diff --git a/app/models/saved_search.rb b/app/models/saved_search.rb
index c83d357dc..301c1ec24 100644
--- a/app/models/saved_search.rb
+++ b/app/models/saved_search.rb
@@ -151,8 +151,6 @@ class SavedSearch < ApplicationRecord
   belongs_to :user
   validates :query, presence: true
   validate :validate_count
-  before_create :update_user_on_create
-  after_destroy :update_user_on_destroy
   before_validation :normalize_query
   before_validation :normalize_labels
   scope :labeled, ->(label) { label.present? ? where("labels @> string_to_array(?, '~~~~')", label) : where("true") }
@@ -163,18 +161,6 @@ class SavedSearch < ApplicationRecord
     end
   end
 
-  def update_user_on_create
-    if !user.has_saved_searches?
-      user.update(has_saved_searches: true)
-    end
-  end
-
-  def update_user_on_destroy
-    if user.saved_searches.count == 0
-      user.update(has_saved_searches: false)
-    end
-  end
-
   def disable_labels=(value)
     CurrentUser.update(disable_categorized_saved_searches: true) if value.to_s.truthy?
   end
diff --git a/app/models/user.rb b/app/models/user.rb
index 0040056a0..7afe3efc6 100644
--- a/app/models/user.rb
+++ b/app/models/user.rb
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ class User < ApplicationRecord
   # - disable_tagged_filenames (enabled by 387)
   # - enable_recent_searches (enabled by 499)
   # - disable_cropped_thumbnails (enabled by 22)
+  # - has_saved_searches
   BOOLEAN_ATTRIBUTES = %w(
     is_banned
     has_mail
diff --git a/app/views/posts/partials/common/_secondary_links.html.erb b/app/views/posts/partials/common/_secondary_links.html.erb
index 4500860c4..ee3ba3fa2 100644
--- a/app/views/posts/partials/common/_secondary_links.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/posts/partials/common/_secondary_links.html.erb
@@ -8,9 +8,7 @@
   <% unless CurrentUser.is_anonymous? %>
     <%= subnav_link_to "Favorites", posts_path(tags: "ordfav:#{CurrentUser.user.name}") %>
     <%= subnav_link_to "Fav groups", favorite_groups_path %>
-    <% if CurrentUser.has_saved_searches? %>
-      <%= subnav_link_to "Saved searches", posts_path(:tags => "search:all") %>
-    <% end %>
+    <%= subnav_link_to "Saved searches", posts_path(tags: "search:all") %>
   <% end %>
   <%= subnav_link_to "Changes", post_versions_path %>
   <% if CurrentUser.can_approve_posts? %>
diff --git a/app/views/users/_statistics.html.erb b/app/views/users/_statistics.html.erb
index 6a063d2c7..227c380c4 100644
--- a/app/views/users/_statistics.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/users/_statistics.html.erb
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@
       <% end %>
 
       <% if CurrentUser.id == user.id %>
-        <% if CurrentUser.has_saved_searches? %>
+        <% if SavedSearch.labels_for(CurrentUser.user.id).present? %>
           <tr>
             <th>Saved Searches</th>
             <td>
diff --git a/test/unit/saved_search_test.rb b/test/unit/saved_search_test.rb
index 0c0dc1e2b..b875fc021 100644
--- a/test/unit/saved_search_test.rb
+++ b/test/unit/saved_search_test.rb
@@ -146,11 +146,6 @@ class SavedSearchTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
       @saved_search = @user.saved_searches.create(query: " ZZZ xxx ")
     end
 
-    should "update the bitpref on the user" do
-      @user.reload
-      assert(@user.has_saved_searches?, "should have saved_searches bitpref set")
-    end
-
     should "normalize the query aside from the order" do
       assert_equal("yyy xxx", @saved_search.query)
     end
@@ -164,18 +159,6 @@ class SavedSearchTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
     end
   end
 
-  context "Destroying a saved search" do
-    setup do
-      @saved_search = @user.saved_searches.create(query: "xxx")
-      @saved_search.destroy
-    end
-
-    should "update the bitpref on the user" do
-      @user.reload
-      assert(!@user.has_saved_searches?, "should not have the saved_searches bitpref set")
-    end
-  end
-
   context "A user with max saved searches" do
     setup do
       @user = FactoryBot.create(:gold_user)