diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 616a30d8ed..4b8ad13af5 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -101,12 +101,15 @@ jobs:
      - name: lxd
        channel: stable
     env:
-    - SNAPCRAFT_IMAGE_INFO: '{"build_url": "$TRAVIS_BUILD_URL"}'
+    - SNAPCRAFT_IMAGE_INFO: |
+        '{"build_url": "$TRAVIS_JOB_WEB_URL"}'
+    - SNAPCRAFT_BUILD_ENVIRONMENT: lxd
+    - SNAPCRAFT_BUILD_INFO: 1  # https://snapcraft.io/blog/introducing-developer-notifications-for-snap-security-updates
     install:
+    - sudo usermod --append --groups lxd $USER
     - sudo /snap/bin/lxd.migrate -yes
     - sudo /snap/bin/lxd waitready
     - sudo /snap/bin/lxd init --auto
-    - git fetch --tags
     script:
     - ./scripts/build_snap.sh
     after_failure:
@@ -157,6 +160,14 @@ deploy:
     script: "(echo $SNAP_TOKEN | snapcraft login --with -) && timeout 600 snapcraft push dvc_*.snap --release $SNAP_CHANNEL || echo timed out"
     on:
       all_branches: true
-      condition: "$(./scripts/ci/deploy_condition.sh dvc_*.snap) && ($TRAVIS_BRANCH = master || -n $TRAVIS_TAG)"
+      condition: "$(./scripts/ci/deploy_condition.sh dvc_*.snap) && ($TRAVIS_BRANCH = master || -n $TRAVIS_TAG) && -n $SNAP_CHANNEL"
+      repo: iterative/dvc
+      stage: build
+  - provider: script
+    skip_cleanup: true
+    script: "(echo $SNAP_TOKEN | snapcraft login --with -) && timeout 600 snapcraft push nowarn_update_dvc_*.snap --release $SNAP_CHANNEL_MAJOR || echo timed out"
+    on:
+      all_branches: true
+      condition: "$(./scripts/ci/deploy_condition.sh nowarn_update_dvc_*.snap) && ($TRAVIS_BRANCH = master || -n $TRAVIS_TAG) && -n $SNAP_CHANNEL_MAJOR"
       repo: iterative/dvc
       stage: build
diff --git a/dvc/updater.py b/dvc/updater.py
index cfa416ffa8..d6dc3727bd 100644
--- a/dvc/updater.py
+++ b/dvc/updater.py
@@ -48,7 +48,15 @@ def _with_lock(self, func, action):
             logger.debug(msg.format(self.lock.lockfile, action))
 
     def check(self):
-        if os.getenv("CI") or env2bool("DVC_TEST") or PKG == "snap":
+        if os.getenv("CI") or env2bool("DVC_TEST"):
+            return
+
+        if PKG == "snap":
+            # hardcoded transition message
+            version_major = version.parse(self.current).major
+            self.current = "v{}".format(version_major)
+            self.latest = "v{}".format(version_major + 1)
+            self._notify()
             return
 
         self._with_lock(self._check, "checking")
@@ -138,6 +146,17 @@ def _get_update_instructions(self):
             ),
             "conda": "Run `{yellow}conda{reset} update dvc`",
             "choco": "Run `{yellow}choco{reset} upgrade dvc`",
+            "snap": (
+                "To upgrade to the latest major release,\n"
+                "run `{yellow}snap{reset} refresh --channel=latest/beta`, or\n"
+                "to stay on the current major release track,\n"
+                "run `{yellow}snap{reset} refresh --channel={current}/stable`"
+                "\n\n"
+                "{red}WARNING{reset}: ignoring this message will result in\n"
+                "snap automatically performing an upgrade soon.\n"
+                "More information can be found at\n"
+                "{blue}https://github.com/iterative/dvc/issues/3872{reset}"
+            ),
             None: (
                 "Find the latest release at\n"
                 "{blue}https://github.com/iterative/dvc/releases/latest{reset}"
diff --git a/scripts/build_snap.sh b/scripts/build_snap.sh
index 93e7d51cc5..a97847a2db 100755
--- a/scripts/build_snap.sh
+++ b/scripts/build_snap.sh
@@ -7,7 +7,14 @@ if [ ! -d "dvc" ]; then
   exit 1
 fi
 
-sudo snapcraft --use-lxd
+sg lxd -c snapcraft
+original_snap_name="$(ls dvc_*.snap)"
+mv "$original_snap_name" original.snap
+
+git apply scripts/remove_update_warning.patch
+sg lxd -c snapcraft
+mv dvc_*.snap nowarn_update_"$original_snap_name".snap
+mv original.snap "$original_snap_name"
 
 pip uninstall -y dvc
 if which dvc; then
diff --git a/scripts/ci/before_install.sh b/scripts/ci/before_install.sh
index 1a02b33871..df4407ca9b 100644
--- a/scripts/ci/before_install.sh
+++ b/scripts/ci/before_install.sh
@@ -51,12 +51,25 @@ elif [[ "$TRAVIS_OS_NAME" == "osx" ]]; then
   ln -s -f /usr/local/bin/pip3 /usr/local/bin/pip
 fi
 
+# fetch tags for `git-describe`, since
+# - can't rely on $TRAVIS_TAG for `edge` (master) releases, and
+# - `snapcraft` also uses `git-describe` for version detection
+git fetch --tags
+TAG_MAJOR="$(git describe --tags | sed -r 's/^v?([0-9]+)\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+.*/\1/')"
+[[ -n "$TAG_MAJOR" ]] || exit 1  # failed to detect major version
+
 if [[ -n "$TRAVIS_TAG" ]]; then
   if [[ $(echo "$TRAVIS_TAG" | grep -E '^[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+$') ]]; then
     echo "export SNAP_CHANNEL=stable" >>env.sh
+    echo "export SNAP_CHANNEL_MAJOR=v$TAG_MAJOR/stable" >>env.sh
   else
     echo "export SNAP_CHANNEL=beta" >>env.sh
+    echo "export SNAP_CHANNEL_MAJOR=v$TAG_MAJOR/beta" >>env.sh
   fi
 else
   echo "export SNAP_CHANNEL=edge" >>env.sh
+  echo "export SNAP_CHANNEL_MAJOR=v$TAG_MAJOR/edge" >>env.sh
 fi
+
+# NOTE: after deprecating this branch, uncomment this line
+# echo "unset SNAP_CHANNEL" >>env.sh
diff --git a/scripts/remove_update_warning.patch b/scripts/remove_update_warning.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..567864d196
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/remove_update_warning.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+diff --git a/dvc/updater.py b/dvc/updater.py
+index d6dc372..cfa416f 100644
+--- a/dvc/updater.py
++++ b/dvc/updater.py
+@@ -48,15 +48,7 @@ class Updater(object):  # pragma: no cover
+             logger.debug(msg.format(self.lock.lockfile, action))
+ 
+     def check(self):
+-        if os.getenv("CI") or env2bool("DVC_TEST"):
+-            return
+-
+-        if PKG == "snap":
+-            # hardcoded transition message
+-            version_major = version.parse(self.current).major
+-            self.current = "v{}".format(version_major)
+-            self.latest = "v{}".format(version_major + 1)
+-            self._notify()
++        if os.getenv("CI") or env2bool("DVC_TEST") or PKG == "snap":
+             return
+ 
+         self._with_lock(self._check, "checking")
+@@ -146,17 +138,6 @@ class Updater(object):  # pragma: no cover
+             ),
+             "conda": "Run `{yellow}conda{reset} update dvc`",
+             "choco": "Run `{yellow}choco{reset} upgrade dvc`",
+-            "snap": (
+-                "To upgrade to the latest major release,\n"
+-                "run `{yellow}snap{reset} refresh --channel=latest/beta`, or\n"
+-                "to stay on the current major release track,\n"
+-                "run `{yellow}snap{reset} refresh --channel={current}/stable`"
+-                "\n\n"
+-                "{red}WARNING{reset}: ignoring this message will result in\n"
+-                "snap automatically performing an upgrade soon.\n"
+-                "More information can be found at\n"
+-                "{blue}https://github.com/iterative/dvc/issues/3872{reset}"
+-            ),
+             None: (
+                 "Find the latest release at\n"
+                 "{blue}https://github.com/iterative/dvc/releases/latest{reset}"
+diff --git a/snap/snapcraft.yaml b/snap/snapcraft.yaml
+index 75d0f7d..996db8c 100644
+--- a/snap/snapcraft.yaml
++++ b/snap/snapcraft.yaml
+@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@ parts:
+     override-pull: |
+         snapcraftctl pull
+         snapcraftctl set-version $(cd $SNAPCRAFT_PART_SRC && git describe --tags)
+-        git diff --quiet || error_dirty_build
+         echo 'PKG = "snap"' > $SNAPCRAFT_PART_SRC/dvc/utils/build.py
+         # install all optional extras
+         sed -ri 's/(=install_requires)/\1+all_remotes+hdfs/' $SNAPCRAFT_PART_SRC/setup.py