diff --git a/bench/__init__.py b/bench/__init__.py
index e120c37b..1f0c5aac 100644
--- a/bench/__init__.py
+++ b/bench/__init__.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 from jinja2 import Environment, PackageLoader
 
-__version__ = "4.1.0"
+__version__ = "5.0.0"
 
 env = Environment(loader=PackageLoader('bench.config'))
 
diff --git a/bench/app.py b/bench/app.py
index a8c71b52..48f8427e 100755
--- a/bench/app.py
+++ b/bench/app.py
@@ -218,13 +218,14 @@ def remove_app(app, bench_path='.'):
 	if get_config(bench_path).get('restart_systemd_on_update'):
 		restart_systemd_processes(bench_path=bench_path)
 
-def pull_all_apps(bench_path='.', reset=False):
+def pull_apps(apps=None, bench_path='.', reset=False):
 	'''Check all apps if there no local changes, pull'''
 	rebase = '--rebase' if get_config(bench_path).get('rebase_on_pull') else ''
 
+	apps = apps or get_apps(bench_path=bench_path)
 	# chech for local changes
 	if not reset:
-		for app in get_apps(bench_path=bench_path):
+		for app in apps:
 			excluded_apps = get_excluded_apps()
 			if app in excluded_apps:
 				print("Skipping reset for app {}".format(app))
@@ -248,7 +249,7 @@ Here are your choices:
 					sys.exit(1)
 
 	excluded_apps = get_excluded_apps()
-	for app in get_apps(bench_path=bench_path):
+	for app in apps:
 		if app in excluded_apps:
 			print("Skipping pull for app {}".format(app))
 			continue
diff --git a/bench/commands/update.py b/bench/commands/update.py
index fff1bf79..cac2ffdd 100755
--- a/bench/commands/update.py
+++ b/bench/commands/update.py
@@ -1,17 +1,14 @@
-# imports - standard imports
-import os
-
 # imports - third party imports
 import click
-from six.moves import reload_module
 
 # imports - module imports
-from bench.app import pull_all_apps
+from bench.app import pull_apps
 from bench.utils import post_upgrade, patch_sites, build_assets
 
 
 @click.command('update', help="Updates bench tool and if executed in a bench directory, without any flags will backup, pull, setup requirements, build, run patches and restart bench. Using specific flags will only do certain tasks instead of all")
 @click.option('--pull', is_flag=True, help="Pull updates for all the apps in bench")
+@click.option('--apps', type=str)
 @click.option('--patch', is_flag=True, help="Run migrations for all sites in the bench")
 @click.option('--build', is_flag=True, help="Build JS and CSS assets for the bench")
 @click.option('--requirements', is_flag=True, help="Update requirements. If run alone, equivalent to `bench setup requirements`")
@@ -20,15 +17,15 @@ from bench.utils import post_upgrade, patch_sites, build_assets
 @click.option('--no-backup', is_flag=True, help="If this flag is set, sites won't be backed up prior to updates. Note: This is not recommended in production.")
 @click.option('--force', is_flag=True, help="Forces major version upgrades")
 @click.option('--reset', is_flag=True, help="Hard resets git branch's to their new states overriding any changes and overriding rebase on pull")
-def update(pull, patch, build, requirements, restart_supervisor, restart_systemd, no_backup, force, reset):
+def update(pull, apps, patch, build, requirements, restart_supervisor, restart_systemd, no_backup, force, reset):
 	from bench.utils import update
-	update(pull=pull, patch=patch, build=build, requirements=requirements, restart_supervisor=restart_supervisor, restart_systemd=restart_systemd, backup=not no_backup, force=force, reset=reset)
+	update(pull=pull, apps=apps, patch=patch, build=build, requirements=requirements, restart_supervisor=restart_supervisor, restart_systemd=restart_systemd, backup=not no_backup, force=force, reset=reset)
 
 
 @click.command('retry-upgrade', help="Retry a failed upgrade")
 @click.option('--version', default=5)
 def retry_upgrade(version):
-	pull_all_apps()
+	pull_apps()
 	patch_sites()
 	build_assets()
 	post_upgrade(version-1, version)
diff --git a/bench/utils.py b/bench/utils.py
index 3a6b14c7..598dd47e 100755
--- a/bench/utils.py
+++ b/bench/utils.py
@@ -177,17 +177,20 @@ def init(path, apps_path=None, no_procfile=False, no_backups=False,
 	copy_patches_txt(path)
 
 
-def update(pull=False, patch=False, build=False, requirements=False, backup=True, force=False, reset=False,
+def update(pull=False, apps=apps, patch=False, build=False, requirements=False, backup=True, force=False, reset=False,
 	restart_supervisor=False, restart_systemd=False):
 	"""command: bench update"""
 	from bench import patches
-	from bench.app import is_version_upgrade, pull_all_apps, validate_branch
+	from bench.app import is_version_upgrade, pull_apps, validate_branch
 	from bench.config.common_site_config import get_config, update_config
 
 	bench_path = os.path.abspath(".")
 	patches.run(bench_path=bench_path)
 	conf = get_config(bench_path)
 
+	if apps and not pull:
+		apps = []
+
 	clear_command_cache(bench_path='.')
 
 	if conf.get('release_bench'):
@@ -217,8 +220,11 @@ def update(pull=False, patch=False, build=False, requirements=False, backup=True
 		print('Backing up sites...')
 		backup_all_sites(bench_path=bench_path)
 
+	if apps:
+		apps = [app.strip() for app in re.split(",| ", apps) if app]
+
 	if pull:
-		pull_all_apps(bench_path=bench_path, reset=reset)
+		pull_apps(apps=apps, bench_path=bench_path, reset=reset)
 
 	if requirements:
 		update_requirements(bench_path=bench_path)