diff --git a/messaging/__init__.py b/messaging/__init__.py
index d5baaf467d8917..0b1204b47a550a 100644
--- a/messaging/__init__.py
+++ b/messaging/__init__.py
@@ -125,9 +125,8 @@ def recv_one_retry(sock: SubSocket) -> capnp.lib.capnp._DynamicStructReader:
       return log.Event.from_bytes(dat)
 
 class SubMaster():
-  def __init__(self, services: List[str], ignore_alive: Optional[List[str]] = None,
-               addr:str ="127.0.0.1"):
-    self.poller = Poller()
+  def __init__(self, services: List[str], poll: Optional[List[str]] = None,
+               ignore_alive: Optional[List[str]] = None, addr:str ="127.0.0.1"):
     self.frame = -1
     self.updated = {s: False for s in services}
     self.rcv_time = {s: 0. for s in services}
@@ -136,8 +135,12 @@ def __init__(self, services: List[str], ignore_alive: Optional[List[str]] = None
     self.sock = {}
     self.freq = {}
     self.data = {}
-    self.logMonoTime = {}
     self.valid = {}
+    self.logMonoTime = {}
+
+    self.poller = Poller()
+    self.non_polled_services = [s for s in services if poll is not None and
+                                len(poll) and s not in poll]
 
     if ignore_alive is not None:
       self.ignore_alive = ignore_alive
@@ -146,14 +149,14 @@ def __init__(self, services: List[str], ignore_alive: Optional[List[str]] = None
 
     for s in services:
       if addr is not None:
-        self.sock[s] = sub_sock(s, poller=self.poller, addr=addr, conflate=True)
+        p = self.poller if s not in self.non_polled_services else None
+        self.sock[s] = sub_sock(s, poller=p, addr=addr, conflate=True)
       self.freq[s] = service_list[s].frequency
 
       try:
         data = new_message(s)
       except capnp.lib.capnp.KjException:  # pylint: disable=c-extension-no-member
-        # lists
-        data = new_message(s, 0)
+        data = new_message(s, 0) # lists
 
       self.data[s] = getattr(data, s)
       self.logMonoTime[s] = 0
@@ -166,10 +169,13 @@ def update(self, timeout: int = 1000) -> None:
     msgs = []
     for sock in self.poller.poll(timeout):
       msgs.append(recv_one_or_none(sock))
+
+    # non-blocking receive for non-polled sockets
+    for s in self.non_polled_services:
+      msgs.append(recv_one_or_none(self.sock[s]))
     self.update_msgs(sec_since_boot(), msgs)
 
   def update_msgs(self, cur_time: float, msgs: List[capnp.lib.capnp._DynamicStructReader]) -> None:
-    # TODO: add optional input that specify the service to wait for
     self.frame += 1
     self.updated = dict.fromkeys(self.updated, False)
     for msg in msgs: