diff --git a/run_electrum b/run_electrum
index 654cf15fb..ef21b8d2a 100755
--- a/run_electrum
+++ b/run_electrum
@@ -35,13 +35,16 @@ _min_python_version_tuple = tuple(map(int, (MIN_PYTHON_VERSION.split("."))))
 if sys.version_info[:3] < _min_python_version_tuple:
     sys.exit("Error: Electrum requires Python version >= %s..." % MIN_PYTHON_VERSION)
 
-warnings.simplefilter('default', DeprecationWarning)
 
 script_dir = os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__))
 is_bundle = getattr(sys, 'frozen', False)
 is_local = not is_bundle and os.path.exists(os.path.join(script_dir, "electrum.desktop"))
 is_android = 'ANDROID_DATA' in os.environ
 
+if is_local:  # running from source
+    # developers should probably see all deprecation warnings.
+    warnings.simplefilter('default', DeprecationWarning)
+
 # move this back to gui/kivy/__init.py once plugins are moved
 os.environ['KIVY_DATA_DIR'] = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__)) + '/electrum/gui/kivy/data/'