diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index d9d5f449..b49c40c8 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 - Corrected eFuse BLOCK0 definitions for ESP32-C2, ESP32-C3, and ESP32-S3 (#961)
 - Fixed Secure Download Mode detection on ESP32-P4 (#972)
 - Several fixes in `read_efuse` (#969)
+- Fixed a problem in detecting the app-descriptor for a project if `strip = true` is used (#975)
 
 ### Removed
 
diff --git a/espflash/src/image_format/idf.rs b/espflash/src/image_format/idf.rs
index 7223b260..7fbb9455 100644
--- a/espflash/src/image_format/idf.rs
+++ b/espflash/src/image_format/idf.rs
@@ -809,10 +809,17 @@ where
 pub fn check_idf_bootloader(elf_data: &Vec<u8>) -> Result<()> {
     let object = File::parse(elf_data.as_slice()).into_diagnostic()?;
 
-    let has_app_desc = object.symbols().any(|sym| sym.name() == Ok("esp_app_desc"));
-    let is_esp_hal = object.section_by_name(".espressif.metadata").is_some();
+    // A project with `strip = true` will discard the
+    // symbol we are looking for but the section is kept
+    let has_app_desc = object.symbols().any(|sym| sym.name() == Ok("esp_app_desc"))
+        || object.section_by_name(".flash.appdesc").is_some()
+        || object.section_by_name(".rodata_desc").is_some();
 
     if !has_app_desc {
+        // when using `strip = true` we will (maybe wrongly) assume ESP-IDF
+        // but at least it should still guide the user into the right direction
+        let is_esp_hal = object.section_by_name(".espressif.metadata").is_some();
+
         if is_esp_hal {
             return Err(Error::AppDescriptorNotPresent(
                 "ESP-IDF App Descriptor (https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/stable/esp32/api-reference/system/app_image_format.html#application-description) missing in your`esp-hal` application.\n