diff --git a/desktop/src/features/profile/ui/UserProfilePanel.tsx b/desktop/src/features/profile/ui/UserProfilePanel.tsx
index ba65d4559..6ad8ee50a 100644
--- a/desktop/src/features/profile/ui/UserProfilePanel.tsx
+++ b/desktop/src/features/profile/ui/UserProfilePanel.tsx
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import {
 import { EditAgentDialog } from "@/features/agents/ui/EditAgentDialog";
 import { useChannelsQuery } from "@/features/channels/hooks";
 import { usePresenceQuery } from "@/features/presence/hooks";
+import { useFeatureEnabled } from "@/shared/features";
 import {
   useContactListQuery,
   useFollowMutation,
@@ -183,6 +184,12 @@ export function UserProfilePanel({
   const isSelf =
     currentPubkey !== undefined && pubkeyLower === currentPubkey.toLowerCase();
   const canViewActivity = isOwner === true && Boolean(onOpenAgentSession);
+  // The people-follow graph (kind:3) is only surfaced for consumption inside
+  // Pulse. When Pulse is off there's nowhere to consume the graph, so we hide
+  // the Follow affordance entirely rather than let users write follows that go
+  // nowhere. (Thread-following in features/messages is unrelated localStorage
+  // state and is not gated here.)
+  const showFollowAction = useFeatureEnabled("pulse");
   const isFollowing =
     !isSelf &&
     (contactListQuery.data?.contacts.some(
@@ -320,6 +327,7 @@ export function UserProfilePanel({
           profile={profile}
           pubkey={pubkey}
           relayAgent={relayAgent}
+          showFollowAction={showFollowAction}
           unfollowMutation={unfollowMutation}
           userStatus={userStatus}
         />
diff --git a/desktop/src/features/profile/ui/UserProfilePanelSections.tsx b/desktop/src/features/profile/ui/UserProfilePanelSections.tsx
index 05a97e82f..1043bb3a4 100644
--- a/desktop/src/features/profile/ui/UserProfilePanelSections.tsx
+++ b/desktop/src/features/profile/ui/UserProfilePanelSections.tsx
@@ -82,6 +82,7 @@ export type ProfileSummaryViewProps = {
   profile: ReturnType<typeof useUserProfileQuery>["data"];
   pubkey: string;
   relayAgent: RelayAgent | undefined;
+  showFollowAction: boolean;
   unfollowMutation: ReturnType<typeof useUnfollowMutation>;
   userStatus: { text: string; emoji: string } | null | undefined;
 };
@@ -113,6 +114,7 @@ export function ProfileSummaryView({
   profile,
   pubkey,
   relayAgent,
+  showFollowAction,
   unfollowMutation,
   userStatus,
 }: ProfileSummaryViewProps) {
@@ -157,6 +159,7 @@ export function ProfileSummaryView({
           isFollowing={isFollowing}
           onMessage={onOpenDm ? handleMessage : undefined}
           pubkey={pubkey}
+          showFollowAction={showFollowAction}
           unfollowMutation={unfollowMutation}
         />
       ) : null}
@@ -372,6 +375,7 @@ function ProfilePrimaryActions({
   onEditAgent,
   onMessage,
   pubkey,
+  showFollowAction,
   unfollowMutation,
 }: {
   canEditAgent: boolean;
@@ -380,40 +384,43 @@ function ProfilePrimaryActions({
   onEditAgent: () => void;
   onMessage?: () => void;
   pubkey: string;
+  showFollowAction: boolean;
   unfollowMutation: ReturnType<typeof useUnfollowMutation>;
 }) {
   return (
     <div className="flex items-start justify-center gap-8">
-      {isFollowing ? (
-        <ProfileQuickAction
-          active
-          disabled={unfollowMutation.isPending}
-          icon={UserMinus}
-          label="Unfollow"
-          onClick={() =>
-            unfollowMutation.mutate(pubkey, {
-              onError: (error) =>
-                toast.error(
-                  `Unfollow failed: ${error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error)}`,
-                ),
-            })
-          }
-        />
-      ) : (
-        <ProfileQuickAction
-          disabled={followMutation.isPending}
-          icon={UserPlus}
-          label="Follow"
-          onClick={() =>
-            followMutation.mutate(pubkey, {
-              onError: (error) =>
-                toast.error(
-                  `Follow failed: ${error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error)}`,
-                ),
-            })
-          }
-        />
-      )}
+      {showFollowAction ? (
+        isFollowing ? (
+          <ProfileQuickAction
+            active
+            disabled={unfollowMutation.isPending}
+            icon={UserMinus}
+            label="Unfollow"
+            onClick={() =>
+              unfollowMutation.mutate(pubkey, {
+                onError: (error) =>
+                  toast.error(
+                    `Unfollow failed: ${error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error)}`,
+                  ),
+              })
+            }
+          />
+        ) : (
+          <ProfileQuickAction
+            disabled={followMutation.isPending}
+            icon={UserPlus}
+            label="Follow"
+            onClick={() =>
+              followMutation.mutate(pubkey, {
+                onError: (error) =>
+                  toast.error(
+                    `Follow failed: ${error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error)}`,
+                  ),
+              })
+            }
+          />
+        )
+      ) : null}
       {onMessage ? (
         <ProfileQuickAction
           icon={MessageSquare}