diff --git a/changelog.d/4887.feature b/changelog.d/4887.feature
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..e7ff0b9297aea5ac028733af00fc78da15c576b1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/4887.feature
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+The user directory has been rewritten to make it faster, with less chance of falling behind on a large server. 
diff --git a/synapse/storage/schema/delta/53/user_dir_populate.sql b/synapse/storage/schema/delta/53/user_dir_populate.sql
index 955b8fdbd6983661dd4c070e4d6c5d19d9de0db7..ffcc896b588732a49109264fae03dd0cd5385cd3 100644
--- a/synapse/storage/schema/delta/53/user_dir_populate.sql
+++ b/synapse/storage/schema/delta/53/user_dir_populate.sql
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ INSERT INTO background_updates (update_name, progress_json, depends_on) VALUES
 
 -- Insert all users, if search_all_users is on
 INSERT INTO background_updates (update_name, progress_json, depends_on) VALUES
-    ('populate_user_directory_process_users', '{}', 'populate_user_directory_rooms');
+    ('populate_user_directory_process_users', '{}', 'populate_user_directory_process_rooms');
 
 -- Clean up staging tables
 INSERT INTO background_updates (update_name, progress_json, depends_on) VALUES