diff --git a/toolkit/components/places/PlacesRemoteTabsAutocompleteProvider.jsm b/toolkit/components/places/PlacesRemoteTabsAutocompleteProvider.jsm
index 5fbf957bea55..b3ca38ba8f83 100644
--- a/toolkit/components/places/PlacesRemoteTabsAutocompleteProvider.jsm
+++ b/toolkit/components/places/PlacesRemoteTabsAutocompleteProvider.jsm
@@ -63,7 +63,11 @@ function ensureItems() {
   return _items;
 }
 
-// An observer to invalidate _items.
+// A preference used to disable the showing of icons in remote tab records.
+const PREF_SHOW_REMOTE_ICONS = "services.sync.syncedTabs.showRemoteIcons";
+let showRemoteIcons;
+
+// An observer to invalidate _items and watch for changed prefs.
 function observe(subject, topic, data) {
   switch (topic) {
     case "weave:engine:sync:finish":
@@ -80,6 +84,16 @@ function observe(subject, topic, data) {
       _items = null;
       break;
 
+    case "nsPref:changed":
+      if (data == PREF_SHOW_REMOTE_ICONS) {
+        try {
+          showRemoteIcons = Services.prefs.getBoolPref(PREF_SHOW_REMOTE_ICONS);
+        } catch(_) {
+          showRemoteIcons = true; // no such pref - default is to show the icons.
+        }
+      }
+      break;
+
     default:
       break;
   }
@@ -88,6 +102,10 @@ function observe(subject, topic, data) {
 Services.obs.addObserver(observe, "weave:engine:sync:finish", false);
 Services.obs.addObserver(observe, "weave:service:start-over", false);
 
+// Observe the pref for showing remote icons and prime our bool that reflects its value.
+Services.prefs.addObserver(PREF_SHOW_REMOTE_ICONS, observe, false);
+observe(null, "nsPref:changed", PREF_SHOW_REMOTE_ICONS);
+
 // This public object is a static singleton.
 this.PlacesRemoteTabsAutocompleteProvider = {
   // a promise that resolves with an array of matching remote tabs.
@@ -105,10 +123,10 @@ this.PlacesRemoteTabsAutocompleteProvider = {
       if (url.match(re) || (title && title.match(re))) {
         // lookup the client record.
         let client = clients.get(clientId);
+        let icon = showRemoteIcons ? tab.icon : null;
         // create the record we return for auto-complete.
         let record = {
-          url, title,
-          icon: tab.icon,
+          url, title, icon,
           deviceClass: Weave.Service.clientsEngine.isMobile(clientId) ? "mobile" : "desktop",
           deviceName: client.clientName,
         };
diff --git a/toolkit/components/places/tests/unifiedcomplete/test_remotetabmatches.js b/toolkit/components/places/tests/unifiedcomplete/test_remotetabmatches.js
index dbb7dbf0b23b..b983383e0195 100644
--- a/toolkit/components/places/tests/unifiedcomplete/test_remotetabmatches.js
+++ b/toolkit/components/places/tests/unifiedcomplete/test_remotetabmatches.js
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ function makeRemoteTabMatch(url, deviceName, extra = {}) {
     uri: makeActionURI("remotetab", {url, deviceName}),
     title: extra.title || url,
     style: [ "action" ],
+    icon: extra.icon,
   }
 }
 
@@ -115,12 +116,39 @@ add_task(function* test_maximal() {
     matches: [ makeSearchMatch("ex", { heuristic: true }),
                makeRemoteTabMatch("http://example.com/", "My Phone",
                                   { title: "An Example",
-                                    icon: "moz-anno:favicon:http://favicon"
+                                    icon: "moz-anno:favicon:http://favicon/"
                                   }),
              ],
   });
 });
 
+add_task(function* test_noShowIcons() {
+  Services.prefs.setBoolPref("services.sync.syncedTabs.showRemoteIcons", false);
+  configureEngine({
+    guid_mobile: {
+      clientName: "My Phone",
+      tabs: [{
+        urlHistory: ["http://example.com/"],
+        title: "An Example",
+        icon: "http://favicon",
+      }],
+    }
+  });
+
+  yield check_autocomplete({
+    search: "ex",
+    searchParam: "enable-actions",
+    matches: [ makeSearchMatch("ex", { heuristic: true }),
+               makeRemoteTabMatch("http://example.com/", "My Phone",
+                                  { title: "An Example",
+                                    // expecting the default favicon due to that pref.
+                                    icon: PlacesUtils.favicons.defaultFavicon.spec,
+                                  }),
+             ],
+  });
+  Services.prefs.clearUserPref("services.sync.syncedTabs.showRemoteIcons");
+});
+
 add_task(function* test_matches_title() {
   // URL doesn't match search expression, should still match the title.
   configureEngine({