diff --git a/app/controllers/api/v1/accounts/contacts_controller.rb b/app/controllers/api/v1/accounts/contacts_controller.rb
index e9ea14034..ba2d92186 100644
--- a/app/controllers/api/v1/accounts/contacts_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/api/v1/accounts/contacts_controller.rb
@@ -178,7 +178,11 @@ class Api::V1::Accounts::ContactsController < Api::V1::Accounts::BaseController
   end
 
   def set_include_contact_inboxes
-    @include_contact_inboxes = params[:include_contact_inboxes] == 'true'
+    @include_contact_inboxes = if params[:include_contact_inboxes].present?
+                                 params[:include_contact_inboxes] == 'true'
+                               else
+                                 true
+                               end
   end
 
   def fetch_contact
diff --git a/app/views/api/v1/accounts/contacts/active.json.jbuilder b/app/views/api/v1/accounts/contacts/active.json.jbuilder
index cde9e5445..577dff4be 100644
--- a/app/views/api/v1/accounts/contacts/active.json.jbuilder
+++ b/app/views/api/v1/accounts/contacts/active.json.jbuilder
@@ -5,6 +5,6 @@ end
 
 json.payload do
   json.array! @contacts do |contact|
-    json.partial! 'api/v1/models/contact', formats: [:json], resource: contact, with_contact_inboxes: true
+    json.partial! 'api/v1/models/contact', formats: [:json], resource: contact, with_contact_inboxes: @include_contact_inboxes
   end
 end
diff --git a/spec/controllers/api/v1/accounts/contacts_controller_spec.rb b/spec/controllers/api/v1/accounts/contacts_controller_spec.rb
index 189153747..5beae6850 100644
--- a/spec/controllers/api/v1/accounts/contacts_controller_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/controllers/api/v1/accounts/contacts_controller_spec.rb
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ RSpec.describe 'Contacts API', type: :request do
       let!(:contact_inbox) { create(:contact_inbox, contact: contact) }
 
       it 'returns all resolved contacts along with contact inboxes' do
-        get "/api/v1/accounts/#{account.id}/contacts?include_contact_inboxes=true",
+        get "/api/v1/accounts/#{account.id}/contacts",
             headers: admin.create_new_auth_token,
             as: :json