diff --git a/webview-ui/src/components/settings/SettingsView.tsx b/webview-ui/src/components/settings/SettingsView.tsx
index 987d245105..742362caaf 100644
--- a/webview-ui/src/components/settings/SettingsView.tsx
+++ b/webview-ui/src/components/settings/SettingsView.tsx
@@ -229,7 +229,9 @@ const SettingsView = forwardRef<SettingsViewRef, SettingsViewProps>(({ onDone, t
 
 				// Don't treat initial sync from undefined to a defined value as a user change
 				// This prevents the dirty state when the component initializes and auto-syncs the model ID
-				const isInitialSync = previousValue === undefined && value !== undefined
+				// Exception: enableReasoningEffort is a user-controlled checkbox that should always trigger changes
+				const isInitialSync =
+					previousValue === undefined && value !== undefined && field !== "enableReasoningEffort"
 
 				if (!isInitialSync) {
 					setChangeDetected(true)