--- a/browser/app/profile/firefox.js
+++ b/browser/app/profile/firefox.js
@@ -1292,16 +1292,22 @@ pref("browser.newtabpage.activity-stream
 
 // The pref that controls if the search shortcuts experiment is on
 pref("browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.topSiteSearchShortcuts", true);
 
 // ASRouter provider configuration
 pref("browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.asrouter.providers.cfr", "{\"id\":\"cfr\",\"enabled\":true,\"type\":\"local\",\"localProvider\":\"CFRMessageProvider\",\"frequency\":{\"custom\":[{\"period\":\"daily\",\"cap\":1}]}}");
 pref("browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.asrouter.providers.snippets", "{\"id\":\"snippets\",\"enabled\":true,\"type\":\"remote\",\"url\":\"https://snippets.cdn.mozilla.net/%STARTPAGE_VERSION%/%NAME%/%VERSION%/%APPBUILDID%/%BUILD_TARGET%/%LOCALE%/%CHANNEL%/%OS_VERSION%/%DISTRIBUTION%/%DISTRIBUTION_VERSION%/\",\"updateCycleInMs\":14400000}");
 
+// The pref controls if search hand-off is enabled for Activity Stream.
+#ifdef NIGHTLY_BUILD
+pref("browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.handoffToAwesomebar", true);
+#else
+pref("browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.handoffToAwesomebar", false);
+#endif
 
 // Enable the DOM fullscreen API.
 pref("full-screen-api.enabled", true);
 
 // Startup Crash Tracking
 // number of startup crashes that can occur before starting into safe mode automatically
 // (this pref has no effect if more than 6 hours have passed since the last crash)
 pref("toolkit.startup.max_resumed_crashes", 3);

--- a/browser/components/newtab/lib/ActivityStream.jsm
+++ b/browser/components/newtab/lib/ActivityStream.jsm
@@ -188,20 +188,16 @@ const PREFS_CONFIG = new Map([
       }
       return searchShortcuts.join(",");
     },
   }],
   ["improvesearch.topSiteSearchShortcuts.havePinned", {
     title: "A comma-delimited list of search shortcuts that have previously been pinned",
     value: "",
   }],
-  ["improvesearch.handoffToAwesomebar", {
-    title: "Should the search box handoff to the Awesomebar?",
-    value: true,
-  }],
   ["asrouter.devtoolsEnabled", {
     title: "Are the asrouter devtools enabled?",
     value: false,
   }],
   ["asrouter.userprefs.cfr", {
     title: "Does the user allow CFR recommendations?",
     value: true,
   }],

--- a/browser/components/newtab/lib/PrefsFeed.jsm
+++ b/browser/components/newtab/lib/PrefsFeed.jsm
@@ -88,16 +88,23 @@ this.PrefsFeed = class PrefsFeed {
 
     // Read the pref for search shortcuts top sites experiment from firefox.js and store it
     // in our interal list of prefs to watch
     let searchTopSiteExperimentPrefValue = Services.prefs.getBoolPref(
       "browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.topSiteSearchShortcuts");
     values["improvesearch.topSiteSearchShortcuts"] = searchTopSiteExperimentPrefValue;
     this._prefMap.set("improvesearch.topSiteSearchShortcuts", searchTopSiteExperimentPrefValue);
 
+    // Read the pref for search hand-off from firefox.js and store it
+    // in our interal list of prefs to watch
+    let handoffToAwesomebarPrefValue = Services.prefs.getBoolPref(
+      "browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.handoffToAwesomebar");
+    values["improvesearch.handoffToAwesomebar"] = handoffToAwesomebarPrefValue;
+    this._prefMap.set("improvesearch.handoffToAwesomebar", handoffToAwesomebarPrefValue);
+
     // Set the initial state of all prefs in redux
     this.store.dispatch(ac.BroadcastToContent({type: at.PREFS_INITIAL_VALUES, data: values}));
 
     this._migratePrefs();
     this._setPrerenderPref();
   }
 
   removeListeners() {