diff --git a/google/cloud/pubsub_v1/subscriber/_protocol/streaming_pull_manager.py b/google/cloud/pubsub_v1/subscriber/_protocol/streaming_pull_manager.py
index 3159ba848..e8a4a8caf 100644
--- a/google/cloud/pubsub_v1/subscriber/_protocol/streaming_pull_manager.py
+++ b/google/cloud/pubsub_v1/subscriber/_protocol/streaming_pull_manager.py
@@ -105,6 +105,9 @@ class StreamingPullManager(object):
             ``projects/{project}/subscriptions/{subscription}``.
         flow_control (~google.cloud.pubsub_v1.types.FlowControl): The flow
             control settings.
+        use_legacy_flow_control (bool): Disables enforcing flow control settings
+            at the Cloud PubSub server and uses the less accurate method of only
+            enforcing flow control at the client side.
         scheduler (~google.cloud.pubsub_v1.scheduler.Scheduler): The scheduler
             to use to process messages. If not provided, a thread pool-based
             scheduler will be used.
@@ -115,11 +118,17 @@ class StreamingPullManager(object):
     RPC instead of over the streaming RPC."""
 
     def __init__(
-        self, client, subscription, flow_control=types.FlowControl(), scheduler=None
+        self,
+        client,
+        subscription,
+        flow_control=types.FlowControl(),
+        scheduler=None,
+        use_legacy_flow_control=False,
     ):
         self._client = client
         self._subscription = subscription
         self._flow_control = flow_control
+        self._use_legacy_flow_control = use_legacy_flow_control
         self._ack_histogram = histogram.Histogram()
         self._last_histogram_size = 0
         self._ack_deadline = 10
@@ -587,8 +596,12 @@ def _get_initial_request(self, stream_ack_deadline_seconds):
             stream_ack_deadline_seconds=stream_ack_deadline_seconds,
             subscription=self._subscription,
             client_id=self._client_id,
-            max_outstanding_messages=self._flow_control.max_messages,
-            max_outstanding_bytes=self._flow_control.max_bytes,
+            max_outstanding_messages=(
+                0 if self._use_legacy_flow_control else self._flow_control.max_messages
+            ),
+            max_outstanding_bytes=(
+                0 if self._use_legacy_flow_control else self._flow_control.max_bytes
+            ),
         )
 
         # Return the initial request.
diff --git a/google/cloud/pubsub_v1/subscriber/client.py b/google/cloud/pubsub_v1/subscriber/client.py
index e33a0e2e6..937be1552 100644
--- a/google/cloud/pubsub_v1/subscriber/client.py
+++ b/google/cloud/pubsub_v1/subscriber/client.py
@@ -157,7 +157,14 @@ def api(self):
         """The underlying gapic API client."""
         return self._api
 
-    def subscribe(self, subscription, callback, flow_control=(), scheduler=None):
+    def subscribe(
+        self,
+        subscription,
+        callback,
+        flow_control=(),
+        scheduler=None,
+        use_legacy_flow_control=False,
+    ):
         """Asynchronously start receiving messages on a given subscription.
 
         This method starts a background thread to begin pulling messages from
@@ -179,6 +186,10 @@ def subscribe(self, subscription, callback, flow_control=(), scheduler=None):
         settings may lead to faster throughput for messages that do not take
         a long time to process.
 
+        The ``use_legacy_flow_control`` argument disables enforcing flow control
+        settings at the Cloud PubSub server and uses the less accurate method of
+        only enforcing flow control at the client side.
+
         This method starts the receiver in the background and returns a
         *Future* representing its execution. Waiting on the future (calling
         ``result()``) will block forever or until a non-recoverable error
@@ -238,7 +249,11 @@ def callback(message):
         flow_control = types.FlowControl(*flow_control)
 
         manager = streaming_pull_manager.StreamingPullManager(
-            self, subscription, flow_control=flow_control, scheduler=scheduler
+            self,
+            subscription,
+            flow_control=flow_control,
+            scheduler=scheduler,
+            use_legacy_flow_control=use_legacy_flow_control,
         )
 
         future = futures.StreamingPullFuture(manager)
diff --git a/tests/unit/pubsub_v1/subscriber/test_streaming_pull_manager.py b/tests/unit/pubsub_v1/subscriber/test_streaming_pull_manager.py
index d3eb4351b..242c0804a 100644
--- a/tests/unit/pubsub_v1/subscriber/test_streaming_pull_manager.py
+++ b/tests/unit/pubsub_v1/subscriber/test_streaming_pull_manager.py
@@ -170,6 +170,16 @@ def test_streaming_flow_control():
     assert request.max_outstanding_bytes == 1000
 
 
+def test_streaming_flow_control_use_legacy_flow_control():
+    manager = make_manager(
+        flow_control=types.FlowControl(max_messages=10, max_bytes=1000),
+        use_legacy_flow_control=True,
+    )
+    request = manager._get_initial_request(stream_ack_deadline_seconds=10)
+    assert request.max_outstanding_messages == 0
+    assert request.max_outstanding_bytes == 0
+
+
 def test_ack_deadline_with_max_duration_per_lease_extension():
     manager = make_manager()
     manager._flow_control = types.FlowControl(max_duration_per_lease_extension=5)