diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index d0f40c9..d2ca7c7 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -50,6 +50,9 @@ Released on 20/09/2025
 - [Issue 334](https://github.com/veeso/termscp/issues/334): SMB support for MacOS with vendored build of libsmbclient.
 - [Issue 337](https://github.com/veeso/termscp/issues/337): Migrated to libssh.org on Linux and MacOS for better ssh agent support.
 - [Issue 361](https://github.com/veeso/termscp/issues/361): Report a message while calculating total size of files to transfer.
+- [Issue 354](https://github.com/veeso/termscp/issues/354):
+  - Removed error popup message if failed to check for updates.
+  - Prevent long timeouts when checking for updates if the network is down or the DNS is not working.
 
 ## 0.18.0
 
diff --git a/src/system/auto_update.rs b/src/system/auto_update.rs
index f66e9ff..a0b618e 100644
--- a/src/system/auto_update.rs
+++ b/src/system/auto_update.rs
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 //!
 //! Automatic update module. This module is used to upgrade the current version of termscp to the latest available on Github
 
+use std::net::ToSocketAddrs as _;
+
 use self_update::backends::github::Update as GithubUpdater;
 pub use self_update::errors::Error as UpdateError;
 use self_update::update::Release as UpdRelease;
@@ -67,6 +69,9 @@ impl Update {
     /// otherwise if no version is available, return None
     /// In case of error returns Error with the error description
     pub fn is_new_version_available() -> Result<Option<Release>, UpdateError> {
+        // check if api.github.com is reachable before doing anything
+        Self::check_github_api_reachable()?;
+
         info!("Checking whether a new version is available...");
         GithubUpdater::configure()
             // Set default options
@@ -83,6 +88,27 @@ impl Update {
             .map(Self::check_version)
     }
 
+    /// Check if api.github.com is reachable
+    /// This is useful to avoid long timeouts when the network is down
+    /// or the DNS is not working
+    fn check_github_api_reachable() -> Result<(), UpdateError> {
+        let Some(socket_addr) = ("api.github.com", 443)
+            .to_socket_addrs()
+            .ok()
+            .and_then(|mut i| i.next())
+        else {
+            error!("Could not resolve api.github.com");
+            return Err(UpdateError::Network(
+                "Could not resolve api.github.com".into(),
+            ));
+        };
+
+        // just try to open a connection to api.github.com with a timeout of 5 seconds with tcp
+        std::net::TcpStream::connect_timeout(&socket_addr, std::time::Duration::from_secs(5))
+            .map(|_| ())
+            .map_err(|e| UpdateError::Network(format!("Could not reach api.github.com: {e}")))
+    }
+
     /// In case received version is newer than current one, version as Some is returned; otherwise None
     fn check_version(r: Release) -> Option<Release> {
         debug!("got version from GitHub: {}", r.version);
@@ -212,4 +238,9 @@ mod test {
         assert!(!Update::is_new_version_higher("0.9.9", "0.10.1"));
         assert!(!Update::is_new_version_higher("0.10.9", "0.11.0"));
     }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_should_check_whether_github_api_is_reachable() {
+        assert!(Update::check_github_api_reachable().is_ok());
+    }
 }
diff --git a/src/ui/activities/auth/misc.rs b/src/ui/activities/auth/misc.rs
index 7de6194..e011d7e 100644
--- a/src/ui/activities/auth/misc.rs
+++ b/src/ui/activities/auth/misc.rs
@@ -223,10 +223,7 @@ impl AuthActivity {
                     }
                     Err(err) => {
                         // Report error
-                        error!("Failed to get latest version: {}", err);
-                        self.mount_error(
-                            format!("Could not check for new updates: {err}").as_str(),
-                        );
+                        error!("Failed to get latest version: {err}",);
                     }
                 }
             } else {