diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 97296634..f1d8b83f 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -60,21 +60,6 @@ matrix:
     env: TEST=bench
     script: python -m unittest -v bench.tests.test_utils && python -m unittest -v bench.tests.test_init
 
-  - name: "Python 3.7 Easy Install"
-    python: 3.7
-    env: TEST=easy_install
-    script: sudo python $TRAVIS_BUILD_DIR/install.py --user travis --run-travis --production --verbose
-
-  - name: "Python 3.8 Easy Install"
-    python: 3.8
-    env: TEST=easy_install
-    script: sudo python $TRAVIS_BUILD_DIR/install.py --user travis --run-travis --production --verbose
-
-  - name: "Python 3.9 Easy Install"
-    python: 3.9
-    env: TEST=easy_install
-    script: sudo python $TRAVIS_BUILD_DIR/install.py --user travis --run-travis --production --verbose
-
 install:
   - pip3 install urllib3 pyOpenSSL ndg-httpsclient pyasn1
 
diff --git a/bench/app.py b/bench/app.py
index 1acb8b65..315eec6c 100755
--- a/bench/app.py
+++ b/bench/app.py
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ class AppMeta:
 		name = url if url else self.name
 		if name.startswith("git@") or name.startswith("ssh://"):
 			self.use_ssh = True
-			_first_part, _second_part = name.split(":")
+			_first_part, _second_part = self.name.rsplit(":", 1)
 			self.remote_server = _first_part.split("@")[-1]
 			self.org, _repo = _second_part.rsplit("/", 1)
 		else:
@@ -485,6 +485,13 @@ def new_app(app, no_git=None, bench_path="."):
 
 	# For backwards compatibility
 	app = app.lower().replace(" ", "_").replace("-", "_")
+	if app[0].isdigit() or "." in app:
+		click.secho(
+			"App names cannot start with numbers(digits) or have dot(.) in them",
+			fg="red"
+		)
+		return
+
 	apps = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(bench_path, "apps"))
 	args = ["make-app", apps, app]
 	if no_git:
diff --git a/bench/tests/test_utils.py b/bench/tests/test_utils.py
index 3c2b3307..f91e8785 100644
--- a/bench/tests/test_utils.py
+++ b/bench/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -73,3 +73,7 @@ class TestUtils(unittest.TestCase):
 		self.assertEqual("11.0", fake_bench.apps.states["frappe"]["version"])
 
 		shutil.rmtree(bench_dir)
+
+	def test_ssh_ports(self):
+		app = App("git@github.com:22:frappe/frappe")
+		self.assertEqual((app.use_ssh, app.org, app.repo), (True, "frappe", "frappe"))
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/bench/utils/__init__.py b/bench/utils/__init__.py
index 45cd1dce..d0bb0383 100644
--- a/bench/utils/__init__.py
+++ b/bench/utils/__init__.py
@@ -51,10 +51,9 @@ def is_frappe_app(directory: str) -> bool:
 
 
 def is_valid_frappe_branch(frappe_path:str, frappe_branch:str):
-	""" Check if a branch exists in a repo. Throws InvalidRemoteException if branch is not found
+	"""Check if a branch exists in a repo. Throws InvalidRemoteException if branch is not found
 
-	Uses github's api without auth to query branch.
-	If rate limited by gitapi, requests are sent to github.com
+	Uses native git command to check for branches on a remote.
 
 	:param frappe_path: git url
 	:type frappe_path: str
@@ -62,23 +61,26 @@ def is_valid_frappe_branch(frappe_path:str, frappe_branch:str):
 	:type frappe_branch: str
 	:raises InvalidRemoteException: branch for this repo doesn't exist
 	"""
-	if "http" in frappe_path and frappe_branch:
-		frappe_path = frappe_path.replace(".git", "")
+	import subprocess
+
+	if frappe_branch:
 		try:
-			owner, repo = frappe_path.split("/")[3], frappe_path.split("/")[4]
-		except IndexError:
-			raise InvalidRemoteException("Invalid git url")
-		git_api_req = f"https://api.github.com/repos/{owner}/{repo}/branches"
-		res = requests.get(git_api_req).json()
-
-		if "message" in res:
-			# slower alternative with no rate limit
-			github_req = f'https://github.com/{owner}/{repo}/tree/{frappe_branch}'
-			if requests.get(github_req).status_code != 200:
-				raise InvalidRemoteException("Invalid git url")
-
-		elif frappe_branch not in [x["name"] for x in res]:
-			raise InvalidRemoteException("Frappe branch does not exist")
+			ret = subprocess.check_output(
+				(
+					"git",
+					"ls-remote",
+					"--heads",
+					frappe_path,
+					frappe_branch,
+				),
+				encoding="UTF-8",
+			)
+			if not ret:
+				raise InvalidRemoteException(
+					f"Invalid {frappe_branch} for the remote {frappe_path}"
+				)
+		except subprocess.CalledProcessError:
+			raise InvalidRemoteException(f"Invalid frappe path {frappe_path}")
 
 
 def log(message, level=0, no_log=False):