diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index d15d9421..317605bc 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 - Allow `partition_table_offset` to be specified in the config file. (for #699)
 - Support external log-processors (#705)
+- Make the `libudev` dependency optional with a new - enabled by default - feature: `libudev` (#709)
 - Address Clippy lints (#710)
 
 ### Changed
diff --git a/espflash/Cargo.toml b/espflash/Cargo.toml
index 9d8eb861..6d98c9f3 100644
--- a/espflash/Cargo.toml
+++ b/espflash/Cargo.toml
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ miette = "7.2.0"
 parse_int = { version = "0.6.0", optional = true }
 regex = { version = "1.11.0", optional = true }
 serde = { version = "1.0.210", features = ["derive"] }
-serialport = { version = "4.6.0", optional = true }
+serialport = { version = "4.6.0", default-features = false, optional = true }
 sha2 = "0.10.8"
 slip-codec = { version = "0.4.0", optional = true }
 strum = { version = "0.26.3", features = ["derive"] }
@@ -67,7 +67,8 @@ xmas-elf = "0.9.1"
 libc = "0.2.159"
 
 [features]
-default = ["cli"]
+default = ["cli", "libudev"]
+libudev = ["serialport?/libudev"]
 cli = [
     "dep:addr2line",
     "dep:clap",