diff --git a/src/settings/Settings.js b/src/settings/Settings.js
index 87c1526eaa..2b7dc70623 100644
--- a/src/settings/Settings.js
+++ b/src/settings/Settings.js
@@ -437,7 +437,7 @@ export const SETTINGS = {
     "RoomList.orderingAlgorithm": {
         supportedLevels: LEVELS_ACCOUNT_SETTINGS,
         displayName: _td("Order rooms by message activity instead of by name"),
-        default: "recent", // XXX controller maps boolean onto algorithm for future flexibility
+        default: "recent", // controller maps boolean onto algorithm for future flexibility to >2 algorithms
         controller: new RoomListOrderingController(),
     },
     "RoomList.orderByImportance": {
diff --git a/src/settings/controllers/RoomListOrderingController.js b/src/settings/controllers/RoomListOrderingController.js
index 449e21545a..7c55e607fc 100644
--- a/src/settings/controllers/RoomListOrderingController.js
+++ b/src/settings/controllers/RoomListOrderingController.js
@@ -22,4 +22,14 @@ export default class RoomListOrderingController extends SettingController {
         // where we may want >2 algorithms available for the user to choose between.
         return newValue ? "recent" : "alphabetic";
     }
+
+    getValueOverride(level: string, roomId: String, calculatedValue: *, calculatedAtLevel: string): * {
+        switch (calculatedValue) {
+            case "alphabetic":
+                return false;
+            case "recent":
+            default:
+                return true;
+        }
+    }
 }