diff --git a/etc/NEWS b/etc/NEWS
index e5f34a1d8a0..18c08dc5578 100644
--- a/etc/NEWS
+++ b/etc/NEWS
@@ -711,6 +711,10 @@ at BOL or EOL, or in whitespace there.  To enable these, customize,
 respectively, `show-paren-when-point-inside-paren' or
 `show-paren-when-point-in-periphery'.
 
+---
+** If gpg2 exists on the system, it is now used as the default value
+of `epg-gpg-program' (instead of gpg).
+
 ** Lisp mode
 
 ---
diff --git a/lisp/epg-config.el b/lisp/epg-config.el
index e92bcd62a66..c41d97dbfac 100644
--- a/lisp/epg-config.el
+++ b/lisp/epg-config.el
@@ -39,10 +39,11 @@
   :group 'data
   :group 'external)
 
-(defcustom epg-gpg-program (cond ((executable-find "gpg") "gpg")
-				 ((executable-find "gpg2") "gpg2")
-				 (t "gpg"))
+(defcustom epg-gpg-program (if (executable-find "gpg2")
+                               "gpg2"
+                             "gpg")
   "The `gpg' executable."
+  :version "25.1"
   :group 'epg
   :type 'string)