diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 4f15aa4da..11f0a66e1 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 # devtools (development version)
 
+
 * `build_manual()` reports more details on failure (#2586).
 * New `check_mac_devel()` function to check a package using the macOS builder at https://mac.r-project.org/macbuilder/submit.html (@nfrerebeau, #2507)
+* `dev_sitrep()` now works correctly in Positron (#2618).
 * `is_loading()` is now re-exported from pkgload (#2556).
 * `load_all()` now errors if called recursively, i.e. if you accidentally include a `load_all()` call in one of your R source files (#2617).
 
diff --git a/R/sitrep.R b/R/sitrep.R
index f8a7be0d5..d21dcef61 100644
--- a/R/sitrep.R
+++ b/R/sitrep.R
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ dev_sitrep <- function(pkg = ".", debug = FALSE) {
         remotes::dev_package_deps(pkg$path, dependencies = TRUE)
       },
       rstudio_version = if (is_rstudio_running()) rstudioapi::getVersion(),
-      rstudio_msg = check_for_rstudio_updates()
+      rstudio_msg = if (!is_positron()) check_for_rstudio_updates()
     ),
     class = "dev_sitrep"
   )
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ print.dev_sitrep <- function(x, ...) {
   }
 
   if (!is.null(x$rstudio_version)) {
-    hd_line("RStudio")
+    hd_line(if (is_positron()) "Positron" else "RStudio")
     kv_line("version", x$rstudio_version)
 
     if (!is.null(x$rstudio_msg)) {
diff --git a/R/utils.R b/R/utils.R
index 105a2c7d1..ae3b3451a 100644
--- a/R/utils.R
+++ b/R/utils.R
@@ -41,6 +41,10 @@ is_testing <- function() {
   identical(Sys.getenv("TESTTHAT"), "true")
 }
 
+is_positron <- function() {
+  Sys.getenv("POSITRON") == "1"
+}
+
 is_rstudio_running <- function() {
   !is_testing() && rstudioapi::isAvailable()
 }
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-sitrep.R b/tests/testthat/test-sitrep.R
index ba5bf106e..3a11128cd 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-sitrep.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-sitrep.R
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 test_that("check_for_rstudio_updates", {
   skip_if_offline()
   skip_on_cran()
+  withr::local_envvar(POSITRON = "")
 
   # the IDE ends up calling this with `os = "mac"` on macOS, but we would send
   # "darwin" in that case, so I test with "darwin"