diff --git a/keras_tqdm/tqdm_callback.py b/keras_tqdm/tqdm_callback.py
index 70d03f5..0799cc5 100644
--- a/keras_tqdm/tqdm_callback.py
+++ b/keras_tqdm/tqdm_callback.py
@@ -96,9 +96,9 @@ def on_epoch_begin(self, epoch, logs={}):
         self.running_logs = {}
 
     def on_epoch_end(self, epoch, logs={}):
-        metrics = self.format_metrics(logs)
-        desc = self.inner_description_update.format(epoch=epoch, metrics=metrics)
         if self.show_inner:
+            metrics = self.format_metrics(logs)
+            desc = self.inner_description_update.format(epoch=epoch, metrics=metrics)
             self.tqdm_inner.desc = desc
             # set miniters and mininterval to 0 so last update displays
             self.tqdm_inner.miniters = 0
@@ -119,9 +119,9 @@ def on_batch_end(self, batch, logs={}):
         self.inner_count += update
         if self.inner_count < self.inner_total:
             self.append_logs(logs)
-            metrics = self.format_metrics(self.running_logs)
-            desc = self.inner_description_update.format(epoch=self.epoch, metrics=metrics)
             if self.show_inner:
+                metrics = self.format_metrics(self.running_logs)
+                desc = self.inner_description_update.format(epoch=self.epoch, metrics=metrics)
                 self.tqdm_inner.desc = desc
                 self.tqdm_inner.update(update)
 
@@ -137,7 +137,9 @@ def on_train_end(self, logs={}):
             self.tqdm_outer.close()
 
     def append_logs(self, logs):
-        metrics = self.params['metrics']
+        metrics = self.params.get('metrics')
+        if not metrics:
+            return
         for metric, value in six.iteritems(logs):
             if metric in metrics:
                 if metric in self.running_logs:
@@ -146,7 +148,10 @@ def append_logs(self, logs):
                     self.running_logs[metric] = [value[()]]
 
     def format_metrics(self, logs):
-        metrics = self.params['metrics']
+        metrics = self.params.get('metrics')
+        if not metrics:
+            return ''
+
         strings = [self.metric_format.format(name=metric, value=np.mean(logs[metric], axis=None)) for metric in metrics
                    if
                    metric in logs]