diff --git a/pkg/canary/deployer.go b/pkg/canary/deployer.go
index 83e549de..4b8ea18b 100644
--- a/pkg/canary/deployer.go
+++ b/pkg/canary/deployer.go
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ type Deployer struct {
 
 // Initialize creates the primary deployment, hpa,
 // scales to zero the canary deployment and returns the pod selector label and container ports
-func (c *Deployer) Initialize(cd *flaggerv1.Canary) (label string, ports *map[string]int32, err error) {
+func (c *Deployer) Initialize(cd *flaggerv1.Canary, skipLivenessChecks bool) (label string, ports *map[string]int32, err error) {
 	primaryName := fmt.Sprintf("%s-primary", cd.Spec.TargetRef.Name)
 	label, ports, err = c.createPrimaryDeployment(cd)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -40,9 +40,11 @@ func (c *Deployer) Initialize(cd *flaggerv1.Canary) (label string, ports *map[st
 	}
 
 	if cd.Status.Phase == "" {
-		_, readyErr := c.IsPrimaryReady(cd)
-		if readyErr != nil {
-			return "", ports, readyErr
+		if !skipLivenessChecks {
+			_, readyErr := c.IsPrimaryReady(cd)
+			if readyErr != nil {
+				return "", ports, readyErr
+			}
 		}
 
 		c.Logger.With("canary", fmt.Sprintf("%s.%s", cd.Name, cd.Namespace)).Infof("Scaling down %s.%s", cd.Spec.TargetRef.Name, cd.Namespace)
diff --git a/pkg/canary/deployer_test.go b/pkg/canary/deployer_test.go
index cba0bb5d..d6164dd8 100644
--- a/pkg/canary/deployer_test.go
+++ b/pkg/canary/deployer_test.go
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ import (
 
 func TestCanaryDeployer_Sync(t *testing.T) {
 	mocks := SetupMocks()
-	_, _, err := mocks.deployer.Initialize(mocks.canary)
+	_, _, err := mocks.deployer.Initialize(mocks.canary, true)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err.Error())
 	}
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ func TestCanaryDeployer_Sync(t *testing.T) {
 
 func TestCanaryDeployer_IsNewSpec(t *testing.T) {
 	mocks := SetupMocks()
-	_, _, err := mocks.deployer.Initialize(mocks.canary)
+	_, _, err := mocks.deployer.Initialize(mocks.canary, true)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err.Error())
 	}
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ func TestCanaryDeployer_IsNewSpec(t *testing.T) {
 
 func TestCanaryDeployer_Promote(t *testing.T) {
 	mocks := SetupMocks()
-	_, _, err := mocks.deployer.Initialize(mocks.canary)
+	_, _, err := mocks.deployer.Initialize(mocks.canary, true)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err.Error())
 	}
@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ func TestCanaryDeployer_Promote(t *testing.T) {
 
 func TestCanaryDeployer_IsReady(t *testing.T) {
 	mocks := SetupMocks()
-	_, _, err := mocks.deployer.Initialize(mocks.canary)
+	_, _, err := mocks.deployer.Initialize(mocks.canary, true)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Error("Expected primary readiness check to fail")
 	}
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ func TestCanaryDeployer_IsReady(t *testing.T) {
 
 func TestCanaryDeployer_SetFailedChecks(t *testing.T) {
 	mocks := SetupMocks()
-	_, _, err := mocks.deployer.Initialize(mocks.canary)
+	_, _, err := mocks.deployer.Initialize(mocks.canary, true)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err.Error())
 	}
@@ -203,7 +203,7 @@ func TestCanaryDeployer_SetFailedChecks(t *testing.T) {
 
 func TestCanaryDeployer_SetState(t *testing.T) {
 	mocks := SetupMocks()
-	_, _, err := mocks.deployer.Initialize(mocks.canary)
+	_, _, err := mocks.deployer.Initialize(mocks.canary, true)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err.Error())
 	}
@@ -225,7 +225,7 @@ func TestCanaryDeployer_SetState(t *testing.T) {
 
 func TestCanaryDeployer_SyncStatus(t *testing.T) {
 	mocks := SetupMocks()
-	_, _, err := mocks.deployer.Initialize(mocks.canary)
+	_, _, err := mocks.deployer.Initialize(mocks.canary, true)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err.Error())
 	}
@@ -264,7 +264,7 @@ func TestCanaryDeployer_SyncStatus(t *testing.T) {
 
 func TestCanaryDeployer_Scale(t *testing.T) {
 	mocks := SetupMocks()
-	_, _, err := mocks.deployer.Initialize(mocks.canary)
+	_, _, err := mocks.deployer.Initialize(mocks.canary, true)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err.Error())
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/controller/scheduler.go b/pkg/controller/scheduler.go
index 777f27ab..421632f3 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/scheduler.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/scheduler.go
@@ -91,7 +91,12 @@ func (c *Controller) advanceCanary(name string, namespace string, skipLivenessCh
 	primaryName := fmt.Sprintf("%s-primary", cd.Spec.TargetRef.Name)
 
 	// create primary deployment and hpa if needed
-	label, ports, err := c.deployer.Initialize(cd)
+	// skip primary check for Istio since the deployment will become ready after the ClusterIP are created
+	skipPrimaryCheck := false
+	if skipLivenessChecks || c.meshProvider == "istio" {
+		skipPrimaryCheck = true
+	}
+	label, ports, err := c.deployer.Initialize(cd, skipPrimaryCheck)
 	if err != nil {
 		c.recordEventWarningf(cd, "%v", err)
 		return
@@ -269,7 +274,7 @@ func (c *Controller) advanceCanary(name string, namespace string, skipLivenessCh
 	}
 
 	// canary fix routing: A/B testing
-	if len(cd.Spec.CanaryAnalysis.Match) > 0 {
+	if len(cd.Spec.CanaryAnalysis.Match) > 0 || cd.Spec.CanaryAnalysis.Iterations > 0 {
 		// route traffic to canary and increment iterations
 		if cd.Spec.CanaryAnalysis.Iterations > cd.Status.Iterations {
 			if err := meshRouter.SetRoutes(cd, 0, 100); err != nil {
@@ -614,7 +619,7 @@ func (c *Controller) analyseCanary(r *flaggerv1.Canary) bool {
 					c.recordEventWarningf(r, "Halt advancement no values found for metric %s probably %s.%s is not receiving traffic",
 						metric.Name, r.Spec.TargetRef.Name, r.Namespace)
 				} else {
-					c.recordEventErrorf(r, "Metrics server %s query failed: %v", c.observerFactory.Client.GetMetricsServer(), err)
+					c.recordEventErrorf(r, "Metrics server %s query failed for %s: %v", c.observerFactory.Client.GetMetricsServer(), metric.Name, err)
 				}
 				return false
 			}