diff --git a/src/components/connect.tsx b/src/components/connect.tsx
index fc096d918..774c8f3f7 100644
--- a/src/components/connect.tsx
+++ b/src/components/connect.tsx
@@ -747,11 +747,14 @@ function connect<
       // Now that all that's done, we can finally try to actually render the child component.
       // We memoize the elements for the rendered child component as an optimization.
       const renderedWrappedComponent = React.useMemo(() => {
+        const effectiveProps = {...actualChildProps};
+        if (forwardRef) {
+          effectiveProps.ref = reactReduxForwardedRef
+        }
         return (
           // @ts-ignore
           <WrappedComponent
-            {...actualChildProps}
-            ref={reactReduxForwardedRef}
+            {...effectiveProps}
           />
         )
       }, [reactReduxForwardedRef, WrappedComponent, actualChildProps])
diff --git a/test/components/connect.spec.tsx b/test/components/connect.spec.tsx
index fd6199353..10afe2d86 100644
--- a/test/components/connect.spec.tsx
+++ b/test/components/connect.spec.tsx
@@ -2588,6 +2588,32 @@ describe('React', () => {
 
         expect(tester.getByTestId('a')).toHaveTextContent('42')
       })
+
+      it('should not override ref property when not asked to.', async () => {
+        type RootStateType = {}
+        const store = createStore(() => ({}))
+        type RefReceiverPropsType = {}
+        const RefReceiver = React.forwardRef<HTMLSpanElement, RefReceiverPropsType>(
+          (props: RefReceiverPropsType, ref) => <span ref={ref} />
+        );
+        type RefReceiverNoDispatchType = null
+        const decorator = connect<
+          RefReceiverPropsType,
+          RefReceiverNoDispatchType,
+          RefReceiverPropsType,
+          RootStateType
+        >(null, null, null, {
+          forwardRef: IS_REACT_18
+        })
+        const DecoratedRefReceiver = decorator(RefReceiver)
+        const testRef = React.createRef<HTMLSpanElement>()
+        rtl.render(
+          <ProviderMock store={store}>
+            <DecoratedRefReceiver ref={testRef} />
+          </ProviderMock>
+        )
+        expect(testRef.current).toBeInstanceOf(HTMLSpanElement);
+      })
     })
 
     describe('Factory functions for mapState/mapDispatch', () => {