diff --git a/internal/api/identity.go b/internal/api/identity.go
index 42aca020f..0fe0560a7 100644
--- a/internal/api/identity.go
+++ b/internal/api/identity.go
@@ -134,9 +134,12 @@ func (a *API) linkIdentityToUser(r *http.Request, ctx context.Context, tx *stora
 		if terr := targetUser.Confirm(tx); terr != nil {
 			return nil, terr
 		}
-		// if the user is an anonymous user, we need to reload the user object again to fetch the is_anonymous value
-		if terr := tx.Reload(targetUser); terr != nil {
-			return nil, terr
+
+		if targetUser.IsAnonymous {
+			targetUser.IsAnonymous = false
+			if terr := tx.UpdateOnly(targetUser, "is_anonymous"); terr != nil {
+				return nil, terr
+			}
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/internal/api/signup.go b/internal/api/signup.go
index 4205a3016..bd12b80b2 100644
--- a/internal/api/signup.go
+++ b/internal/api/signup.go
@@ -82,6 +82,7 @@ func (params *SignupParams) ToUserModel(isSSOUser bool) (user *models.User, err
 		user, err = models.NewUser(params.Phone, "", params.Password, params.Aud, params.Data)
 	case "anonymous":
 		user, err = models.NewUser("", "", "", params.Aud, params.Data)
+		user.IsAnonymous = true
 	default:
 		// handles external provider case
 		user, err = models.NewUser("", params.Email, params.Password, params.Aud, params.Data)
diff --git a/internal/api/verify.go b/internal/api/verify.go
index 682fb3ea4..3e99dc9a4 100644
--- a/internal/api/verify.go
+++ b/internal/api/verify.go
@@ -531,6 +531,12 @@ func (a *API) emailChangeVerify(r *http.Request, ctx context.Context, conn *stor
 				return terr
 			}
 		}
+		if user.IsAnonymous {
+			user.IsAnonymous = false
+			if terr := tx.UpdateOnly(user, "is_anonymous"); terr != nil {
+				return terr
+			}
+		}
 		if terr := tx.Load(user, "Identities"); terr != nil {
 			return internalServerError("Error refetching identities").WithInternalError(terr)
 		}
diff --git a/internal/models/user.go b/internal/models/user.go
index 4fe84698f..5a6d0da66 100644
--- a/internal/models/user.go
+++ b/internal/models/user.go
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ type User struct {
 	UpdatedAt   time.Time  `json:"updated_at" db:"updated_at"`
 	BannedUntil *time.Time `json:"banned_until,omitempty" db:"banned_until"`
 	DeletedAt   *time.Time `json:"deleted_at,omitempty" db:"deleted_at"`
-	IsAnonymous bool       `json:"is_anonymous" db:"is_anonymous" rw:"r"`
+	IsAnonymous bool       `json:"is_anonymous" db:"is_anonymous"`
 
 	DONTUSEINSTANCEID uuid.UUID `json:"-" db:"instance_id"`
 }
diff --git a/migrations/20240214120130_add_is_anonymous_column.up.sql b/migrations/20240214120130_add_is_anonymous_column.up.sql
index ad7852e23..6ef963f57 100644
--- a/migrations/20240214120130_add_is_anonymous_column.up.sql
+++ b/migrations/20240214120130_add_is_anonymous_column.up.sql
@@ -1,12 +1,7 @@
 do $$
 begin
    alter table {{ index .Options "Namespace" }}.users 
-   add column if not exists is_anonymous boolean generated always as (
-    case 
-        when (email is null or email = '') and (phone is null or phone = '') then true
-        else false
-    end 
-   ) stored;
+   add column if not exists is_anonymous boolean not null default false;
 
    create index if not exists users_is_anonymous_idx  on {{ index .Options "Namespace" }}.users using btree (is_anonymous);
 end