diff --git a/src/lightning_app/CHANGELOG.md b/src/lightning_app/CHANGELOG.md
index 7ce0b8bee6..c6e8c0b686 100644
--- a/src/lightning_app/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/src/lightning_app/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](http://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/).
 
 - Fixed `AutoScaler` raising an exception when non-default cloud compute is specified ([#15991](https://github.com/Lightning-AI/lightning/pull/15991))
 
+- Fixed the debugger detection mechanism for lightning App in VSCode ([#16068](https://github.com/Lightning-AI/lightning/pull/16068))
+
 
 ## [1.8.4] - 2022-12-08
 
diff --git a/src/lightning_app/utilities/app_helpers.py b/src/lightning_app/utilities/app_helpers.py
index 3b152786b6..bc3d092b28 100644
--- a/src/lightning_app/utilities/app_helpers.py
+++ b/src/lightning_app/utilities/app_helpers.py
@@ -515,12 +515,29 @@ def _lightning_dispatched() -> bool:
     return bool(int(os.getenv("LIGHTNING_DISPATCHED", 0)))
 
 
+def _using_debugger() -> bool:
+    """This method is used to detect whether the app is run with a debugger attached."""
+    if "LIGHTNING_DETECTED_DEBUGGER" in os.environ:
+        return True
+
+    # Collect the information about the process.
+    parent_process = os.popen(f"ps -ax | grep -i {os.getpid()} | grep -v grep").read()
+
+    # Detect whether VSCode or PyCharm debugger are used
+    use_debugger = "debugpy" in parent_process or "pydev" in parent_process
+
+    # Store the result to avoid multiple popen calls.
+    if use_debugger:
+        os.environ["LIGHTNING_DETECTED_DEBUGGER"] = "1"
+    return use_debugger
+
+
 def _should_dispatch_app() -> bool:
     return (
-        __debug__
-        and "_pytest.doctest" not in sys.modules
-        and not _lightning_dispatched()
+        not _lightning_dispatched()
         and "LIGHTNING_APP_STATE_URL" not in os.environ
+        # Keep last to avoid running it if already dispatched
+        and _using_debugger()
     )