diff --git a/app/src/basic/res/xml/preferences.xml b/app/src/basic/res/xml/preferences.xml
index c4d8280cb..24066bd1d 100644
--- a/app/src/basic/res/xml/preferences.xml
+++ b/app/src/basic/res/xml/preferences.xml
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@
         <SwitchPreference
                 android:title="@string/update_auto_download"
                 android:summary="@string/update_auto_download_summary"
-                android:defaultValue="false"
+                android:defaultValue="true"
                 android:key="updateAutoDownload"/>
         <org.fdroid.fdroid.views.LiveSeekBarPreference
                 android:key="updateIntervalSeekBarPosition"