Remove after_initialize hook

app/models/user_preference.rb

@@ -36,8 +36,6 @@ class UserPreference < ApplicationRecord
   validates_presence_of :user
   validate :time_zone_correctness, if: -> { time_zone.present? }
 
-  after_initialize :init_settings
-
   ##
   # Retrieve keys from settings, and allow accessing
   # as boolean with ? suffix
@@ -137,10 +135,6 @@ class UserPreference < ApplicationRecord
     %i[user user_id].include?(name.to_sym)
   end
 
-  def init_settings
-    self.settings ||= {}
-  end
-
   def time_zone_correctness
     errors.add(:time_zone, :inclusion) if time_zone.present? && canonical_time_zone.nil?
   end

spec/models/user_preference_spec.rb

@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ describe UserPreference do
                     :hide_mail?
 
     context 'when a new pref instance' do
-      subject { UserPreference.new }
+      subject { described_class.new }
 
       it 'defaults to true' do
         expect(subject.settings[:hide_mail]).to be_nil