diff --git a/share/functions/__fish_complete_man.fish b/share/functions/__fish_complete_man.fish
index 22f6f790a..0d7a6d1a1 100644
--- a/share/functions/__fish_complete_man.fish
+++ b/share/functions/__fish_complete_man.fish
@@ -2,16 +2,20 @@
 # The whatis database is non-existent, so apropos tries (and fails) to create it every time,
 # which takes about half a second.
 #
-# So we disable this entirely in that case.
+# So we disable this entirely in that case, unless the user has overridden the system
+# `apropos` with their own, which presumably doesn't have the same problem.
 if test (uname) = Darwin
     set -l darwin_version (uname -r | string split .)
     # macOS 15 is Darwin 19, this is an issue at least up to 10.15.3.
     # If this is fixed in later versions uncomment the second check.
     if test "$darwin_version[1]" = 19 # -a "$darwin_version[2]" -le 3
-        function __fish_complete_man
+        set -l apropos (command -s apropos)
+        if test "$apropos" = "/usr/bin/apropos"
+            function __fish_complete_man
+            end
+            # (remember: exit when `source`ing only exits the file, not the shell)
+            exit
         end
-        # (remember: exit when `source`ing only exits the file, not the shell)
-        exit
     end
 end