diff --git a/app/build.gradle b/app/build.gradle
index 8172ac0828341a1cc39d4f24df3fdd30497bf733..92120f880e1cf008330cb189ee363937af8131f0 100644
--- a/app/build.gradle
+++ b/app/build.gradle
@@ -52,6 +52,8 @@ android {
     buildConfigField "String", "obfsvpn_ip", '""'
     buildConfigField "String", "obfsvpn_cert", '""'
     buildConfigField 'boolean', 'obfsvpn_use_kcp', 'false'
+    // default to UDP usage
+    buildConfigField 'boolean', 'prefer_udp', 'false'
 
     // static update url pointing to the latest stable release apk
     buildConfigField "String", "update_apk_url", '"https://dl.bitmask.net/client/android/Bitmask-Android-latest.apk"'
@@ -155,6 +157,8 @@ android {
       buildConfigField "String", "obfsvpn_ip", '"159.223.173.205"'
       buildConfigField "String", "obfsvpn_cert", '"8nuAbPJwFrKc/29KcCfL5LBuEWxQrjBASYXdUbwcm9d9pKseGK4r2Tg47e23+t6WghxGGw"'
       buildConfigField 'boolean', 'obfsvpn_use_kcp', 'true'
+      // default to UDP usage
+      buildConfigField 'boolean', 'prefer_udp', 'true'
 
       //Build Config Fields for automatic apk update checks
 
diff --git a/app/src/main/java/se/leap/bitmaskclient/base/utils/PreferenceHelper.java b/app/src/main/java/se/leap/bitmaskclient/base/utils/PreferenceHelper.java
index ff3b5ab1bab265cb57db7770a6cd8417a410e6ca..9cba221acc779234fa0a05091465713ef2524273 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/se/leap/bitmaskclient/base/utils/PreferenceHelper.java
+++ b/app/src/main/java/se/leap/bitmaskclient/base/utils/PreferenceHelper.java
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.Set;
 
 import de.blinkt.openvpn.VpnProfile;
+import se.leap.bitmaskclient.BuildConfig;
 import se.leap.bitmaskclient.base.models.Provider;
 import se.leap.bitmaskclient.tor.TorStatusObservable;
 
@@ -220,7 +221,7 @@ public class PreferenceHelper {
     }
 
     public static boolean getPreferUDP(Context context) {
-        return getBoolean(context, PREFER_UDP, false);
+        return getBoolean(context, PREFER_UDP, BuildConfig.prefer_udp);
     }
 
     public static void preferUDP(Context context, boolean prefer) {