diff --git a/settings/Controller/CheckSetupController.php b/settings/Controller/CheckSetupController.php
index cc9cb17388ec314e82005216f8e4f663c3e4bd17..ba56c72dccf67513632f264bc3c8c5d7f713a634 100644
--- a/settings/Controller/CheckSetupController.php
+++ b/settings/Controller/CheckSetupController.php
@@ -530,7 +530,7 @@ Raw output
 	}
 
 	protected function isPhpMailerUsed(): bool {
-		return $this->config->getSystemValue('mail_smtpmode') === 'php';
+		return $this->config->getSystemValue('mail_smtpmode', 'smtp') === 'php';
 	}
 
 	protected function hasOpcacheLoaded(): bool {
diff --git a/tests/Settings/Controller/CheckSetupControllerTest.php b/tests/Settings/Controller/CheckSetupControllerTest.php
index 617685d6196a9fbf3f7c52e53cc13293eb121809..ff565f3734bd0e0f507dda19f490e594dc93e063 100644
--- a/tests/Settings/Controller/CheckSetupControllerTest.php
+++ b/tests/Settings/Controller/CheckSetupControllerTest.php
@@ -543,11 +543,11 @@ class CheckSetupControllerTest extends TestCase {
 
 		$this->config->expects($this->at(0))
 			->method('getSystemValue')
-			->with('mail_smtpmode', null)
+			->with('mail_smtpmode', 'smtp')
 			->will($this->returnValue('php'));
 		$this->config->expects($this->at(1))
 			->method('getSystemValue')
-			->with('mail_smtpmode', null)
+			->with('mail_smtpmode', 'smtp')
 			->will($this->returnValue('not-php'));
 
 		$this->assertTrue($this->invokePrivate($checkSetupController, 'isPhpMailerUsed'));