diff --git a/ets2panda/util/options.yaml b/ets2panda/util/options.yaml
index a27bac139ca92ee86ee2aae2e7c000ae54fe4799..fa1114b238cb0fe194f931037cd6d305e24f1d58 100644
--- a/ets2panda/util/options.yaml
+++ b/ets2panda/util/options.yaml
@@ -388,7 +388,7 @@ options:
 #26986
 - name: ets-strings-concat
   type: bool
-  default: false
+  default: true
   description: "(experimental) Use StringBuilder.concat instead of StringBuilder.append"
 
 - name: permit-relaxed-any