diff --git a/historysync.go b/historysync.go
index 36baa1b..5fece97 100644
--- a/historysync.go
+++ b/historysync.go
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 package main
 
 import (
+	"fmt"
 	"sort"
 	"sync"
 	"time"
@@ -34,12 +35,6 @@ import (
 
 // region User history sync handling
 
-const (
-	FastBackfillPortalCount  = 20
-	FastBackfillMessageCount = 20
-	FastBackfillMessageCap   = 30
-)
-
 type portalToBackfill struct {
 	portal *Portal
 	conv   *waProto.Conversation
@@ -85,52 +80,26 @@ func (user *User) handleHistorySync(evt *waProto.HistorySync) {
 	if evt == nil || evt.SyncType == nil || evt.GetSyncType() == waProto.HistorySync_INITIAL_STATUS_V3 || evt.GetSyncType() == waProto.HistorySync_PUSH_NAME {
 		return
 	}
-	user.log.Infofln("Handling history sync with type %s, %d conversations, chunk order %d, progress %d%%", evt.GetSyncType(), len(evt.GetConversations()), evt.GetChunkOrder(), evt.GetProgress())
+	description := fmt.Sprintf("type %s, %d conversations, chunk order %d, progress %d%%", evt.GetSyncType(), len(evt.GetConversations()), evt.GetChunkOrder(), evt.GetProgress())
+	user.log.Infoln("Handling history sync with", description)
 
 	conversations := conversationList(evt.GetConversations())
 	// We want to handle recent conversations first
 	sort.Sort(sort.Reverse(conversations))
 	portalsToBackfill := make(chan portalToBackfill, len(conversations))
 
-	var backfillWait, fastBackfillWait sync.WaitGroup
-	var fastBackfillWaitDoneOnce sync.Once
-	// We have to add 1 to the waitgroup beforehand to make sure the wait in the goroutine doesn't finish
-	// before we add the actual numbers.
-	fastBackfillWait.Add(1)
+	var backfillWait sync.WaitGroup
 	backfillWait.Add(1)
-	go func() {
-		// Wait for the fast parallelized backfill to complete, then start the slow backfill loop (see explanation below)
-		fastBackfillWait.Wait()
-		user.slowBackfillLoop(portalsToBackfill, backfillWait.Done)
-	}()
-	for i, conv := range conversations {
-		// This will create portals and start backfilling for them.
-		//
-		// The first 20 (FastBackfillPortalCount) portals will be parallelized, where the portal is
-		// created and recent messages are backfilled in parallel. Other portals will be created
-		// synchronously (and this will only return when they're created).
-		//
-		// For said other portals, and older messages in the parallelized portals, backfilling also
-		// happens synchronously: the portals and messages to backfill are added to the
-		// portalsToBackfill channel, which is consumed one-by-one in the slowBackfillLoop method.
-		// That loop is only started after the fast parallelized backfill is completed.
-		user.handleHistorySyncConversation(i, conv, &fastBackfillWait, portalsToBackfill)
-		if i == FastBackfillPortalCount {
-			// There won't be any more portals going the fast backfill route, so remove the 1 item
-			// that was added to the wait group at the beginning.
-			fastBackfillWaitDoneOnce.Do(fastBackfillWait.Done)
-		}
+	go user.backfillLoop(portalsToBackfill, backfillWait.Done)
+	for _, conv := range conversations {
+		user.handleHistorySyncConversation(conv, portalsToBackfill)
 	}
-	fastBackfillWaitDoneOnce.Do(fastBackfillWait.Done)
-	// Wait for fast backfill to complete to make sure everything necessary is in the slow backfill queue,
-	// then close the slow backfill queue and wait for the loop to finish handling the queue.
-	fastBackfillWait.Wait()
 	close(portalsToBackfill)
 	backfillWait.Wait()
-	user.log.Infofln("Finished handling history sync with type %s, %d conversations, chunk order %d, progress %d%%", evt.GetSyncType(), len(conversations), evt.GetChunkOrder(), evt.GetProgress())
+	user.log.Infoln("Finished handling history sync with", description)
 }
 
-func (user *User) slowBackfillLoop(ch chan portalToBackfill, done func()) {
+func (user *User) backfillLoop(ch chan portalToBackfill, done func()) {
 	defer done()
 	for ptb := range ch {
 		if len(ptb.msgs) > 0 {
@@ -145,7 +114,7 @@ func (user *User) slowBackfillLoop(ch chan portalToBackfill, done func()) {
 	}
 }
 
-func (user *User) handleHistorySyncConversation(index int, conv *waProto.Conversation, fastBackfillWait *sync.WaitGroup, portalsToBackfill chan portalToBackfill) {
+func (user *User) handleHistorySyncConversation(conv *waProto.Conversation, portalsToBackfill chan portalToBackfill) {
 	jid, err := types.ParseJID(conv.GetId())
 	if err != nil {
 		user.log.Warnfln("Failed to parse chat JID '%s' in history sync: %v", conv.GetId(), err)
@@ -180,12 +149,6 @@ func (user *User) handleHistorySyncConversation(index int, conv *waProto.Convers
 	}
 	ptb := portalToBackfill{portal: portal, conv: conv, msgs: msgs}
 	if len(portal.MXID) == 0 {
-		// For the first few chats, do the portal creation and some backfilling in parallel to populate the chat list ASAP
-		if index < FastBackfillPortalCount {
-			fastBackfillWait.Add(1)
-			go user.fastBackfillRoutine(ptb, fastBackfillWait.Done, portalsToBackfill)
-			return
-		}
 		user.log.Debugln("Creating portal for", portal.Key.JID, "as part of history sync handling")
 		err = portal.CreateMatrixRoom(user, getPartialInfoFromConversation(jid, conv), false)
 		if err != nil {
@@ -234,34 +197,6 @@ func (user *User) shouldCreatePortalForHistorySync(conv *waProto.Conversation, p
 	return false
 }
 
-func (user *User) fastBackfillRoutine(ptb portalToBackfill, done func(), slowBackfillChan chan portalToBackfill) {
-	defer done()
-
-	user.log.Debugln("Asynchronously creating portal for", ptb.portal.Key.JID, "as part of history sync handling")
-	err := ptb.portal.CreateMatrixRoom(user, getPartialInfoFromConversation(ptb.portal.Key.JID, ptb.conv), false)
-	if err != nil {
-		user.log.Warnfln("Failed to create room for %s during backfill: %v", ptb.portal.Key.JID, err)
-		return
-	}
-
-	if user.bridge.Config.Bridge.HistorySync.Backfill {
-		if len(ptb.msgs) > FastBackfillMessageCap {
-			user.log.Debugfln("Bridging first %d messages of history sync payload for %s (async)", FastBackfillMessageCount, ptb.portal.Key.JID)
-			ptb.portal.backfill(user, ptb.msgs[:FastBackfillMessageCount])
-			// Send the rest of the messages off to the slow backfill queue
-			ptb.msgs = ptb.msgs[FastBackfillMessageCount:]
-			slowBackfillChan <- ptb
-		} else if len(ptb.msgs) > 0 {
-			user.log.Debugfln("Bridging all messages (%d) of history sync payload for %s (async)", len(ptb.msgs), ptb.portal.Key.JID)
-			ptb.portal.backfill(user, ptb.msgs)
-		} else {
-			user.log.Debugfln("Not backfilling %s: no bridgeable messages found", ptb.portal.Key.JID)
-		}
-	} else {
-		user.log.Debugln("Backfill is disabled, not bridging history sync payload for", ptb.portal.Key.JID)
-	}
-}
-
 func filterMessagesToBackfill(messages []*waProto.HistorySyncMsg) []*waProto.WebMessageInfo {
 	filtered := make([]*waProto.WebMessageInfo, 0, len(messages))
 	for _, msg := range messages {