diff --git a/src/corelib/kernel/qcoreapplication.cpp b/src/corelib/kernel/qcoreapplication.cpp
index 48c75973f7f..0aa120ee1be 100644
--- a/src/corelib/kernel/qcoreapplication.cpp
+++ b/src/corelib/kernel/qcoreapplication.cpp
@@ -489,6 +489,11 @@ QCoreApplicationPrivate::~QCoreApplicationPrivate()
     QCoreApplicationPrivate::clearApplicationFilePath();
 }
 
+bool QCoreApplicationPrivate::isAlive() noexcept
+{
+    return qApp != nullptr;
+}
+
 #ifndef QT_NO_QOBJECT
 
 void QCoreApplicationPrivate::cleanupThreadData()
diff --git a/src/corelib/kernel/qcoreapplication_p.h b/src/corelib/kernel/qcoreapplication_p.h
index 0a51a0b5de8..ad99e2d5e0e 100644
--- a/src/corelib/kernel/qcoreapplication_p.h
+++ b/src/corelib/kernel/qcoreapplication_p.h
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ public:
 #endif
     ~QCoreApplicationPrivate();
 
+    static bool isAlive() noexcept;
     void init();
 
     QString appName() const;
diff --git a/src/corelib/thread/qthreadstorage.cpp b/src/corelib/thread/qthreadstorage.cpp
index c2029fe1b3c..3b2d4f5c9ca 100644
--- a/src/corelib/thread/qthreadstorage.cpp
+++ b/src/corelib/thread/qthreadstorage.cpp
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 
 #include "qthreadstorage.h"
 
+#include "private/qcoreapplication_p.h"
 #include "qthread.h"
 #include "qthread_p.h"
 #include "qmutex.h"
@@ -156,9 +157,9 @@ void QThreadStorageData::finish(void **p)
         locker.unlock();
 
         if (!destructor) {
-            if (QThread::currentThread())
-                qWarning("QThreadStorage: Thread %p exited after QThreadStorage %d destroyed",
-                         QThread::currentThread(), i);
+            if (QCoreApplicationPrivate::isAlive())
+                qWarning("QThreadStorage: entry %d destroyed before end of thread %p",
+                         i, QThread::currentThread());
             continue;
         }
         destructor(q); //crash here might mean the thread exited after qthreadstorage was destroyed