diff --git a/docs/USER-DOCUMENTATION.md b/docs/USER-DOCUMENTATION.md
index 08b86767..7bc9a7f5 100644
--- a/docs/USER-DOCUMENTATION.md
+++ b/docs/USER-DOCUMENTATION.md
@@ -99,6 +99,26 @@ run Etcher on a GNU/Linux system.
 
 - liblzma (for xz decompression)
 
+Disable update notifications
+----------------------------
+
+You can disable update notifications, which can be useful when running Etcher
+outside a common desktop environment (like in a [Resin.io][resin.io]
+application), by setting the `ETCHER_DISABLE_UPDATES` environment variable.
+
+In GNU/Linux and Mac OS X:
+
+```sh
+export ETCHER_DISABLE_UPDATES=1
+```
+
+In Windows:
+
+```sh
+set ETCHER_DISABLE_UPDATES=1
+```
+
+[resin.io]: https://resin.io
 [appimage]: http://appimage.org
 [xwayland]: https://wayland.freedesktop.org/xserver.html
 [weston.ini]: http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/wily/man5/weston.ini.5.html
diff --git a/lib/gui/app.js b/lib/gui/app.js
index fc9cd5a4..f41d6b8f 100644
--- a/lib/gui/app.js
+++ b/lib/gui/app.js
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ const app = angular.module('Etcher', [
 app.run((AnalyticsService, UpdateNotifierService, SelectionStateModel) => {
   AnalyticsService.logEvent('Application start');
 
-  if (UpdateNotifierService.shouldCheckForUpdates()) {
+  if (UpdateNotifierService.shouldCheckForUpdates() && !process.env.ETCHER_DISABLE_UPDATES) {
     AnalyticsService.logEvent('Checking for updates');
 
     UpdateNotifierService.isLatestVersion().then((isLatestVersion) => {