }
 
@@ -8364,7 +8364,6 @@ impl Service {
                             "Skipping migration of {tenant_shard_id} to {node} because secondary isn't ready: {progress:?}"
                         );
 
-                        #[cfg(feature = "testing")]
                         if progress.heatmap_mtime.is_none() {
                             // No heatmap might mean the attached location has never uploaded one, or that
                             // the secondary download hasn't happened yet.  This is relatively unusual in the field,
@@ -8389,7 +8388,6 @@ impl Service {
     /// happens on multi-minute timescales in the field, which is fine because optimisation is meant
     /// to be a lazy background thing. However, when testing, it is not practical to wait around, so
     /// we have this helper to move things along faster.
-    #[cfg(feature = "testing")]
     async fn kick_secondary_download(&self, tenant_shard_id: TenantShardId) {
         if !self.config.kick_secondary_downloads {
             // No-op if kick_secondary_downloads functionaliuty is not configured
diff --git a/test_runner/fixtures/neon_fixtures.py b/test_runner/fixtures/neon_fixtures.py
index 4eb85119ca..48c6597c7c 100644
--- a/test_runner/fixtures/neon_fixtures.py
+++ b/test_runner/fixtures/neon_fixtures.py
@@ -453,7 +453,7 @@ class NeonEnvBuilder:
         pageserver_get_vectored_concurrent_io: str | None = None,
         pageserver_tracing_config: PageserverTracingConfig | None = None,
         pageserver_import_config: PageserverImportConfig | None = None,
-        storcon_kick_secondary_downloads: bool | None = None,
+        storcon_kick_secondary_downloads: bool | None = True,
     ):
         self.repo_dir = repo_dir
         self.rust_log_override = rust_log_override