diff --git a/.vscode/settings.json b/.vscode/settings.json
index 17d70d9420..9f5e9f8407 100644
--- a/.vscode/settings.json
+++ b/.vscode/settings.json
@@ -19,6 +19,6 @@
     "python.testing.pytestArgs": ["-vv", "--color=yes", "--internet-tests"],
     "python.testing.pytestEnabled": true,
     "python.terminal.activateEnvironment": true,
-    "python-envs.defaultEnvManager": "flying-sheep.hatch:hatch",
-    "python-envs.defaultPackageManager": "flying-sheep.hatch:hatch",
+    "python-envs.defaultEnvManager": "ms-python.python:venv",
+    "python-envs.defaultPackageManager": "ms-python.python:pip",
 }
diff --git a/docs/api/deprecated.md b/docs/api/deprecated.md
index ba6868d68a..a95ddda4d1 100644
--- a/docs/api/deprecated.md
+++ b/docs/api/deprecated.md
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
    :nosignatures:
    :toctree: ../generated/
 
+   read_visium
    pp.subsample
    tl.louvain
    logging.print_versions
diff --git a/docs/api/io.md b/docs/api/io.md
index 2254b30c39..a1b55b223f 100644
--- a/docs/api/io.md
+++ b/docs/api/io.md
@@ -42,7 +42,6 @@ Read 10x formatted hdf5 files and directories containing `.mtx` files using
 
    read_10x_h5
    read_10x_mtx
-   read_visium
 ```
 
 Read other formats using functions borrowed from {mod}`anndata`
diff --git a/src/scanpy/_settings/presets.py b/src/scanpy/_settings/presets.py
index bef0280b39..728631c904 100644
--- a/src/scanpy/_settings/presets.py
+++ b/src/scanpy/_settings/presets.py
@@ -69,6 +69,10 @@ def _get_value(self, preset: Preset) -> object:
         return getattr(params, param)
 
 
+class Read10xPreset(NamedTuple):
+    layer: str | None
+
+
 class HVGPreset(NamedTuple):
     flavor: HVGFlavor
     return_df: bool
@@ -165,6 +169,14 @@ def _generate_next_value_(
     ScanpyV2Preview = enum.auto()
     """: Scanpy 2.*’s feature default settings. (Preview: subject to change!)"""
 
+    @preset_property
+    def read_10x() -> Mapping[Preset, Read10xPreset]:
+        """Target for :func:`~scanpy.read_10x_h5` and :func:`~scanpy.read_10x_mtx`."""
+        return {
+            Preset.ScanpyV1: Read10xPreset(layer=None),
+            Preset.ScanpyV2Preview: Read10xPreset(layer="counts"),
+        }
+
     @preset_property
     def highly_variable_genes() -> Mapping[Preset, HVGPreset]:
         """Flavor for :func:`~scanpy.pp.highly_variable_genes`."""
diff --git a/src/scanpy/readwrite.py b/src/scanpy/readwrite.py
index d01520f404..3be03be42b 100644
--- a/src/scanpy/readwrite.py
+++ b/src/scanpy/readwrite.py
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
 
 import json
 import warnings
-from functools import partial
 from pathlib import Path, PurePath
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, cast, get_args, overload
 
@@ -44,10 +43,11 @@
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
     from collections.abc import Callable
     from os import PathLike
-    from typing import IO, Literal
+    from typing import IO, Concatenate, Literal
 
     from numpy.typing import DTypeLike
 
+
 # .gz and .bz2 suffixes are also allowed for text formats
 text_exts = {
     "csv",
@@ -166,6 +166,7 @@ def read(
 
 def read_10x_h5(
     filename: PathLike[str] | str,
+    layer: str | None | Default = Default(preset=("read_10x", "layer")),
     *,
     genome: str | None = None,
     gex_only: bool = True,
@@ -208,6 +209,8 @@ def read_10x_h5(
 
     """
     path = Path(filename)
+    if isinstance(layer, Default):
+        layer = settings.preset.read_10x.layer
     start = logg.info(f"reading {path}")
     is_present = _check_datafile_present_and_download(path, backup_url=backup_url)
     if not is_present:
@@ -221,7 +224,7 @@ def read_10x_h5(
                 warnings.filterwarnings(
                     "ignore", r".*names are not unique", UserWarning
                 )
-            adata = _read_10x_h5(path, _read_v3_10x_h5)
+            adata = _read_10x_h5(path, _read_v3_10x_h5, layer=layer)
         if genome:
             if genome not in adata.var["genome"].values:
                 msg = (
@@ -235,16 +238,21 @@ def read_10x_h5(
         if adata.is_view:
             adata = adata.copy()
     else:
-        adata = _read_10x_h5(path, partial(_read_legacy_10x_h5, genome=genome))
+        adata = _read_10x_h5(path, _read_legacy_10x_h5, layer=layer, genome=genome)
     logg.info("", time=start)
     return adata
 
 
-def _read_10x_h5(path: Path, cb: Callable[[h5py.File], AnnData]) -> AnnData:
+def _read_10x_h5[**P](
+    path: Path,
+    cb: Callable[Concatenate[h5py.File, P], AnnData],
+    *args: P.args,
+    **kwargs: P.kwargs,
+) -> AnnData:
     """Read hdf5 file from Cell Ranger v3 or later versions."""
     with h5py.File(str(path), "r") as f:
         try:
-            return cb(f)
+            return cb(f, *args, **kwargs)
         except KeyError as e:
             msg = "File is missing one or more required datasets."
             raise Exception(msg) from e
@@ -258,7 +266,7 @@ def _collect_datasets(dsets: dict, group: h5py.Group) -> None:
             _collect_datasets(dsets, v)
 
 
-def _read_v3_10x_h5(f: h5py.File) -> AnnData:
+def _read_v3_10x_h5(f: h5py.File, *, layer: str | None) -> AnnData:
     dsets = {}
     _collect_datasets(dsets, f["matrix"])
 
@@ -307,10 +315,13 @@ def _read_v3_10x_h5(f: h5py.File) -> AnnData:
     else:
         msg = "10x h5 has no features group"
         raise ValueError(msg)
-    return AnnData(matrix, obs=obs_dict, var=var_dict)
+    x, layers = (matrix, None) if layer is None else (None, {layer: matrix})
+    return AnnData(x, layers=layers, obs=obs_dict, var=var_dict)
 
 
-def _read_legacy_10x_h5(f: h5py.File, genome: str | None) -> AnnData:
+def _read_legacy_10x_h5(
+    f: h5py.File, *, layer: str | None, genome: str | None
+) -> AnnData:
     children = list(f.keys())
     if not genome:
         if len(children) > 1:
@@ -347,8 +358,10 @@ def _read_legacy_10x_h5(f: h5py.File, genome: str | None) -> AnnData:
     )
     # the csc matrix is automatically the transposed csr matrix
     # as scanpy expects it, so, no need for a further transpostion
+    x, layers = (matrix, None) if layer is None else (None, {layer: matrix})
     adata = AnnData(
-        matrix,
+        x,
+        layers=layers,
         obs=dict(obs_names=dsets["barcodes"].astype(str)),
         var=dict(
             var_names=dsets["gene_names"].astype(str),
@@ -525,6 +538,7 @@ def read_visium(
 def read_10x_mtx(
     path: PathLike[str] | str,
     *,
+    layer: str | None | Default = Default(preset=("read_10x", "layer")),
     var_names: Literal["gene_symbols", "gene_ids"] = "gene_symbols",
     make_unique: bool = True,
     cache: bool = False,
@@ -575,6 +589,8 @@ def read_10x_mtx(
 
     """
     path = Path(path)
+    if isinstance(layer, Default):
+        layer = settings.preset.read_10x.layer
     prefix = "" if prefix is None else prefix
     is_legacy = (path / f"{prefix}genes.tsv").is_file()
     with warnings.catch_warnings():
@@ -582,6 +598,7 @@ def read_10x_mtx(
         warnings.filterwarnings("ignore", r".*names are not unique", UserWarning)
         adata = _read_10x_mtx(
             path,
+            layer=layer,
             var_names=var_names,
             make_unique=make_unique,
             cache=cache,
@@ -600,6 +617,7 @@ def read_10x_mtx(
 def _read_mtx(
     filename: Path,
     *,
+    layer: str | None,
     dtype: DTypeLike,
     sparse_format: Literal["csr", "csc", "coo"],
 ) -> AnnData:
@@ -614,12 +632,14 @@ def _read_mtx(
         x = csr_matrix(x)
     elif sparse_format == "csc":
         x = csc_matrix(x)
-    return AnnData(x)
+    x, layers = (x, None) if layer is None else (None, {layer: x})
+    return AnnData(x, layers=layers)
 
 
 def _read_10x_mtx(
     path: Path,
     *,
+    layer: str | None,
     var_names: Literal["gene_symbols", "gene_ids"],
     make_unique: bool,
     cache: bool,
@@ -634,6 +654,7 @@ def _read_10x_mtx(
     suffix = "" if is_legacy else (".gz" if compressed else "")
     adata = read(
         path / f"{prefix}matrix.mtx{suffix}",
+        layer=layer,
         cache=cache,
         cache_compression=cache_compression,
         # transposing will convert e.g. CSR to CSC and vice versa