diff --git a/changedetectionio/__init__.py b/changedetectionio/__init__.py
index d379c2f8..c1fde4fc 100644
--- a/changedetectionio/__init__.py
+++ b/changedetectionio/__init__.py
@@ -1307,8 +1307,8 @@ def changedetection_app(config=None, datastore_o=None):
 
     threading.Thread(target=notification_runner).start()
 
-    # Check for new release version, but not when running in test/build
-    if not os.getenv("GITHUB_REF", False):
+    # Check for new release version, but not when running in test/build or pytest
+    if not os.getenv("GITHUB_REF", False) and not config.get('disable_checkver') == True:
         threading.Thread(target=check_for_new_version).start()
 
     return app
diff --git a/changedetectionio/store.py b/changedetectionio/store.py
index 6182aef8..985a2e93 100644
--- a/changedetectionio/store.py
+++ b/changedetectionio/store.py
@@ -27,6 +27,8 @@ class ChangeDetectionStore:
     # For when we edit, we should write to disk
     needs_write_urgent = False
 
+    __version_check = True
+
     def __init__(self, datastore_path="/datastore", include_default_watches=True, version_tag="0.0.0"):
         # Should only be active for docker
         # logging.basicConfig(filename='/dev/stdout', level=logging.INFO)
@@ -37,7 +39,6 @@ class ChangeDetectionStore:
         self.proxy_list = None
         self.start_time = time.time()
         self.stop_thread = False
-
         # Base definition for all watchers
         # deepcopy part of #569 - not sure why its needed exactly
         self.generic_definition = deepcopy(Watch.model(datastore_path = datastore_path, default={}))
diff --git a/changedetectionio/tests/conftest.py b/changedetectionio/tests/conftest.py
index 2d0b1349..948c5792 100644
--- a/changedetectionio/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/changedetectionio/tests/conftest.py
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ def app(request):
 
     cleanup(datastore_path)
 
-    app_config = {'datastore_path': datastore_path}
+    app_config = {'datastore_path': datastore_path, 'disable_checkver' : True}
     cleanup(app_config['datastore_path'])
     datastore = store.ChangeDetectionStore(datastore_path=app_config['datastore_path'], include_default_watches=False)
     app = changedetection_app(app_config, datastore)