diff --git a/firefox-ios/Providers/Merino/MerinoProvider.swift b/firefox-ios/Providers/Merino/MerinoProvider.swift
index 254686102b9b..b8409137b477 100644
--- a/firefox-ios/Providers/Merino/MerinoProvider.swift
+++ b/firefox-ios/Providers/Merino/MerinoProvider.swift
@@ -48,7 +48,10 @@ final class MerinoProvider: MerinoStoriesProviding, FeatureFlaggable, @unchecked
 
     func fetchContent() async throws -> CuratedRecommendationsResponse {
         if !AppConstants.isRunningTest && shouldUseMockData {
-            return MerinoTestData().getMockDataFeed(Constants.numberOfStoriesToFetchForCaching)
+            return MerinoTestData().getMockDataFeed(
+                Constants.numberOfStoriesToFetchForCaching,
+                categoriesEnabled: isHomepageStoryCategoriesEnabled
+            )
         }
 
         guard prefs.boolForKey(PrefsKeys.UserFeatureFlagPrefs.ASPocketStories) ?? true,
@@ -113,6 +116,10 @@ final class MerinoProvider: MerinoStoriesProviding, FeatureFlaggable, @unchecked
         return featureFlags.isCoreFeatureEnabled(.useMockData) || prefs.boolForKey(PrefsKeys.useMerinoTestData) ?? false
     }
 
+    private var isHomepageStoryCategoriesEnabled: Bool {
+        return featureFlags.isFeatureEnabled(.homepageStoryCategories, checking: .buildOnly)
+    }
+
     private func iOSToMerinoLocale(from locale: String) -> CuratedRecommendationLocale? {
         return curatedRecommendationLocaleFromString(
             locale: locale.replacingOccurrences(of: "_", with: "-")
@@ -130,9 +137,7 @@ final class MerinoProvider: MerinoStoriesProviding, FeatureFlaggable, @unchecked
     /// non-empty top-level story `data`. If the shapes do not match, we bypass the cache
     /// and fetch again so a mode switch is reflected immediately.
     private func cachedResponseMatchesCurrentHomepageStoriesMode(_ response: CuratedRecommendationsResponse) -> Bool {
-        let categoriesEnabled = featureFlags.isFeatureEnabled(.homepageStoryCategories, checking: .buildOnly)
-
-        if categoriesEnabled {
+        if isHomepageStoryCategoriesEnabled {
             return !(response.feeds?.isEmpty ?? true)
         }
 
diff --git a/firefox-ios/Providers/Merino/MerinoTestData.swift b/firefox-ios/Providers/Merino/MerinoTestData.swift
index 0f0927cea069..b82ca0b11275 100644
--- a/firefox-ios/Providers/Merino/MerinoTestData.swift
+++ b/firefox-ios/Providers/Merino/MerinoTestData.swift
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ import MozillaAppServices
 struct MerinoTestData {
     /// Because we're not testing the Merino API/AS module, we're simply providing some
     /// dummy data here.
-    func getMockDataFeed(_ numberOfStories: Int) -> CuratedRecommendationsResponse {
+    func getMockDataFeed(_ numberOfStories: Int, categoriesEnabled: Bool = false) -> CuratedRecommendationsResponse {
         var mockData = mockFeedData(startingRank: 0)
         while mockData.count < numberOfStories {
             mockData.append(contentsOf: mockFeedData(startingRank: Int64(mockData.count)))
@@ -16,13 +16,43 @@ struct MerinoTestData {
 
         return CuratedRecommendationsResponse(
             recommendedAt: 123,
-            data: mockData,
-            feeds: mockCategoryData()
+            data: categoriesEnabled ? [] : mockData,
+            feeds: categoriesEnabled ? mockCategoryData() : nil
         )
     }
 
     private func mockCategoryData() -> [FeedSection] {
-        return []
+        let stories = mockFeedData(startingRank: 0)
+
+        return [
+            FeedSection(
+                feedId: "travel",
+                receivedFeedRank: 0,
+                recommendations: Array(stories[0..<4]),
+                title: "Travel",
+                layout: Layout(name: "", responsiveLayouts: []),
+                isFollowed: false,
+                isBlocked: false
+            ),
+            FeedSection(
+                feedId: "technology",
+                receivedFeedRank: 1,
+                recommendations: Array(stories[4..<7]),
+                title: "Technology",
+                layout: Layout(name: "", responsiveLayouts: []),
+                isFollowed: false,
+                isBlocked: false
+            ),
+            FeedSection(
+                feedId: "science",
+                receivedFeedRank: 2,
+                recommendations: Array(stories[7..<10]),
+                title: "Science",
+                layout: Layout(name: "4", responsiveLayouts: []),
+                isFollowed: false,
+                isBlocked: false
+            ),
+        ]
     }
 
     private func mockFeedData(startingRank: Int64) -> [RecommendationDataItem] {
diff --git a/firefox-ios/firefox-ios-tests/Tests/ClientTests/Merino/MerinoProviderTests.swift b/firefox-ios/firefox-ios-tests/Tests/ClientTests/Merino/MerinoProviderTests.swift
index c534cd58b4d7..5924de3e16b6 100644
--- a/firefox-ios/firefox-ios-tests/Tests/ClientTests/Merino/MerinoProviderTests.swift
+++ b/firefox-ios/firefox-ios-tests/Tests/ClientTests/Merino/MerinoProviderTests.swift
@@ -311,6 +311,23 @@ final class MerinoProviderTests: XCTestCase, @unchecked Sendable {
         XCTAssertEqual(control.fetcher.callCount, 1)
     }
 
+    func test_getMockDataFeed_whenCategoriesDisabled_returnsStoriesOnly() {
+        let response = MerinoTestData().getMockDataFeed(10, categoriesEnabled: false)
+
+        XCTAssertEqual(response.data.count, 10)
+        XCTAssertNil(response.feeds)
+    }
+
+    func test_getMockDataFeed_whenCategoriesEnabled_returnsFeedsOnly() {
+        let response = MerinoTestData().getMockDataFeed(10, categoriesEnabled: true)
+        let categoryRecommendations = response.feeds?.flatMap(\.recommendations) ?? []
+
+        XCTAssertEqual(response.data.count, 0)
+        XCTAssertEqual(response.feeds?.map(\.feedId), ["travel", "technology", "science"])
+        XCTAssertEqual(response.feeds?.allSatisfy { !$0.recommendations.isEmpty }, true)
+        XCTAssertEqual(categoryRecommendations.count, 10)
+    }
+
     private func createSubject(
         thresholdHours: Double = 4,
         prefsEnabled: Bool = true,