diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 2f38d8380..4be64c63a 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+## 1.207.2 - 2025-01-21
+
+- fix(): prevent person processing if /decide fails to fetch remote config (#1658)
+
 ## 1.207.1 - 2025-01-21
 
 - fix: expose getNextSurveyStep to use in posthog (#1661)
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 9e0172b85..d62b5fe6b 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
     "name": "posthog-js",
-    "version": "1.207.1",
+    "version": "1.207.2",
     "description": "Posthog-js allows you to automatically capture usage and send events to PostHog.",
     "repository": "https://github.com/PostHog/posthog-js",
     "author": "hey@posthog.com",
diff --git a/src/__tests__/personProcessing.test.ts b/src/__tests__/personProcessing.test.ts
index ce0e92361..931732a9b 100644
--- a/src/__tests__/personProcessing.test.ts
+++ b/src/__tests__/personProcessing.test.ts
@@ -721,19 +721,19 @@ describe('person processing', () => {
     })
 
     describe('decide', () => {
-        it('should change the person mode from default when decide response is handled', async () => {
+        it('should default the person mode to identified_only when an incomplete decide response is handled', async () => {
             // arrange
             const { posthog, beforeSendMock } = await setup(undefined)
             posthog.capture('startup page view')
 
             // act
-            posthog._onRemoteConfig({ defaultIdentifiedOnly: false } as RemoteConfig)
+            posthog._onRemoteConfig({} as RemoteConfig)
             posthog.capture('custom event')
 
             // assert
             expect(beforeSendMock.mock.calls.length).toEqual(2)
             expect(beforeSendMock.mock.calls[0][0].properties.$process_person_profile).toEqual(false)
-            expect(beforeSendMock.mock.calls[1][0].properties.$process_person_profile).toEqual(true)
+            expect(beforeSendMock.mock.calls[1][0].properties.$process_person_profile).toEqual(false)
         })
 
         it('should NOT change the person mode from user-defined when decide response is handled', async () => {
@@ -750,31 +750,5 @@ describe('person processing', () => {
             expect(beforeSendMock.mock.calls[0][0].properties.$process_person_profile).toEqual(false)
             expect(beforeSendMock.mock.calls[1][0].properties.$process_person_profile).toEqual(false)
         })
-
-        it('should persist when the default person mode is overridden by decide', async () => {
-            // arrange
-            const persistenceName = uuidv7()
-            const { posthog: posthog1, beforeSendMock: beforeSendMock1 } = await setup(
-                undefined,
-                undefined,
-                persistenceName
-            )
-
-            // act
-            posthog1._onRemoteConfig({ defaultIdentifiedOnly: false } as RemoteConfig)
-            posthog1.capture('custom event 1')
-            const { posthog: posthog2, beforeSendMock: beforeSendMock2 } = await setup(
-                undefined,
-                undefined,
-                persistenceName
-            )
-            posthog2.capture('custom event 2')
-
-            // assert
-            expect(beforeSendMock1.mock.calls.length).toEqual(1)
-            expect(beforeSendMock2.mock.calls.length).toEqual(1)
-            expect(beforeSendMock1.mock.calls[0][0].properties.$process_person_profile).toEqual(true)
-            expect(beforeSendMock2.mock.calls[0][0].properties.$process_person_profile).toEqual(true)
-        })
     })
 })
diff --git a/src/__tests__/posthog-core.ts b/src/__tests__/posthog-core.ts
index e6ede1f11..97b37f340 100644
--- a/src/__tests__/posthog-core.ts
+++ b/src/__tests__/posthog-core.ts
@@ -342,14 +342,17 @@ describe('posthog core', () => {
 
             expect(posthog.compression).toEqual('gzip-js')
         })
-        it('uses defaultIdentifiedOnly from decide response', () => {
+        it('ignores legacy field defaultIdentifiedOnly from decide response', () => {
             const posthog = posthogWith({})
 
             posthog._onRemoteConfig({ defaultIdentifiedOnly: true } as RemoteConfig)
             expect(posthog.config.person_profiles).toEqual('identified_only')
 
             posthog._onRemoteConfig({ defaultIdentifiedOnly: false } as RemoteConfig)
-            expect(posthog.config.person_profiles).toEqual('always')
+            expect(posthog.config.person_profiles).toEqual('identified_only')
+
+            posthog._onRemoteConfig({} as RemoteConfig)
+            expect(posthog.config.person_profiles).toEqual('identified_only')
         })
         it('defaultIdentifiedOnly does not override person_profiles if already set', () => {
             const posthog = posthogWith({ person_profiles: 'always' })
diff --git a/src/posthog-core.ts b/src/posthog-core.ts
index 25edc327b..720effb99 100644
--- a/src/posthog-core.ts
+++ b/src/posthog-core.ts
@@ -587,11 +587,7 @@ export class PostHog {
         }
 
         this.set_config({
-            person_profiles: this._initialPersonProfilesConfig
-                ? this._initialPersonProfilesConfig
-                : config['defaultIdentifiedOnly']
-                  ? 'identified_only'
-                  : 'always',
+            person_profiles: this._initialPersonProfilesConfig ? this._initialPersonProfilesConfig : 'identified_only',
         })
 
         this.siteApps?.onRemoteConfig(config)
diff --git a/src/utils/type-utils.ts b/src/utils/type-utils.ts
index c3ea4ade5..cdc556286 100644
--- a/src/utils/type-utils.ts
+++ b/src/utils/type-utils.ts
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ export const isObject = (x: unknown): x is Record<string, any> => {
     // eslint-disable-next-line posthog-js/no-direct-object-check
     return x === Object(x) && !isArray(x)
 }
-export const isEmptyObject = (x: unknown): x is Record<string, any> => {
+export const isEmptyObject = (x: unknown) => {
     if (isObject(x)) {
         for (const key in x) {
             if (hasOwnProperty.call(x, key)) {