diff --git a/pkg/features/kube_features.go b/pkg/features/kube_features.go
index b19102c297a..18fe535e848 100644
--- a/pkg/features/kube_features.go
+++ b/pkg/features/kube_features.go
@@ -1264,7 +1264,7 @@ var defaultKubernetesFeatureGates = map[featuregate.Feature]featuregate.FeatureS
 
 	genericfeatures.WatchFromStorageWithoutResourceVersion: {Default: false, PreRelease: featuregate.Beta},
 
-	genericfeatures.WatchList: {Default: false, PreRelease: featuregate.Alpha},
+	genericfeatures.WatchList: {Default: true, PreRelease: featuregate.Beta},
 
 	genericfeatures.ZeroLimitedNominalConcurrencyShares: {Default: true, PreRelease: featuregate.GA, LockToDefault: true}, // remove in 1.32
 
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/features/kube_features.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/features/kube_features.go
index 8448e36ec6a..09299627001 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/features/kube_features.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/features/kube_features.go
@@ -298,6 +298,7 @@ const (
 
 	// owner: @p0lyn0mial
 	// alpha: v1.27
+	// beta: v1.31
 	//
 	// Allow the API server to stream individual items instead of chunking
 	WatchList featuregate.Feature = "WatchList"
@@ -402,7 +403,7 @@ var defaultKubernetesFeatureGates = map[featuregate.Feature]featuregate.FeatureS
 
 	InPlacePodVerticalScaling: {Default: false, PreRelease: featuregate.Alpha},
 
-	WatchList: {Default: false, PreRelease: featuregate.Alpha},
+	WatchList: {Default: true, PreRelease: featuregate.Beta},
 
 	ConsistentListFromCache: {Default: true, PreRelease: featuregate.Beta},