diff --git a/.changeset/slick-ants-double.md b/.changeset/slick-ants-double.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..47f415d431
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/slick-ants-double.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@storybook/react-native': patch
+---
+
+auto-detect websocket enabling
diff --git a/packages/react-native/src/View.tsx b/packages/react-native/src/View.tsx
index b3e7aaef59..75c4c990da 100644
--- a/packages/react-native/src/View.tsx
+++ b/packages/react-native/src/View.tsx
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ export type Params = {
   hasStoryWrapper?: boolean;
   /**
    * Enable websockets for the storybook server to remotely control the storybook
-   * default: false
+   * default: automatically enabled when a websocket config is injected via storybook.requires (i.e. when STORYBOOK_WS_HOST is set), otherwise false
    */
   enableWebsockets?: boolean;
   query?: string;
@@ -264,7 +264,7 @@ export class View {
 
   getStorybookUI = (params: Partial<Params> = {}) => {
     const {
-      enableWebsockets = false,
+      enableWebsockets = !!globalThis.STORYBOOK_WEBSOCKET,
       CustomUIComponent,
       hasStoryWrapper: storyViewWrapper = true,
     } = params;