diff --git a/frigate/app.py b/frigate/app.py
index cdb4877cc..a77533619 100644
--- a/frigate/app.py
+++ b/frigate/app.py
@@ -600,6 +600,7 @@ class FrigateApp:
                 User.insert(
                     {
                         User.username: "admin",
+                        User.role: "admin",
                         User.password_hash: password_hash,
                         User.notification_tokens: [],
                     }
diff --git a/frigate/models.py b/frigate/models.py
index 26375432e..11b25b938 100644
--- a/frigate/models.py
+++ b/frigate/models.py
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ class User(Model):  # type: ignore[misc]
     username = CharField(null=False, primary_key=True, max_length=30)
     role = CharField(
         max_length=20,
-        default="viewer",
+        default="admin",
     )
     password_hash = CharField(null=False, max_length=120)
     notification_tokens = JSONField()