diff --git a/app/src/main/java/org/mozilla/fenix/FenixApplication.kt b/app/src/main/java/org/mozilla/fenix/FenixApplication.kt
index b80b4e132..a5d7ffe78 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/org/mozilla/fenix/FenixApplication.kt
+++ b/app/src/main/java/org/mozilla/fenix/FenixApplication.kt
@@ -20,6 +20,9 @@ import kotlinx.coroutines.runBlocking
 import mozilla.appservices.Megazord
 import mozilla.components.concept.push.PushProcessor
 import mozilla.components.service.experiments.Experiments
+import mozilla.components.service.glean.Glean
+import mozilla.components.service.glean.config.Configuration
+import mozilla.components.service.glean.net.ConceptFetchHttpUploader
 import mozilla.components.support.base.log.Log
 import mozilla.components.support.base.log.logger.Logger
 import mozilla.components.support.base.log.sink.AndroidLogSink
@@ -37,6 +40,7 @@ import org.mozilla.fenix.session.VisibilityLifecycleCallback
 @SuppressLint("Registered")
 @Suppress("TooManyFunctions")
 open class FenixApplication : LocaleAwareApplication() {
+    private val logger = Logger("FenixApplication")
 
     open val components by lazy { Components(this) }
 
@@ -56,6 +60,27 @@ open class FenixApplication : LocaleAwareApplication() {
             return
         }
 
+        // We need to always initialize Glean and do it early here. Note that we are disabling it
+        // here too (uploadEnabled = false). If needed Glean will be enabled later by the migration
+        // code (if this user used to be a fennec user with the right flags enabled) or by
+        // GleanMetricsService if telemetry is enabled for this user.
+        // It is important that this initialization happens *here* before calling into
+        // setupInMainProcessOnly() which behaves differently for fenix and fennec builds.
+        // Glean needs to be disabled initially because otherwise we may already collect telemetry
+        // before we know whether we want that (which is *after* the migration).
+        // As a side effect this means pings submitted between the initialization here and until we
+        // potentially enable Glean would be lost. However such pings do not exist at this moment.
+        logger.debug("Initializing Glean (uploadEnabled=false)")
+        Glean.initialize(
+            applicationContext = this,
+            configuration = Configuration(
+                channel = BuildConfig.BUILD_TYPE,
+                httpClient = ConceptFetchHttpUploader(
+                    lazy(LazyThreadSafetyMode.NONE) { components.core.client }
+                )),
+            uploadEnabled = false
+        )
+
         setupInMainProcessOnly()
     }
 
diff --git a/app/src/main/java/org/mozilla/fenix/components/metrics/GleanMetricsService.kt b/app/src/main/java/org/mozilla/fenix/components/metrics/GleanMetricsService.kt
index 522b5928d..7d7902659 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/org/mozilla/fenix/components/metrics/GleanMetricsService.kt
+++ b/app/src/main/java/org/mozilla/fenix/components/metrics/GleanMetricsService.kt
@@ -8,11 +8,9 @@ import android.content.Context
 import kotlinx.coroutines.Job
 import kotlinx.coroutines.launch
 import kotlinx.coroutines.MainScope
-import mozilla.components.service.glean.BuildConfig
 import mozilla.components.service.glean.Glean
-import mozilla.components.service.glean.config.Configuration
-import mozilla.components.service.glean.net.ConceptFetchHttpUploader
 import mozilla.components.service.glean.private.NoExtraKeys
+import mozilla.components.support.base.log.logger.Logger
 import org.mozilla.fenix.GleanMetrics.BookmarksManagement
 import org.mozilla.fenix.GleanMetrics.Collections
 import org.mozilla.fenix.GleanMetrics.ContextMenu
@@ -474,6 +472,7 @@ private val Event.wrapper: EventWrapper<*>?
     }
 
 class GleanMetricsService(private val context: Context) : MetricsService {
+    private val logger = Logger("GleanMetricsService")
     private var initialized = false
     /*
      * We need to keep an eye on when we are done starting so that we don't
@@ -485,6 +484,8 @@ class GleanMetricsService(private val context: Context) : MetricsService {
     private val activationPing = ActivationPing(context)
 
     override fun start() {
+        logger.debug("Enabling Glean.")
+        // Initialization of Glean already happened in FenixApplication.
         Glean.setUploadEnabled(true)
 
         if (initialized) return
@@ -497,13 +498,6 @@ class GleanMetricsService(private val context: Context) : MetricsService {
         // can handle events being recorded before it's initialized.
         gleanInitializer = MainScope().launch {
             Glean.registerPings(Pings)
-            Glean.initialize(
-                applicationContext = context,
-                uploadEnabled = true,
-                configuration = Configuration(channel = BuildConfig.BUILD_TYPE,
-                    httpClient = ConceptFetchHttpUploader(
-                        lazy(LazyThreadSafetyMode.NONE) { context.components.core.client }
-                    )))
         }
         // setStartupMetrics is not a fast function. It does not need to be done before we can consider
         // ourselves initialized. So, let's do it, well, later.