diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index 15e77687a..e84dae1b6 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ though they should be private._
 - New API method `_converse.disco.getIdentity` to check whether a JID has a given identity.
 
 ### Configuration settings
+- `auto_reconnect` is now set to `true` by default.
 - New configuration setting [allow_public_bookmarks](https://conversejs.org/docs/html/configurations.html#allow-public-bookmarks)
 - New configuration setting [root](https://conversejs.org/docs/html/configurations.html#root)
 
diff --git a/src/converse-core.js b/src/converse-core.js
index c0a6b3db5..3b4764aff 100644
--- a/src/converse-core.js
+++ b/src/converse-core.js
@@ -288,7 +288,7 @@
             authentication: 'login', // Available values are "login", "prebind", "anonymous" and "external".
             auto_away: 0, // Seconds after which user status is set to 'away'
             auto_login: false, // Currently only used in connection with anonymous login
-            auto_reconnect: false,
+            auto_reconnect: true,
             auto_subscribe: false,
             auto_xa: 0, // Seconds after which user status is set to 'xa'
             blacklisted_plugins: [],