diff --git a/_locales/en/messages.json b/_locales/en/messages.json
index 46b7bd4a4..4f4564b4c 100644
--- a/_locales/en/messages.json
+++ b/_locales/en/messages.json
@@ -412,6 +412,18 @@
       "message": "Show",
       "description": "Command under Window menu, to show the window"
     },
+    "hide": {
+      "message": "Hide",
+      "description": "Command in the tray icon menu, to hide the window"
+    },
+    "quit": {
+      "message": "Quit",
+      "description": "Command in the tray icon menu, to quit the application"
+    },
+    "trayTooltip": {
+      "message": "Signal Desktop",
+      "description": "Tooltip for the tray icon"
+    },
     "searchForPeopleOrGroups": {
       "message": "Search...",
       "description": "Placeholder text in the search input"
diff --git a/app/tray_icon.js b/app/tray_icon.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..535e9504d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/tray_icon.js
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+const electron = require('electron')
+const path = require('path');
+
+const app = electron.app;
+const Menu = electron.Menu;
+const Tray = electron.Tray;
+
+let trayContextMenu = null;
+let tray = null;
+
+function createTrayIcon(getMainWindow, messages) {
+
+  // A smaller icon is needed on macOS
+  tray = new Tray(
+    process.platform == "darwin" ?
+    path.join(__dirname, '..', 'images', 'icon_16.png') :
+    path.join(__dirname, '..', 'images', 'icon_256.png'));
+
+  tray.toggleWindowVisibility = function () {
+    var mainWindow = getMainWindow();
+    if (mainWindow) {
+      if (mainWindow.isVisible()) {
+        mainWindow.hide();
+      } else {
+        mainWindow.show();
+
+        // On some versions of GNOME the window may not be on top when restored.
+        // This trick should fix it.
+        // Thanks to: https://github.com/Enrico204/Whatsapp-Desktop/commit/6b0dc86b64e481b455f8fce9b4d797e86d000dc1
+        mainWindow.setAlwaysOnTop(true);
+        mainWindow.focus();
+        mainWindow.setAlwaysOnTop(false);
+      }
+    }
+    tray.updateContextMenu();
+  }
+
+  tray.updateContextMenu = function () {
+
+    var mainWindow = getMainWindow();
+
+    // NOTE: we want to have the show/hide entry available in the tray icon
+    // context menu, since the 'click' event may not work on all platforms.
+    // For details please refer to:
+    // https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/master/docs/api/tray.md.
+    trayContextMenu = Menu.buildFromTemplate([
+        {
+          id: 'toggleWindowVisibility',
+          label: messages[mainWindow.isVisible() ? 'hide' : 'show'].message,
+          click: tray.toggleWindowVisibility
+        },
+        {
+          id: 'quit',
+          label: messages.quit.message,
+          click: app.quit.bind(app)
+        }
+    ]);
+
+    tray.setContextMenu(trayContextMenu);
+  }
+
+  tray.on('click', tray.toggleWindowVisibility);
+
+  tray.setToolTip(messages.trayTooltip.message);
+  tray.updateContextMenu();
+
+  return tray;
+}
+
+module.exports = createTrayIcon;
diff --git a/main.js b/main.js
index b6b51eb77..0c7d2d345 100644
--- a/main.js
+++ b/main.js
@@ -29,6 +29,11 @@ function getMainWindow() {
   return mainWindow;
 }
 
+// Tray icon and related objects
+let tray = null;
+const startInTray = process.argv.find(arg => arg === '--start-in-tray');
+const usingTrayIcon = startInTray || process.argv.find(arg => arg === '--use-tray-icon');
+
 const config = require("./app/config");
 
 // Very important to put before the single instance check, since it is based on the
@@ -107,6 +112,7 @@ function captureClicks(window) {
 
 function createWindow () {
   const windowOptions = Object.assign({
+    show: !startInTray, // allow to start minimised in tray
     width: 800,
     height: 610,
     minWidth: 700,
@@ -187,9 +193,22 @@ function createWindow () {
 
   // Emitted when the window is about to be closed.
   mainWindow.on('close', function (e) {
-    if (process.platform === 'darwin' && !windowState.shouldQuit() && config.environment !== 'test') {
+
+    // If the application is terminating, just do the default
+    if (windowState.shouldQuit() || config.environment === 'test') {
+      return;
+    }
+
+    // On Mac, or on other platforms when the tray icon is in use, the window
+    // should be only hidden, not closed, when the user clicks the close button
+    if (usingTrayIcon || process.platform === 'darwin') {
       e.preventDefault();
       mainWindow.hide();
+
+      // toggle the visibility of the show/hide tray icon menu entries
+      if (tray) {
+        tray.updateContextMenu();
+      }
     }
   });
 
@@ -211,6 +230,11 @@ function createWindow () {
     } else {
       mainWindow.show();
     }
+
+    // toggle the visibility of the show/hide tray icon menu entries
+    if (tray) {
+      tray.updateContextMenu();
+    }
   });
 }
 
@@ -296,6 +320,11 @@ app.on('ready', function() {
 
   createWindow();
 
+  if (usingTrayIcon) {
+    const createTrayIcon = require("./app/tray_icon");
+    tray = createTrayIcon(getMainWindow, locale.messages);
+  }
+
   const options = {
     showDebugLog,
     showWindow,