diff --git a/app/src/main/java/org/mozilla/fenix/HomeActivity.kt b/app/src/main/java/org/mozilla/fenix/HomeActivity.kt
index d01f398cc2..5bb4058196 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/org/mozilla/fenix/HomeActivity.kt
+++ b/app/src/main/java/org/mozilla/fenix/HomeActivity.kt
@@ -366,6 +366,11 @@ open class HomeActivity : LocaleAwareAppCompatActivity(), NavHostActivity {
             components.core.contileTopSitesUpdater.startPeriodicWork()
         }
 
+        if (settings().enableUnifiedSearchSettingsUI && !settings().hiddenEnginesRestored) {
+            settings().hiddenEnginesRestored = true
+            components.useCases.searchUseCases.restoreHiddenSearchEngines.invoke()
+        }
+
         // To assess whether the Pocket stories are to be downloaded or not multiple SharedPreferences
         // are read possibly needing to load them on the current thread. Move that to a background thread.
         lifecycleScope.launch(IO) {
diff --git a/app/src/main/java/org/mozilla/fenix/utils/Settings.kt b/app/src/main/java/org/mozilla/fenix/utils/Settings.kt
index 5cb74bed71..01ed68bbe6 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/org/mozilla/fenix/utils/Settings.kt
+++ b/app/src/main/java/org/mozilla/fenix/utils/Settings.kt
@@ -1830,4 +1830,14 @@ class Settings(private val appContext: Context) : PreferencesHolder {
      * Indicates if the new Search settings UI is enabled.
      */
     var enableUnifiedSearchSettingsUI: Boolean = showUnifiedSearchFeature && FeatureFlags.unifiedSearchSettings
+
+    /**
+     * Indicates if hidden engines were restored due to migration to unified search settings UI.
+     * Should be removed once we expect the majority of the users to migrate.
+     * Tracking: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1850767
+     */
+    var hiddenEnginesRestored: Boolean by booleanPreference(
+        appContext.getPreferenceKey(R.string.pref_key_hidden_engines_restored),
+        default = false,
+    )
 }
diff --git a/app/src/main/res/values/preference_keys.xml b/app/src/main/res/values/preference_keys.xml
index 5e26ad1061..82074ffada 100644
--- a/app/src/main/res/values/preference_keys.xml
+++ b/app/src/main/res/values/preference_keys.xml
@@ -75,6 +75,7 @@
     <string name="pref_key_is_first_splash_screen_shown" translatable="false">pref_key_is_first_splash_screen_shown</string>
     <string name="pref_key_nimbus_last_fetch" translatable="false">pref_key_nimbus_last_fetch</string>
     <string name="pref_key_home_blocklist">pref_key_home_blocklist</string>
+    <string name="pref_key_hidden_engines_restored" translatable="false">pref_key_hidden_engines_restored</string>
 
     <!-- Data Choices -->
     <string name="pref_key_telemetry" translatable="false">pref_key_telemetry</string>