diff --git a/django_telegrambot/apps.py b/django_telegrambot/apps.py
index dd4ab80..1ffacbb 100644
--- a/django_telegrambot/apps.py
+++ b/django_telegrambot/apps.py
@@ -178,7 +178,7 @@ def ready(self):
 
                     bot.more_info = webhook_info
                     logger.info('Telegram Bot <{}> setting webhook [ {} ] max connections:{} allowed updates:{} pending updates:{} : {}'.format(bot.username, webhook_info.url, webhook_info.max_connections, real_allowed, webhook_info.pending_update_count, setted))
-                    
+
                 except InvalidToken:
                     logger.error('Invalid Token : {}'.format(token))
                     return
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@ def ready(self):
 
         logger.debug('Telegram Bot <{}> set as default bot'.format(DjangoTelegramBot.bots[0].username))
 
-        def module_exists(module_name, method_name, execute):
+        def module_imported(module_name, method_name, execute):
             try:
                 m = importlib.import_module(module_name)
                 if execute and hasattr(m, method_name):
@@ -218,8 +218,11 @@ def module_exists(module_name, method_name, execute):
                     logger.debug('Run {}'.format(module_name))
 
             except ImportError as er:
-                logger.debug('{} : {}'.format(module_name, repr(er)))
-                return False
+                if settings.DJANGO_TELEGRAMBOT.get('STRICT_INIT'):
+                    raise er
+                else:
+                    logger.error('{} : {}'.format(module_name, repr(er)))
+                    return False
 
             return True
 
@@ -227,7 +230,7 @@ def module_exists(module_name, method_name, execute):
         for app_config in apps.get_app_configs():
             if module_has_submodule(app_config.module, TELEGRAM_BOT_MODULE_NAME):
                 module_name = '%s.%s' % (app_config.name, TELEGRAM_BOT_MODULE_NAME)
-                if module_exists(module_name, 'main', True):
+                if module_imported(module_name, 'main', True):
                     logger.info('Loaded {}'.format(module_name))
 
         num_bots=len(DjangoTelegramBot.__used_tokens)
diff --git a/tests/test_app/__init__.py b/tests/test_app/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
diff --git a/tests/test_app/telegrambot.py b/tests/test_app/telegrambot.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6037672
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_app/telegrambot.py
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+print("Import successful")
diff --git a/tests/test_apps.py b/tests/test_apps.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a7ec71e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_apps.py
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+import logging
+
+from django.apps.registry import Apps
+from django.test import TestCase
+from django_telegrambot.apps import DjangoTelegramBot
+import mock
+
+logging.basicConfig(level=logging.INFO)
+
+
+# Need to mock some of the Telegram Bot's methods with dummy values to make
+# sure that the initialisation completes with mock credentials.
+@mock.patch('telegram.bot.Bot.delete_webhook', lambda bot: None)
+@mock.patch('telegram.bot.Bot.username', 'mock_bot')
+@mock.patch('django_telegrambot.apps.DjangoTelegramBot.ready_run', False)
+@mock.patch('django_telegrambot.apps.logger')
+class TestDjangoTelegramBot(TestCase):
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.app = DjangoTelegramBot.create('django_telegrambot')
+
+    @mock.patch('django_telegrambot.apps.apps',
+                Apps(installed_apps=('tests.test_app',)))
+    def test_good_app_loading(self, log):
+        """Normal initialisation - should complete without error messages."""
+        self.assertFalse(DjangoTelegramBot.ready_run)
+        self.app.ready()
+        self.assertEquals(log.error.call_count, 0)
+        self.assertTrue(DjangoTelegramBot.ready_run)
+
+    @mock.patch('django_telegrambot.apps.apps',
+                Apps(installed_apps=('tests.test_bad_app',)))
+    def test_bad_app_loading(self, log):
+        """If a telegrambot.py module in some of the apps contains a mistake,
+        an error message should be loaded."""
+        self.app.ready()
+        self.assertEquals(log.error.call_count, 1)
+
+    @mock.patch('django_telegrambot.apps.apps',
+                Apps(installed_apps=('tests.test_bad_app',)))
+    @mock.patch.dict('django_telegrambot.apps.settings.DJANGO_TELEGRAMBOT',
+                     STRICT_INIT=True)
+    def test_bad_app_loading_strict(self, _):
+        """With STRICT_INIT set to true in the DJANGO_TELEGRAMBOT settings, the
+        app must not start if the telegrambot.py files are not imported
+        successfully."""
+        with self.assertRaises(ImportError):
+            self.app.ready()
diff --git a/tests/test_bad_app/__init__.py b/tests/test_bad_app/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
diff --git a/tests/test_bad_app/telegrambot.py b/tests/test_bad_app/telegrambot.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f36e4fe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_bad_app/telegrambot.py
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+raise ImportError()