diff --git a/cmd/kube-apiserver/app/options/options.go b/cmd/kube-apiserver/app/options/options.go
index ec5f7ba5b78..c88511ea716 100644
--- a/cmd/kube-apiserver/app/options/options.go
+++ b/cmd/kube-apiserver/app/options/options.go
@@ -78,6 +78,8 @@ type ServerRunOptions struct {
 	ServiceAccountSigningKeyFile     string
 	ServiceAccountIssuer             serviceaccount.TokenGenerator
 	ServiceAccountTokenMaxExpiration time.Duration
+
+	ShowHiddenMetricsForVersion string
 }
 
 // NewServerRunOptions creates a new ServerRunOptions object with default parameters
@@ -144,6 +146,15 @@ func (s *ServerRunOptions) Flags() (fss cliflag.NamedFlagSets) {
 	s.EgressSelector.AddFlags(fss.FlagSet("egress selector"))
 	s.Admission.AddFlags(fss.FlagSet("admission"))
 
+	// TODO(RainbowMango): move it to genericoptions before next flag comes.
+	mfs := fss.FlagSet("metrics")
+	mfs.StringVar(&s.ShowHiddenMetricsForVersion, "show-hidden-metrics-for-version", s.ShowHiddenMetricsForVersion,
+		"The previous version for which you want to show hidden metrics. "+
+			"Only the previous minor version is meaningful, other values will not be allowed. "+
+			"The format is <major>.<minor>, e.g.: '1.16'. "+
+			"The purpose of this format is make sure you have the opportunity to notice if the next release hides additional metrics, "+
+			"rather than being surprised when they are permanently removed in the release after that.")
+
 	// Note: the weird ""+ in below lines seems to be the only way to get gofmt to
 	// arrange these text blocks sensibly. Grrr.
 	fs := fss.FlagSet("misc")
diff --git a/cmd/kube-apiserver/app/options/validation.go b/cmd/kube-apiserver/app/options/validation.go
index ae87be5d213..4f94e438d00 100644
--- a/cmd/kube-apiserver/app/options/validation.go
+++ b/cmd/kube-apiserver/app/options/validation.go
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import (
 
 	apiextensionsapiserver "k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apiserver"
 	utilfeature "k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/util/feature"
+	"k8s.io/component-base/metrics"
 	aggregatorscheme "k8s.io/kube-aggregator/pkg/apiserver/scheme"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/api/legacyscheme"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/features"
@@ -143,6 +144,7 @@ func (s *ServerRunOptions) Validate() []error {
 	errs = append(errs, s.InsecureServing.Validate()...)
 	errs = append(errs, s.APIEnablement.Validate(legacyscheme.Scheme, apiextensionsapiserver.Scheme, aggregatorscheme.Scheme)...)
 	errs = append(errs, validateTokenRequest(s)...)
+	errs = append(errs, metrics.ValidateShowHiddenMetricsVersion(s.ShowHiddenMetricsForVersion)...)
 
 	return errs
 }
diff --git a/cmd/kube-apiserver/app/server.go b/cmd/kube-apiserver/app/server.go
index 61609395dc7..91f99af1c87 100644
--- a/cmd/kube-apiserver/app/server.go
+++ b/cmd/kube-apiserver/app/server.go
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ import (
 	cloudprovider "k8s.io/cloud-provider"
 	cliflag "k8s.io/component-base/cli/flag"
 	"k8s.io/component-base/cli/globalflag"
+	"k8s.io/component-base/metrics"
 	_ "k8s.io/component-base/metrics/prometheus/workqueue" // for workqueue metric registration
 	"k8s.io/component-base/version"
 	"k8s.io/component-base/version/verflag"
@@ -299,6 +300,10 @@ func CreateKubeAPIServerConfig(
 		PerConnectionBandwidthLimitBytesPerSec: s.MaxConnectionBytesPerSec,
 	})
 
+	if len(s.ShowHiddenMetricsForVersion) > 0 {
+		metrics.SetShowHidden()
+	}
+
 	serviceIPRange, apiServerServiceIP, err := master.ServiceIPRange(s.PrimaryServiceClusterIPRange)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, nil, nil, nil, err