diff --git a/builtin/submodule--helper.c b/builtin/submodule--helper.c
index 8d03d3f6b1..9f7fdd866e 100644
--- a/builtin/submodule--helper.c
+++ b/builtin/submodule--helper.c
@@ -2026,7 +2026,6 @@ struct update_data {
 	.references = STRING_LIST_INIT_DUP, \
 	.single_branch = -1, \
 	.max_jobs = 1, \
-	.warn_if_uninitialized = 1, \
 }
 
 static void next_submodule_warn_missing(struct submodule_update_clone *suc,
diff --git a/t/t7406-submodule-update.sh b/t/t7406-submodule-update.sh
index 000e055811..43f779d751 100755
--- a/t/t7406-submodule-update.sh
+++ b/t/t7406-submodule-update.sh
@@ -670,6 +670,39 @@ test_expect_success 'submodule update --init skips submodule with update=none' '
 	)
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'submodule update with pathspec warns against uninitialized ones' '
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr selective" &&
+	git clone super selective &&
+	(
+		cd selective &&
+		git submodule init submodule &&
+
+		git submodule update submodule 2>err &&
+		! grep "Submodule path .* not initialized" err &&
+
+		git submodule update rebasing 2>err &&
+		grep "Submodule path .rebasing. not initialized" err &&
+
+		test_path_exists submodule/.git &&
+		test_path_is_missing rebasing/.git
+	)
+
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'submodule update without pathspec updates only initialized ones' '
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr selective" &&
+	git clone super selective &&
+	(
+		cd selective &&
+		git submodule init submodule &&
+		git submodule update 2>err &&
+		test_path_exists submodule/.git &&
+		test_path_is_missing rebasing/.git &&
+		! grep "Submodule path .* not initialized" err
+	)
+
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'submodule update continues after checkout error' '
 	(cd super &&
 	 git reset --hard HEAD &&