diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index b107846..710b593 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -13,6 +13,10 @@ exclude = [
     "img/*"
 ]
 
+[features]
+tls = []
+default =[]
+
 [profile.release]
 lto = true
 codegen-units = 1
diff --git a/src/gopher.rs b/src/gopher.rs
index 909215c..fc962ea 100644
--- a/src/gopher.rs
+++ b/src/gopher.rs
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ pub fn request(host: &str, port: &str, selector: &str, try_tls: bool) -> Result<
         .and_then(|mut socks| socks.next().ok_or_else(|| error!("Can't create socket")))?;
 
     // attempt tls connection
-    if try_tls {
+    if cfg!(feature = "tls") && try_tls {
         if let Ok(connector) = TlsConnector::new() {
             let stream = TcpStream::connect_timeout(&sock, TCP_TIMEOUT_DURATION)?;
             stream.set_read_timeout(Some(TCP_TIMEOUT_DURATION))?;
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 254a317..9bbfd07 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -30,7 +30,13 @@ fn run() -> i32 {
                 }
             }
             "-l" | "--local" | "-local" => url = "gopher://127.0.0.1:7070",
-            "-t" | "--tls" | "-tls" => tls = true,
+            "-t" | "--tls" | "-tls" => {
+                tls = true;
+                if !cfg!(feature = "tls") {
+                    eprintln!("phetch was compiled without TLS support");
+                    return 1;
+                }
+            }
             arg => {
                 if arg.starts_with('-') {
                     eprintln!("unknown flag: {}\n", url);