diff --git a/ts/session/disappearing_messages/timerOptions.ts b/ts/session/disappearing_messages/timerOptions.ts
index 1dc1267f3..b5b93aa2f 100644
--- a/ts/session/disappearing_messages/timerOptions.ts
+++ b/ts/session/disappearing_messages/timerOptions.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import moment from 'moment';
-import { isDevProd } from '../../shared/env_vars';
+import { isCI, isDevProd } from '../../shared/env_vars';
 import { LocalizerKeys } from '../../types/LocalizerKeys';
 
 type TimerOptionsEntry = { name: string; value: number };
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ const VALUES: Array<number> = timerOptionsDurations.map(t => {
 });
 
 const filterOutDebugValues = (option: number) => {
-  return isDevProd() || option > 60; // when not a dev build, filter out options with less than 60s
+  return isDevProd() || isCI() || option > 60; // when not a dev build nor on CI, filter out options with less than 60s
 };
 
 const DELETE_AFTER_READ = VALUES.filter(option => {
diff --git a/ts/shared/env_vars.ts b/ts/shared/env_vars.ts
index 349277c42..d87b8b428 100644
--- a/ts/shared/env_vars.ts
+++ b/ts/shared/env_vars.ts
@@ -5,12 +5,19 @@ function envAppInstanceIncludes(prefix: string) {
   return !!process.env.NODE_APP_INSTANCE.includes(prefix);
 }
 
+export function isCI() {
+  // this is set by session-playwright to run a build on CI
+  return !!process.env.CI;
+}
+
 export function isDevProd() {
   return envAppInstanceIncludes('devprod');
 }
+
 export function isTestNet() {
-  return envAppInstanceIncludes('testnet');
+  return envAppInstanceIncludes('testnet') || isCI(); // when running on CI, we always want to use testnet
 }
+
 export function isTestIntegration() {
-  return envAppInstanceIncludes('test-integration');
+  return envAppInstanceIncludes('test-integration') || isCI(); // when running on CI, we always want the 'test-integration' behavior
 }