diff --git a/app/controllers/dashboard/projects_controller.rb b/app/controllers/dashboard/projects_controller.rb
index d43f5393ecc..daeb8fda417 100644
--- a/app/controllers/dashboard/projects_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/dashboard/projects_controller.rb
@@ -7,8 +7,8 @@ class Dashboard::ProjectsController < Dashboard::ApplicationController
 
   prepend_before_action(only: [:index]) { authenticate_sessionless_user!(:rss) }
   before_action :set_non_archived_param
-  before_action :projects, only: [:index]
   before_action :default_sorting
+  before_action :projects, only: [:index]
   skip_cross_project_access_check :index, :starred
 
   def index
diff --git a/changelogs/unreleased/issue-63222.yml b/changelogs/unreleased/issue-63222.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..bc6520b9fc5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/unreleased/issue-63222.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+title: Set default sort method for dashboard projects list
+merge_request: 29830
+author: David Palubin
+type: fixed
diff --git a/spec/controllers/dashboard/projects_controller_spec.rb b/spec/controllers/dashboard/projects_controller_spec.rb
index ea68eae12ed..6591901a9dc 100644
--- a/spec/controllers/dashboard/projects_controller_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/controllers/dashboard/projects_controller_spec.rb
@@ -11,8 +11,10 @@ describe Dashboard::ProjectsController do
     end
 
     context 'user logged in' do
+      let(:user) { create(:user) }
+
       before do
-        sign_in create(:user)
+        sign_in(user)
       end
 
       context 'external authorization' do
@@ -24,6 +26,20 @@ describe Dashboard::ProjectsController do
           expect(response).to have_gitlab_http_status(200)
         end
       end
+
+      it 'orders the projects by last activity by default' do
+        project = create(:project)
+        project.add_developer(user)
+        project.update!(last_repository_updated_at: 3.days.ago, last_activity_at: 3.days.ago)
+
+        project2 = create(:project)
+        project2.add_developer(user)
+        project2.update!(last_repository_updated_at: 10.days.ago, last_activity_at: 10.days.ago)
+
+        get :index
+
+        expect(assigns(:projects)).to eq([project, project2])
+      end
     end
   end