diff --git a/modules/services/emacs.nix b/modules/services/emacs.nix
index 38267151..9a6ef5e4 100644
--- a/modules/services/emacs.nix
+++ b/modules/services/emacs.nix
@@ -81,6 +81,17 @@ in {
       enable = mkEnableOption "systemd socket activation for the Emacs service";
     };
 
+    startWithUserSession = lib.mkOption {
+      type = lib.types.bool;
+      default = !cfg.socketActivation.enable;
+      defaultText =
+        literalExpression "!config.services.emacs.socketActivation.enable";
+      example = true;
+      description = ''
+        Whether to launch Emacs service with the systemd user session.
+      '';
+    };
+
     defaultEditor = mkOption rec {
       type = types.bool;
       default = false;
@@ -145,7 +156,7 @@ in {
           ExecStopPost =
             "${pkgs.coreutils}/bin/chmod --changes +w ${socketDir}";
         };
-      } // optionalAttrs (!cfg.socketActivation.enable) {
+      } // optionalAttrs (cfg.startWithUserSession) {
         Install = { WantedBy = [ "default.target" ]; };
       };
 
diff --git a/tests/modules/services/emacs/default.nix b/tests/modules/services/emacs/default.nix
index 47493207..cbbd6f6a 100644
--- a/tests/modules/services/emacs/default.nix
+++ b/tests/modules/services/emacs/default.nix
@@ -4,4 +4,6 @@
   emacs-socket-27 = ./emacs-socket-27.nix;
   emacs-socket-28 = ./emacs-socket-28.nix;
   emacs-default-editor = ./emacs-default-editor.nix;
+  emacs-socket-and-startWithUserSession =
+    ./emacs-socket-and-startWithUserSession.nix;
 }
diff --git a/tests/modules/services/emacs/emacs-socket-and-startWithUserSession.nix b/tests/modules/services/emacs/emacs-socket-and-startWithUserSession.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5f47089e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/modules/services/emacs/emacs-socket-and-startWithUserSession.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+{ lib, pkgs, ... }:
+
+with lib;
+
+{
+  services.emacs = {
+    enable = true;
+    socketActivation.enable = true;
+    startWithUserSession = true;
+  };
+
+  nixpkgs.overlays = [
+    (self: super: rec {
+      emacs = pkgs.writeShellScriptBin "dummy-emacs-28.0.5" "" // {
+        outPath = "@emacs@";
+      };
+      emacsPackagesFor = _:
+        makeScope super.newScope (_: { emacsWithPackages = _: emacs; });
+    })
+  ];
+
+  nmt.script = ''
+    assertFileContains \
+      home-files/.config/systemd/user/emacs.service \
+      "WantedBy=default.target"
+  '';
+}