diff --git a/_locales/en/messages.json b/_locales/en/messages.json
index 503b5c29b..0630a41c6 100644
--- a/_locales/en/messages.json
+++ b/_locales/en/messages.json
@@ -1235,7 +1235,7 @@
   },
   "linkPreviewsSettingDescription": {
     "message":
-      "Enable local link previews (Restart for changes to take effect).",
+      "Enable local link previews",
     "description": "Description shown for the Link Preview option "
   },
   "spellCheckDescription": {
diff --git a/js/background.js b/js/background.js
index b002669dc..2ce0b821d 100644
--- a/js/background.js
+++ b/js/background.js
@@ -607,6 +607,12 @@
     Whisper.events.on('registration_done', async () => {
       window.log.info('handling registration event');
 
+      // Enable link previews as default
+      storage.onready(async () => {
+        storage.put('linkPreviews', true);
+      });
+
+
       // listeners
       Whisper.RotateSignedPreKeyListener.init(Whisper.events, newVersion);
       // window.Signal.RefreshSenderCertificate.initialize({