diff --git a/packages/devtools_app/lib/src/shared/preferences/_inspector_preferences.dart b/packages/devtools_app/lib/src/shared/preferences/_inspector_preferences.dart
index bbe89bf3833..a325c74b792 100644
--- a/packages/devtools_app/lib/src/shared/preferences/_inspector_preferences.dart
+++ b/packages/devtools_app/lib/src/shared/preferences/_inspector_preferences.dart
@@ -31,9 +31,7 @@ class InspectorPreferencesController extends DisposableController
 
   final _hoverEvalMode = ValueNotifier<bool>(false);
   final _inspectorV2Enabled = ValueNotifier<bool>(false);
-  // TODO(https://github.com/flutter/devtools/issues/1423): Default to true
-  // after verifying auto-refreshes are performant.
-  final _autoRefreshEnabled = ValueNotifier<bool>(false);
+  final _autoRefreshEnabled = ValueNotifier<bool>(true);
   final _pubRootDirectories = ListValueNotifier<String>([]);
   final _pubRootDirectoriesAreBusy = ValueNotifier<bool>(false);
   final _busyCounter = ValueNotifier<int>(0);
diff --git a/packages/devtools_app/release_notes/NEXT_RELEASE_NOTES.md b/packages/devtools_app/release_notes/NEXT_RELEASE_NOTES.md
index 497b049d457..efcb692a04b 100644
--- a/packages/devtools_app/release_notes/NEXT_RELEASE_NOTES.md
+++ b/packages/devtools_app/release_notes/NEXT_RELEASE_NOTES.md
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@ To learn more about DevTools, check out the
 ## Inspector updates
 
 * Selecting an implementation widget on the device while implementation widget's are hidden in the [new Inspector's](https://docs.flutter.dev/tools/devtools/release-notes/release-notes-2.40.1#inspector-updates) does not show an error. - [#8625](https://github.com/flutter/devtools/pull/8625)
+* Enabled auto-refreshes of the widget tree on hot-reloads and navigation events by default. This can be disabled in the Inspector settings. - [#8646](https://github.com/flutter/devtools/pull/8646)
+    ![Auto-refresh setting](images/inspector_auto_refresh_setting.png "Inspector auto-refresh setting")
 
 ## Performance updates
 
diff --git a/packages/devtools_app/release_notes/images/inspector_auto_refresh_setting.png b/packages/devtools_app/release_notes/images/inspector_auto_refresh_setting.png
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..c4a11d1b011
Binary files /dev/null and b/packages/devtools_app/release_notes/images/inspector_auto_refresh_setting.png differ