diff --git a/HISTORY.rst b/HISTORY.rst
index 7ed0658639..d18ee3180e 100644
--- a/HISTORY.rst
+++ b/HISTORY.rst
@@ -4,6 +4,13 @@ Release History
 PlatformIO 2.0
 --------------
 
+2.3.3 (2015-09-??)
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+* Fixed broken lock file for "appstate" storage
+  (`issue #288 <https://github.com/platformio/platformio/issues/288>`_)
+
+
 2.3.2 (2015-09-10)
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
diff --git a/platformio/__init__.py b/platformio/__init__.py
index 90f3918563..5772010f40 100644
--- a/platformio/__init__.py
+++ b/platformio/__init__.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # Copyright (C) Ivan Kravets <me@ikravets.com>
 # See LICENSE for details.
 
-VERSION = (2, 3, 2)
+VERSION = (2, 3, "3.dev0")
 __version__ = ".".join([str(s) for s in VERSION])
 
 __title__ = "platformio"
diff --git a/platformio/app.py b/platformio/app.py
index 6a6f7ee81e..8690ed21da 100644
--- a/platformio/app.py
+++ b/platformio/app.py
@@ -3,7 +3,8 @@
 
 import json
 from os import environ, getenv
-from os.path import isfile, join
+from os.path import getmtime, isfile, join
+from time import time
 
 from lockfile import LockFile
 
@@ -68,9 +69,8 @@ def __init__(self, path=None):
 
     def __enter__(self):
         try:
+            self._lock_state_file()
             if isfile(self.path):
-                self._lock = LockFile(self.path)
-                self._lock.acquire()
                 with open(self.path, "r") as fp:
                     self._state = json.load(fp)
         except ValueError:
@@ -85,6 +85,18 @@ def __exit__(self, type_, value, traceback):
                     json.dump(self._state, fp, indent=4)
                 else:
                     json.dump(self._state, fp)
+        self._unlock_state_file()
+
+    def _lock_state_file(self):
+        self._lock = LockFile(self.path)
+
+        if (self._lock.is_locked() and
+                (time() - getmtime(self._lock.lock_file)) > 10):
+            self._lock.break_lock()
+
+        self._lock.acquire()
+
+    def _unlock_state_file(self):
         if self._lock:
             self._lock.release()