diff --git a/google-cloud-bigtable/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/bigtable/data/v2/stub/EnhancedBigtableStub.java b/google-cloud-bigtable/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/bigtable/data/v2/stub/EnhancedBigtableStub.java
index 474c140392..86eaaa9579 100644
--- a/google-cloud-bigtable/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/bigtable/data/v2/stub/EnhancedBigtableStub.java
+++ b/google-cloud-bigtable/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/bigtable/data/v2/stub/EnhancedBigtableStub.java
@@ -728,19 +728,20 @@ public Map<String, String> extract(MutateRowsRequest mutateRowsRequest) {
                 .build(),
             settings.bulkMutateRowsSettings().getRetryableCodes());
 
-    ServerStreamingCallable<MutateRowsRequest, MutateRowsResponse> callable =
+    ServerStreamingCallable<MutateRowsRequest, MutateRowsResponse> statsHeader =
         new StatsHeadersServerStreamingCallable<>(base);
 
-    if (settings.bulkMutateRowsSettings().isServerInitiatedFlowControlEnabled()) {
-      callable = new RateLimitingServerStreamingCallable(callable);
-    }
+    // Always create this callable because flow control will be enabled by the presence of
+    // RateLimitInfo, not the client flag
+    ServerStreamingCallable<MutateRowsRequest, MutateRowsResponse> flowControl =
+        new RateLimitingServerStreamingCallable(statsHeader);
 
     // Sometimes MutateRows connections are disconnected via an RST frame. This error is transient
     // and
     // should be treated similar to UNAVAILABLE. However, this exception has an INTERNAL error code
     // which by default is not retryable. Convert the exception so it can be retried in the client.
     ServerStreamingCallable<MutateRowsRequest, MutateRowsResponse> convertException =
-        new ConvertExceptionCallable<>(callable);
+        new ConvertExceptionCallable<>(flowControl);
 
     ServerStreamingCallable<MutateRowsRequest, MutateRowsResponse> withBigtableTracer =
         new BigtableTracerStreamingCallable<>(convertException);
diff --git a/google-cloud-bigtable/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/bigtable/data/v2/stub/EnhancedBigtableStubSettings.java b/google-cloud-bigtable/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/bigtable/data/v2/stub/EnhancedBigtableStubSettings.java
index fd54daa0d5..6951b5ab4d 100644
--- a/google-cloud-bigtable/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/bigtable/data/v2/stub/EnhancedBigtableStubSettings.java
+++ b/google-cloud-bigtable/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/bigtable/data/v2/stub/EnhancedBigtableStubSettings.java
@@ -975,6 +975,7 @@ public EnhancedBigtableStubSettings build() {
         this.setTransportChannelProvider(channelProviderBuilder.build());
       }
 
+      // Will be deprecated once we migrate flow control user to use request priority
       if (this.bulkMutateRowsSettings().isServerInitiatedFlowControlEnabled()) {
         // only set mutate rows feature flag when this feature is enabled
         featureFlags.setMutateRowsRateLimit(true);
diff --git a/google-cloud-bigtable/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/bigtable/data/v2/stub/RateLimitingServerStreamingCallable.java b/google-cloud-bigtable/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/bigtable/data/v2/stub/RateLimitingServerStreamingCallable.java
index 278019b07e..a30508b436 100644
--- a/google-cloud-bigtable/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/bigtable/data/v2/stub/RateLimitingServerStreamingCallable.java
+++ b/google-cloud-bigtable/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/bigtable/data/v2/stub/RateLimitingServerStreamingCallable.java
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
 import com.google.common.base.Stopwatch;
 import com.google.common.util.concurrent.RateLimiter;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReference;
 import java.util.logging.Level;
 import java.util.logging.Logger;
@@ -64,6 +65,10 @@ class RateLimitingServerStreamingCallable
   // as the server side cap
   private static final double MAX_FACTOR = 1.3;
 
+  // Disabled by default, enabled if RateLimitInfo is present, which is set on server side when
+  // feature flag is present or low request priority is used.
+  private final AtomicBoolean rateLimitEnabled = new AtomicBoolean(false);
+
   private final RateLimiter limiter;
 
   private final AtomicReference<Instant> lastQpsChangeTime = new AtomicReference<>(Instant.now());
@@ -73,7 +78,6 @@ class RateLimitingServerStreamingCallable
       @Nonnull ServerStreamingCallable<MutateRowsRequest, MutateRowsResponse> innerCallable) {
     this.limiter = RateLimiter.create(DEFAULT_QPS);
     this.innerCallable = Preconditions.checkNotNull(innerCallable, "Inner callable must be set");
-    logger.info("Rate limiting is enabled with initial QPS of " + limiter.getRate());
   }
 
   @Override
@@ -81,32 +85,25 @@ public void call(
       MutateRowsRequest request,
       ResponseObserver<MutateRowsResponse> responseObserver,
       ApiCallContext context) {
-    Stopwatch stopwatch = Stopwatch.createStarted();
-    limiter.acquire();
-    stopwatch.stop();
-    if (context.getTracer() instanceof BigtableTracer) {
-      ((BigtableTracer) context.getTracer())
-          .batchRequestThrottled(stopwatch.elapsed(TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS));
+    if (rateLimitEnabled.get()) {
+      Stopwatch stopwatch = Stopwatch.createStarted();
+      limiter.acquire();
+      stopwatch.stop();
+      if (context.getTracer() instanceof BigtableTracer) {
+        ((BigtableTracer) context.getTracer())
+            .batchRequestThrottled(stopwatch.elapsed(TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS));
+      }
     }
-    RateLimitingResponseObserver innerObserver =
-        new RateLimitingResponseObserver(limiter, lastQpsChangeTime, responseObserver);
+    RateLimitingResponseObserver innerObserver = new RateLimitingResponseObserver(responseObserver);
     innerCallable.call(request, innerObserver, context);
   }
 
   class RateLimitingResponseObserver extends SafeResponseObserver<MutateRowsResponse> {
     private final ResponseObserver<MutateRowsResponse> outerObserver;
-    private final RateLimiter rateLimiter;
-
-    private final AtomicReference<Instant> lastQpsChangeTime;
 
-    RateLimitingResponseObserver(
-        RateLimiter rateLimiter,
-        AtomicReference<Instant> lastQpsChangeTime,
-        ResponseObserver<MutateRowsResponse> observer) {
+    RateLimitingResponseObserver(ResponseObserver<MutateRowsResponse> observer) {
       super(observer);
       this.outerObserver = observer;
-      this.rateLimiter = rateLimiter;
-      this.lastQpsChangeTime = lastQpsChangeTime;
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -116,7 +113,13 @@ protected void onStartImpl(StreamController controller) {
 
     @Override
     protected void onResponseImpl(MutateRowsResponse response) {
+      // Must not limit rate if RateLimitInfo is not present.
+      // Must limit rate and update QPS if RateLimitInfo is present, regardless of client side flag
+      // setting.
       if (response.hasRateLimitInfo()) {
+        if (!rateLimitEnabled.getAndSet(true)) {
+          logger.info("Rate limiting is enabled with QPS of " + limiter.getRate());
+        }
         RateLimitInfo info = response.getRateLimitInfo();
         // RateLimitInfo is an optional field. However, proto3 sub-message field always
         // have presence even thought it's marked as "optional". Check the factor and
@@ -126,7 +129,14 @@ protected void onResponseImpl(MutateRowsResponse response) {
               info.getFactor(),
               Duration.ofSeconds(com.google.protobuf.util.Durations.toSeconds(info.getPeriod())));
         }
+      } else {
+        // Disable in case customer switched from low to higher priorities.
+        if (rateLimitEnabled.getAndSet(false)) {
+          logger.info("Rate limiting is disabled");
+        }
       }
+
+      outerObserver.onResponse(response);
     }
 
     @Override