diff --git a/introspection/org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.Settings.Connection.xml b/introspection/org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.Settings.Connection.xml
index 6e518677e..9064ecaf3 100644
--- a/introspection/org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.Settings.Connection.xml
+++ b/introspection/org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.Settings.Connection.xml
@@ -107,7 +107,8 @@
           Provide an empty array, to use the current settings.
         @flags: optional flags argument. Currently supported flags are:
           "0x1" (to-disk),
-          "0x2" (in-memory).
+          "0x2" (in-memory),
+          "0x20" (block-autoconnect).
           Unknown flags cause the call to fail.
         @args: optional arguments dictionary, for extensibility. Currently no
           arguments are accepted. Specifying unknown keys causes the call
diff --git a/libnm-core/nm-dbus-interface.h b/libnm-core/nm-dbus-interface.h
index 0b86fbee0..064bcf65d 100644
--- a/libnm-core/nm-dbus-interface.h
+++ b/libnm-core/nm-dbus-interface.h
@@ -901,6 +901,10 @@ typedef enum { /*< flags >*/
  * @NM_SETTINGS_UPDATE2_FLAG_NONE: an alias for numeric zero, no flags set.
  * @NM_SETTINGS_UPDATE2_FLAG_TO_DISK: to persist the connection to disk.
  * @NM_SETTINGS_UPDATE2_FLAG_IN_MEMORY: to make the connection in-memory only.
+ * @NM_SETTINGS_UPDATE2_FLAG_BLOCK_AUTOCONNECT: usually, when the connection
+ *   has autoconnect enabled and is modified, it becomes elegible to autoconnect
+ *   right away. Setting this flag, disables autoconnect until the connection
+ *   is manually activated.
  *
  * Since: 1.12
  */
@@ -908,6 +912,7 @@ typedef enum { /*< flags >*/
 	NM_SETTINGS_UPDATE2_FLAG_NONE                       = 0,
 	NM_SETTINGS_UPDATE2_FLAG_TO_DISK                    = (1LL <<  0),
 	NM_SETTINGS_UPDATE2_FLAG_IN_MEMORY                  = (1LL <<  1),
+	NM_SETTINGS_UPDATE2_FLAG_BLOCK_AUTOCONNECT          = (1LL <<  5),
 } NMSettingsUpdate2Flags;
 
 #endif /* __NM_DBUS_INTERFACE_H__ */
diff --git a/src/settings/nm-settings-connection.c b/src/settings/nm-settings-connection.c
index 62a8ca307..2f6d2f218 100644
--- a/src/settings/nm-settings-connection.c
+++ b/src/settings/nm-settings-connection.c
@@ -1742,6 +1742,12 @@ update_auth_cb (NMSettingsConnection *self,
 	else
 		log_diff_name = info->new_settings ? "update-settings" : "write-out-to-disk";
 
+	if (NM_FLAGS_HAS (info->flags, NM_SETTINGS_UPDATE2_FLAG_BLOCK_AUTOCONNECT)) {
+		nm_settings_connection_autoconnect_blocked_reason_set (self,
+		                                                       NM_SETTINGS_AUTO_CONNECT_BLOCKED_REASON_USER_REQUEST,
+		                                                       TRUE);
+	}
+
 	_update (self,
 	         info->new_settings,
 	         persist_mode,
@@ -1915,7 +1921,8 @@ impl_settings_connection_update2 (NMSettingsConnection *self,
 	const NMSettingsUpdate2Flags flags = (NMSettingsUpdate2Flags) flags_u;
 
 	if (NM_FLAGS_ANY (flags_u, ~((guint32) (NM_SETTINGS_UPDATE2_FLAG_TO_DISK |
-	                                        NM_SETTINGS_UPDATE2_FLAG_IN_MEMORY)))) {
+	                                        NM_SETTINGS_UPDATE2_FLAG_IN_MEMORY |
+	                                        NM_SETTINGS_UPDATE2_FLAG_BLOCK_AUTOCONNECT)))) {
 		error = g_error_new_literal (NM_SETTINGS_ERROR,
 		                             NM_SETTINGS_ERROR_INVALID_ARGUMENTS,
 		                             "Unknown flags");