diff --git a/changelog.d/18948.bugfix b/changelog.d/18948.bugfix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..7a8af0a286c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/18948.bugfix
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Compute a user's last seen timestamp from their devices' last seen timestamps instead of IPs, because the latter are automatically cleared according to `user_ips_max_age`.
diff --git a/synapse/storage/databases/main/__init__.py b/synapse/storage/databases/main/__init__.py
index de55c452aea..83b480adafe 100644
--- a/synapse/storage/databases/main/__init__.py
+++ b/synapse/storage/databases/main/__init__.py
@@ -299,10 +299,14 @@ def get_users_paginate_txn(
                 FROM users as u
                 LEFT JOIN profiles AS p ON u.name = p.full_user_id
                 LEFT JOIN erased_users AS eu ON u.name = eu.user_id
+                LEFT JOIN (
+                    SELECT user_id, MAX(last_seen) AS last_seen_ts
+                    FROM devices GROUP BY user_id
+                ) lsd ON u.name = lsd.user_id
                 LEFT JOIN (
                     SELECT user_id, MAX(last_seen) AS last_seen_ts
                     FROM user_ips GROUP BY user_id
-                ) ls ON u.name = ls.user_id
+                ) lsi ON u.name = lsi.user_id
                 {where_clause}
                 """
             sql = "SELECT COUNT(*) as total_users " + sql_base
@@ -312,7 +316,8 @@ def get_users_paginate_txn(
             sql = f"""
                 SELECT name, user_type, is_guest, admin, deactivated, shadow_banned,
                 displayname, avatar_url, creation_ts * 1000 as creation_ts, approved,
-                eu.user_id is not null as erased, last_seen_ts, locked
+                eu.user_id is not null as erased,
+                COALESCE(lsd.last_seen_ts, lsi.last_seen_ts) as last_seen_ts, locked
                 {sql_base}
                 ORDER BY {order_by_column} {order}, u.name ASC
                 LIMIT ? OFFSET ?