diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
index 0e8681d2275..c932ebc59b4 100644
--- a/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -300,7 +300,7 @@ jobs:
           command: rustup target add << parameters.target >>
       - run:
           name: Cargo release build
-          command: target-env cargo build --target=<< parameters.target >> --profile=<< parameters.profile >> --workspace
+          command: target-env cargo build --features "influxdb3/release_default" --target=<< parameters.target >> --profile=<< parameters.profile >> --workspace
           # linking might take a while and doesn't produce CLI output
           no_output_timeout: 30m
       - run:
diff --git a/influxdb3/Cargo.toml b/influxdb3/Cargo.toml
index a8f2f3ec383..b7cb9014c4c 100644
--- a/influxdb3/Cargo.toml
+++ b/influxdb3/Cargo.toml
@@ -61,6 +61,8 @@ console-subscriber = { version = "0.1.10", optional = true, features = ["parking
 
 [features]
 default = ["jemalloc_replacing_malloc", "azure", "gcp", "aws"]
+release_default = ["default", "enable_telemetry"]
+enable_telemetry = []
 
 azure = ["influxdb3_clap_blocks/azure"] # Optional Azure Object store support
 gcp = ["influxdb3_clap_blocks/gcp"] # Optional GCP object store support
diff --git a/influxdb3/src/commands/serve.rs b/influxdb3/src/commands/serve.rs
index 88c573fcf13..19d90c88862 100644
--- a/influxdb3/src/commands/serve.rs
+++ b/influxdb3/src/commands/serve.rs
@@ -627,10 +627,7 @@ async fn setup_telemetry_store(
         .unwrap_or(ObjectStoreType::Memory);
     let storage_type = obj_store_type.as_str();
 
-    if disable_upload {
-        debug!("Initializing TelemetryStore with upload disabled.");
-        TelemetryStore::new_without_background_runners(persisted_files.map(|p| p as _))
-    } else {
+    if !disable_upload && cfg!(feature = "enable_telemetry") {
         debug!("Initializing TelemetryStore with upload enabled for {telemetry_endpoint}.");
         TelemetryStore::new(
             instance_id,
@@ -642,6 +639,9 @@ async fn setup_telemetry_store(
             telemetry_endpoint.to_string(),
         )
         .await
+    } else {
+        debug!("Initializing TelemetryStore with upload disabled.");
+        TelemetryStore::new_without_background_runners(persisted_files.map(|p| p as _))
     }
 }