diff --git a/app/src/main/java/com/bitchat/android/util/GitHubReleaseClient.kt b/app/src/main/java/com/bitchat/android/util/GitHubReleaseClient.kt
index d33c1531..25922b27 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/com/bitchat/android/util/GitHubReleaseClient.kt
+++ b/app/src/main/java/com/bitchat/android/util/GitHubReleaseClient.kt
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ object GitHubReleaseClient {
     suspend fun fetchLatestRelease(
         forceRefresh: Boolean = false,
         onAwaitingNetworkRoute: (() -> Unit)? = null,
+        onResolvingRelease: (() -> Unit)? = null,
     ): Result<Release> =
         withContext(Dispatchers.IO) {
             fetchMutex.withLock {
@@ -108,6 +109,11 @@ object GitHubReleaseClient {
                         )
                     )
                 }
+                // The wait is over, so stop saying we are waiting. In direct mode it
+                // returned immediately and never really started, and the fetch below
+                // retries -- either way the caller must not keep reporting a Tor wait
+                // for the whole metadata request.
+                onResolvingRelease?.invoke()
 
                 var lastFailure: Throwable = ReleaseFetchException(
                     "Failed to fetch the latest release from GitHub"
@@ -121,6 +127,18 @@ object GitHubReleaseClient {
                     }
                     lastFailure = result.exceptionOrNull() ?: lastFailure
 
+                    // The response that just set the gate is the one the user is waiting
+                    // on. Reporting an error here and only serving the cache on the next
+                    // call makes the first check fail and an immediate retry succeed from
+                    // metadata we already had.
+                    if (System.currentTimeMillis() < blockedUntilMillis) {
+                        cached?.let {
+                            Log.w(TAG, "Rate limited; serving the cached release instead of failing")
+                            return@withLock Result.success(it.release)
+                        }
+                        return@withLock Result.failure(lastFailure)
+                    }
+
                     if (!isRetryable(lastFailure) || attempt == MAX_FETCH_ATTEMPTS - 1) {
                         return@withLock Result.failure(lastFailure)
                     }
diff --git a/app/src/main/java/com/bitchat/android/util/UniversalApkManager.kt b/app/src/main/java/com/bitchat/android/util/UniversalApkManager.kt
index 47789582..a457c8b2 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/com/bitchat/android/util/UniversalApkManager.kt
+++ b/app/src/main/java/com/bitchat/android/util/UniversalApkManager.kt
@@ -228,6 +228,9 @@ class UniversalApkManager(private val context: Context) {
             val release = GitHubReleaseClient.fetchLatestRelease(
                 onAwaitingNetworkRoute = {
                     phaseCallback?.invoke(ApkDownloader.DownloadPhase.AwaitingNetworkRoute)
+                },
+                onResolvingRelease = {
+                    phaseCallback?.invoke(ApkDownloader.DownloadPhase.ResolvingRelease)
                 }
             ).getOrElse { error ->
                 return@withContext Result.failure(error)