diff --git a/DOCS/man/mpv.rst b/DOCS/man/mpv.rst
index 8ede4075f1..8b4d7c6065 100644
--- a/DOCS/man/mpv.rst
+++ b/DOCS/man/mpv.rst
@@ -737,20 +737,24 @@ Currently this happens only in the following cases:
 - if started from explorer.exe on Windows (technically, if it was started on
   Windows, and all of the stdout/stderr/stdin handles are unset)
 - started out of the bundle on OSX
-- you can add ``--profile=pseudo-gui`` to the command line, but it will behave
-  subtly differently (since mpv 0.22.0)
+- if you manually use ``--player-operation-mode=pseudo-gui`` on the command line
 
-This mode implicitly performs the same action as ``--profile=pseudo-gui``, but
-roughly before config files are loaded and the command line is applied. The
-``pseudo-gui`` profile is predefined with the following contents:
+This mode applies options from the builtin profile ``builtin-pseudo-gui``, but
+only if these haven't been set in the user's config file or on the command line.
+Also, for compatibility with the old pseudo-gui behavior, the options in the
+``pseudo-gui`` profile are applied unconditionally. In addition, the profile
+makes sure to enable the pseudo-GUI mode, so that ``--profile=pseudo-gui``
+works like in older mpv releases. The profiles are currently defined as follows:
 
 ::
 
-    [pseudo-gui]
+    [builtin-pseudo-gui]
     terminal=no
     force-window=yes
     idle=once
     screenshot-directory=~~desktop/
+    [pseudo-gui]
+    player-operation-mode=pseudo-gui
 
 .. warning::
 
diff --git a/etc/builtin.conf b/etc/builtin.conf
index da51495a71..533dce7127 100644
--- a/etc/builtin.conf
+++ b/etc/builtin.conf
@@ -3,6 +3,9 @@
 # applied at later stages during loading.
 
 [pseudo-gui]
+player-operation-mode=pseudo-gui
+
+[builtin-pseudo-gui]
 terminal=no
 force-window=yes
 idle=once
diff --git a/player/main.c b/player/main.c
index 678ef5a5a1..ad907e034a 100644
--- a/player/main.c
+++ b/player/main.c
@@ -408,8 +408,11 @@ int mp_initialize(struct MPContext *mpctx, char **options)
             return r == M_OPT_EXIT ? -2 : -1;
     }
 
-    if (opts->operation_mode == 1)
-        m_config_set_profile(mpctx->mconfig, "pseudo-gui", M_SETOPT_NO_OVERWRITE);
+    if (opts->operation_mode == 1) {
+        m_config_set_profile(mpctx->mconfig, "builtin-pseudo-gui",
+                             M_SETOPT_NO_OVERWRITE);
+        m_config_set_profile(mpctx->mconfig, "pseudo-gui", 0);
+    }
 
     mp_get_resume_defaults(mpctx);