diff --git a/browser/app/profile/firefox.js b/browser/app/profile/firefox.js
index 3a33c1cc4b1b..3da916c48905 100644
--- a/browser/app/profile/firefox.js
+++ b/browser/app/profile/firefox.js
@@ -1291,6 +1291,8 @@ pref("prompts.tab_modal.enabled", true);
 // This is a fallback value for when prompt callers do not specify a modalType.
 pref("prompts.defaultModalType", 3);
 
+pref("browser.topsites.useRemoteSetting", false);
+
 // Activates preloading of the new tab url.
 pref("browser.newtab.preload", true);
 
diff --git a/browser/components/newtab/karma.mc.config.js b/browser/components/newtab/karma.mc.config.js
index 1801b5c37949..9066005eca21 100644
--- a/browser/components/newtab/karma.mc.config.js
+++ b/browser/components/newtab/karma.mc.config.js
@@ -87,11 +87,17 @@ module.exports = function(config) {
               branches: 75,
             },
             "lib/TopSitesFeed.jsm": {
-              statements: 96,
-              lines: 96,
+              statements: 94,
+              lines: 94,
               functions: 97,
               branches: 84,
             },
+            "lib/Screenshots.jsm": {
+              statements: 94,
+              lines: 94,
+              functions: 100,
+              branches: 84,
+            },
             "lib/*.jsm": {
               statements: 100,
               lines: 100,
diff --git a/browser/components/newtab/lib/Screenshots.jsm b/browser/components/newtab/lib/Screenshots.jsm
index 3b17956755ff..4e8a552af0c1 100644
--- a/browser/components/newtab/lib/Screenshots.jsm
+++ b/browser/components/newtab/lib/Screenshots.jsm
@@ -121,9 +121,18 @@ this.Screenshots = {
     if (!this._shouldGetScreenshots()) {
       return;
     }
+    // __sharedCache may not exist yet for links from default top sites that
+    // don't have a default tippy top icon.
+    if (!link.__sharedCache) {
+      link.__sharedCache = {
+        updateLink(prop, val) {
+          link[prop] = val;
+        },
+      };
+    }
+    const cache = link.__sharedCache;
     // Nothing to do if we already have a pending screenshot or
     // if a previous request failed and returned null.
-    const cache = link.__sharedCache;
     if (cache.fetchingScreenshot || link[property] !== undefined) {
       return;
     }
diff --git a/browser/components/newtab/lib/TopSitesFeed.jsm b/browser/components/newtab/lib/TopSitesFeed.jsm
index 400af043cf6a..c03d4b1ab6ca 100644
--- a/browser/components/newtab/lib/TopSitesFeed.jsm
+++ b/browser/components/newtab/lib/TopSitesFeed.jsm
@@ -94,6 +94,9 @@ for (let searchProvider of ["amazon", "google"]) {
   );
 }
 
+const REMOTE_SETTING_DEFAULTS_PREF = "browser.topsites.useRemoteSetting";
+const REMOTE_SETTING_OVERRIDE_PREF = "browser.topsites.default";
+
 function getShortURLForCurrentSearch() {
   const url = shortURL({ url: Services.search.defaultEngine.searchForm });
   return url;
@@ -125,15 +128,15 @@ this.TopSitesFeed = class TopSitesFeed {
 
   init() {
     // If the feed was previously disabled PREFS_INITIAL_VALUES was never received
-    this.refreshDefaults(
-      this.store.getState().Prefs.values[DEFAULT_SITES_PREF]
-    );
+    this._readDefaults();
     this._storage = this.store.dbStorage.getDbTable("sectionPrefs");
     this.refresh({ broadcast: true, isStartup: true });
     Services.obs.addObserver(this, "browser-search-engine-modified");
     for (let [pref] of SEARCH_TILE_OVERRIDE_PREFS) {
       Services.prefs.addObserver(pref, this);
     }
+    Services.prefs.addObserver(REMOTE_SETTING_DEFAULTS_PREF, this);
+    Services.prefs.addObserver(REMOTE_SETTING_OVERRIDE_PREF, this);
   }
 
   uninit() {
@@ -142,24 +145,35 @@ this.TopSitesFeed = class TopSitesFeed {
     for (let [pref] of SEARCH_TILE_OVERRIDE_PREFS) {
       Services.prefs.removeObserver(pref, this);
     }
+    Services.prefs.removeObserver(REMOTE_SETTING_DEFAULTS_PREF, this);
+    Services.prefs.removeObserver(REMOTE_SETTING_OVERRIDE_PREF, this);
   }
 
   observe(subj, topic, data) {
-    // We should update the current top sites if the search engine has been changed since
-    // the search engine that gets filtered out of top sites has changed.
-    if (
-      topic === "browser-search-engine-modified" &&
-      data === "engine-default" &&
-      this.store.getState().Prefs.values[FILTER_DEFAULT_SEARCH_PREF]
-    ) {
-      delete this._currentSearchHostname;
-      this._currentSearchHostname = getShortURLForCurrentSearch();
-      this.refresh({ broadcast: true });
-    } else if (
-      topic === "nsPref:changed" &&
-      SEARCH_TILE_OVERRIDE_PREFS.has(data)
-    ) {
-      this.refresh({ broadcast: true });
+    switch (topic) {
+      case "browser-search-engine-modified":
+        // We should update the current top sites if the search engine has been changed since
+        // the search engine that gets filtered out of top sites has changed.
+        if (
+          data === "engine-default" &&
+          this.store.getState().Prefs.values[FILTER_DEFAULT_SEARCH_PREF]
+        ) {
+          delete this._currentSearchHostname;
+          this._currentSearchHostname = getShortURLForCurrentSearch();
+          this.refresh({ broadcast: true });
+        }
+        break;
+      case "nsPref:changed":
+        if (
+          data === REMOTE_SETTING_DEFAULTS_PREF ||
+          data === REMOTE_SETTING_OVERRIDE_PREF
+        ) {
+          this._readDefaults();
+          this.refresh({ broadcast: true });
+        } else if (SEARCH_TILE_OVERRIDE_PREFS.has(data)) {
+          this.refresh({ broadcast: true });
+        }
+        break;
     }
   }
 
@@ -167,6 +181,31 @@ this.TopSitesFeed = class TopSitesFeed {
     return site && site.hostname;
   }
 
+  /**
+   * _readDefaults - sets DEFAULT_TOP_SITES
+   */
+  _readDefaults() {
+    this._useRemoteSetting = Services.prefs.getBoolPref(
+      REMOTE_SETTING_DEFAULTS_PREF
+    );
+
+    if (!this._useRemoteSetting) {
+      this.refreshDefaults(
+        this.store.getState().Prefs.values[DEFAULT_SITES_PREF]
+      );
+      return;
+    }
+
+    let sites;
+    try {
+      sites = Services.prefs.getStringPref(REMOTE_SETTING_OVERRIDE_PREF);
+    } catch (e) {
+      // Placeholder for the actual remote setting (bug 1653937).
+      sites = "https://mozilla.org,https://firefox.com";
+    }
+    this.refreshDefaults(sites);
+  }
+
   refreshDefaults(sites) {
     // Clear out the array of any previous defaults
     DEFAULT_TOP_SITES.length = 0;
@@ -884,7 +923,9 @@ this.TopSitesFeed = class TopSitesFeed {
       case at.PREF_CHANGED:
         switch (action.data.name) {
           case DEFAULT_SITES_PREF:
-            this.refreshDefaults(action.data.value);
+            if (!this._useRemoteSetting) {
+              this.refreshDefaults(action.data.value);
+            }
             break;
           case ROWS_PREF:
           case FILTER_DEFAULT_SEARCH_PREF:
@@ -906,7 +947,9 @@ this.TopSitesFeed = class TopSitesFeed {
         }
         break;
       case at.PREFS_INITIAL_VALUES:
-        this.refreshDefaults(action.data[DEFAULT_SITES_PREF]);
+        if (!this._useRemoteSetting) {
+          this.refreshDefaults(action.data[DEFAULT_SITES_PREF]);
+        }
         break;
       case at.TOP_SITES_PIN:
         this.pin(action);