diff --git a/release-manifest.json b/release-manifest.json
index 3fbf1fa6..3bf9e0df 100644
--- a/release-manifest.json
+++ b/release-manifest.json
@@ -1,32 +1,30 @@
 {
   "changelog": [
-    "**What's New really does stop at v1.8.0 now.** The first correction removed old generated release blocks but missed six much older hand-written v1.2 sections at the bottom of the modal. Those sections are gone, and the release check now recognizes and rejects that legacy format too, so the history floor cannot falsely pass again.",
-    "**The installer carries the same corrected release and Companion 0.5.28.** Its artifact gate now checks the companion APK version and the v1.8.0 What's New floor inside the finished ISO, so a stale frontend or phone app cannot be published under the current release label.",
-    "**Crash dumps work on fresh installs as well as upgraded nodes.** The installer gate checks every kdump package inside the finished ISO, and `makedumpfile` is installed explicitly rather than accidentally relying on a recommended dependency that the minimal image deliberately omits.",
-    "**Apps open over HTTPS when your node does.** Connect to your node over HTTPS and the apps you open — Vaultwarden in its own tab, BTCPay, Grafana, and the rest, on a remote browser or in the phone's in-app browser — now open on the same secure connection instead of silently dropping to plain HTTP. The node's app gate already served TLS on every app port; the dashboard was handing out `http://` addresses regardless of how you reached it. Ports the gate does not front (plain-HTTP publishes, and the API ports like Cuprate's RPC) deliberately stay on `http` — `https` there would simply fail to connect. Plain-HTTP access (the kiosk, LAN browsing) is unchanged.",
-    "**Every app in the store is now a first-class platform app.** The last stragglers — Nginx Proxy Manager, Tailscale, Ollama, CryptPad, and AdGuard Home — now carry full manifests: the node's app gate fronts their web ports (TLS on the same port, the node login where appropriate, embedding fixes, Tor), installs go through the orchestrator like every other app, and their pins live in the signed catalog. Ollama stays loopback-only — it is the assistant's local model backend, not a web app. The four apps retired earlier (FIPS, Nostr VPN, Routstr, Penpot) are finally dropped from the catalog, and Cuprate's manifest — which carried a duplicated metadata block that strict parsers reject — is fixed.",
-    "**Newly signed apps appear in the App Store immediately.** The App Store now serves the release-signed catalog the node has already fetched and verified — so publishing a signed app (like Cuprate) makes it appear for every updated node without waiting for a dashboard release. The unsigned community catalog remains only as a fallback for nodes that can't reach the registry. The same signed catalog now also decides which ports serve TLS, so nothing is upgraded to `https` that can't answer it."
+    "**SSH over the mesh is now a first-class setting.** Settings gains an \"SSH over mesh\" card: off by default, and when you allow it the node's mesh firewall opens port 22 — either to every mesh peer (behind an explicit \"I understand\" confirmation, because that's a real exposure) or only to the mesh addresses you list. The rule is owned by the node (the `90-ssh.nft` drop-in), so it survives upgrades and daemon reinstalls, and the card tells you up front whether sshd is running, whether it listens on IPv6 (the mesh is IPv6-only — this is what a broken attempt looks like before it happens), and whether password login is on (keys-only is the recommended pairing). From Termux on your phone, `fipssh <user>@<node-npub>` connects once the toggle is on — the npub is the durable address, and the command is shown with a copy button on the card.",
+    "**The App Store now lists apps — not parts of apps.** The signed catalog carries every manifest because the node's update layer needs their pins, and the store briefly listed them all: Mempool API, LND UI, Bitcoin UI, the Pine voice engines, the IndeeHub and Immich backends, the mesh router and friends. Components are hidden from the store listing (they still appear where they belong — the Services tab of My Apps, once installed), and four entries that never earned a tile are gone outright: MorphOS server (old), the Web5 DID wallet, Lightning Stack (an untracked upstream bundle — LND covers the need), and CryptPad (never tested).",
+    "**App icons now persist everywhere, in the proper container style.** Two fixes: installed apps render the icon from their own manifest — Cuprate no longer falls back to the generic A-mark on its Services tile — and the store grids (the Discover page) apply the same icon container treatment (backdrop, border, shadow) as My Apps, the detail pages, and Home. Manifest-declared UI apps also classify correctly again: Alby Hub installs into My Apps with a working tile, not into Services, because a probe miss no longer buries an app the manifest itself says has a frontend.",
+    "**Installing from the store keeps you on the store page.** The install progress lives on the tile itself and the app appears in My Apps when it lands — no more being yanked to My Apps mid-browse."
   ],
   "components": [
     {
-      "current_version": "1.8.7-alpha",
-      "download_url": "https://source.archipelago-foundation.org/lfg2025/archy/releases/download/v1.8.7-alpha/archipelago",
+      "current_version": "1.8.8-alpha",
+      "download_url": "https://source.archipelago-foundation.org/lfg2025/archy/releases/download/v1.8.8-alpha/archipelago",
       "name": "archipelago",
-      "new_version": "1.8.7-alpha",
-      "sha256": "572accec81e73fbcd5218ddc41f5ec719deda30f104c838398fdfa85a7a276f0",
-      "size_bytes": 63990960
+      "new_version": "1.8.8-alpha",
+      "sha256": "96f39b8db6f08386200e1eab91c8444a7758526e6034100c8a33907ff9263530",
+      "size_bytes": 64175864
     },
     {
-      "current_version": "1.8.7-alpha",
-      "download_url": "https://source.archipelago-foundation.org/lfg2025/archy/releases/download/v1.8.7-alpha/archipelago-frontend-1.8.7-alpha.tar.gz",
-      "name": "archipelago-frontend-1.8.7-alpha.tar.gz",
-      "new_version": "1.8.7-alpha",
-      "sha256": "26b8c12b1b3e6b5c93841f3713037f65d0ea6a52401bd28888eb8d2f5dc483b5",
-      "size_bytes": 97779181
+      "current_version": "1.8.8-alpha",
+      "download_url": "https://source.archipelago-foundation.org/lfg2025/archy/releases/download/v1.8.8-alpha/archipelago-frontend-1.8.8-alpha.tar.gz",
+      "name": "archipelago-frontend-1.8.8-alpha.tar.gz",
+      "new_version": "1.8.8-alpha",
+      "sha256": "7829b67edf8dec27997dd821650ed4d61aea721f802d46a8d47014f4b4246db1",
+      "size_bytes": 97730549
     }
   ],
-  "release_date": "2026-08-31",
-  "signature": "79332435d436e7bae1a5b0c12158b02083b681b6818ac90219021f1e39eb61a3e1039ed38ee8089006a0dec862fd92997e44a6c9ccf0be17e91a95cba5de6402",
+  "release_date": "2026-09-01",
+  "signature": "c839cbdcb356a503d87bc17f52b6e5f3a934ae1e72a891f2d21d85366f23debb224a2a40b9124bab50fe95444e01e27711690b1bc50062f40b7ed4f34e078d06",
   "signed_by": "did:key:z6Mkfu5LT8d4DjETtrkATvHh9Dvcbnr7zBCUwfau8Sw7DLWT",
-  "version": "1.8.7-alpha"
+  "version": "1.8.8-alpha"
 }
diff --git a/releases/manifest.json b/releases/manifest.json
index 3fbf1fa6..3bf9e0df 100644
--- a/releases/manifest.json
+++ b/releases/manifest.json
@@ -1,32 +1,30 @@
 {
   "changelog": [
-    "**What's New really does stop at v1.8.0 now.** The first correction removed old generated release blocks but missed six much older hand-written v1.2 sections at the bottom of the modal. Those sections are gone, and the release check now recognizes and rejects that legacy format too, so the history floor cannot falsely pass again.",
-    "**The installer carries the same corrected release and Companion 0.5.28.** Its artifact gate now checks the companion APK version and the v1.8.0 What's New floor inside the finished ISO, so a stale frontend or phone app cannot be published under the current release label.",
-    "**Crash dumps work on fresh installs as well as upgraded nodes.** The installer gate checks every kdump package inside the finished ISO, and `makedumpfile` is installed explicitly rather than accidentally relying on a recommended dependency that the minimal image deliberately omits.",
-    "**Apps open over HTTPS when your node does.** Connect to your node over HTTPS and the apps you open — Vaultwarden in its own tab, BTCPay, Grafana, and the rest, on a remote browser or in the phone's in-app browser — now open on the same secure connection instead of silently dropping to plain HTTP. The node's app gate already served TLS on every app port; the dashboard was handing out `http://` addresses regardless of how you reached it. Ports the gate does not front (plain-HTTP publishes, and the API ports like Cuprate's RPC) deliberately stay on `http` — `https` there would simply fail to connect. Plain-HTTP access (the kiosk, LAN browsing) is unchanged.",
-    "**Every app in the store is now a first-class platform app.** The last stragglers — Nginx Proxy Manager, Tailscale, Ollama, CryptPad, and AdGuard Home — now carry full manifests: the node's app gate fronts their web ports (TLS on the same port, the node login where appropriate, embedding fixes, Tor), installs go through the orchestrator like every other app, and their pins live in the signed catalog. Ollama stays loopback-only — it is the assistant's local model backend, not a web app. The four apps retired earlier (FIPS, Nostr VPN, Routstr, Penpot) are finally dropped from the catalog, and Cuprate's manifest — which carried a duplicated metadata block that strict parsers reject — is fixed.",
-    "**Newly signed apps appear in the App Store immediately.** The App Store now serves the release-signed catalog the node has already fetched and verified — so publishing a signed app (like Cuprate) makes it appear for every updated node without waiting for a dashboard release. The unsigned community catalog remains only as a fallback for nodes that can't reach the registry. The same signed catalog now also decides which ports serve TLS, so nothing is upgraded to `https` that can't answer it."
+    "**SSH over the mesh is now a first-class setting.** Settings gains an \"SSH over mesh\" card: off by default, and when you allow it the node's mesh firewall opens port 22 — either to every mesh peer (behind an explicit \"I understand\" confirmation, because that's a real exposure) or only to the mesh addresses you list. The rule is owned by the node (the `90-ssh.nft` drop-in), so it survives upgrades and daemon reinstalls, and the card tells you up front whether sshd is running, whether it listens on IPv6 (the mesh is IPv6-only — this is what a broken attempt looks like before it happens), and whether password login is on (keys-only is the recommended pairing). From Termux on your phone, `fipssh <user>@<node-npub>` connects once the toggle is on — the npub is the durable address, and the command is shown with a copy button on the card.",
+    "**The App Store now lists apps — not parts of apps.** The signed catalog carries every manifest because the node's update layer needs their pins, and the store briefly listed them all: Mempool API, LND UI, Bitcoin UI, the Pine voice engines, the IndeeHub and Immich backends, the mesh router and friends. Components are hidden from the store listing (they still appear where they belong — the Services tab of My Apps, once installed), and four entries that never earned a tile are gone outright: MorphOS server (old), the Web5 DID wallet, Lightning Stack (an untracked upstream bundle — LND covers the need), and CryptPad (never tested).",
+    "**App icons now persist everywhere, in the proper container style.** Two fixes: installed apps render the icon from their own manifest — Cuprate no longer falls back to the generic A-mark on its Services tile — and the store grids (the Discover page) apply the same icon container treatment (backdrop, border, shadow) as My Apps, the detail pages, and Home. Manifest-declared UI apps also classify correctly again: Alby Hub installs into My Apps with a working tile, not into Services, because a probe miss no longer buries an app the manifest itself says has a frontend.",
+    "**Installing from the store keeps you on the store page.** The install progress lives on the tile itself and the app appears in My Apps when it lands — no more being yanked to My Apps mid-browse."
   ],
   "components": [
     {
-      "current_version": "1.8.7-alpha",
-      "download_url": "https://source.archipelago-foundation.org/lfg2025/archy/releases/download/v1.8.7-alpha/archipelago",
+      "current_version": "1.8.8-alpha",
+      "download_url": "https://source.archipelago-foundation.org/lfg2025/archy/releases/download/v1.8.8-alpha/archipelago",
       "name": "archipelago",
-      "new_version": "1.8.7-alpha",
-      "sha256": "572accec81e73fbcd5218ddc41f5ec719deda30f104c838398fdfa85a7a276f0",
-      "size_bytes": 63990960
+      "new_version": "1.8.8-alpha",
+      "sha256": "96f39b8db6f08386200e1eab91c8444a7758526e6034100c8a33907ff9263530",
+      "size_bytes": 64175864
     },
     {
-      "current_version": "1.8.7-alpha",
-      "download_url": "https://source.archipelago-foundation.org/lfg2025/archy/releases/download/v1.8.7-alpha/archipelago-frontend-1.8.7-alpha.tar.gz",
-      "name": "archipelago-frontend-1.8.7-alpha.tar.gz",
-      "new_version": "1.8.7-alpha",
-      "sha256": "26b8c12b1b3e6b5c93841f3713037f65d0ea6a52401bd28888eb8d2f5dc483b5",
-      "size_bytes": 97779181
+      "current_version": "1.8.8-alpha",
+      "download_url": "https://source.archipelago-foundation.org/lfg2025/archy/releases/download/v1.8.8-alpha/archipelago-frontend-1.8.8-alpha.tar.gz",
+      "name": "archipelago-frontend-1.8.8-alpha.tar.gz",
+      "new_version": "1.8.8-alpha",
+      "sha256": "7829b67edf8dec27997dd821650ed4d61aea721f802d46a8d47014f4b4246db1",
+      "size_bytes": 97730549
     }
   ],
-  "release_date": "2026-08-31",
-  "signature": "79332435d436e7bae1a5b0c12158b02083b681b6818ac90219021f1e39eb61a3e1039ed38ee8089006a0dec862fd92997e44a6c9ccf0be17e91a95cba5de6402",
+  "release_date": "2026-09-01",
+  "signature": "c839cbdcb356a503d87bc17f52b6e5f3a934ae1e72a891f2d21d85366f23debb224a2a40b9124bab50fe95444e01e27711690b1bc50062f40b7ed4f34e078d06",
   "signed_by": "did:key:z6Mkfu5LT8d4DjETtrkATvHh9Dvcbnr7zBCUwfau8Sw7DLWT",
-  "version": "1.8.7-alpha"
+  "version": "1.8.8-alpha"
 }
diff --git a/releases/pending/v1.8.8-alpha/manifest.json b/releases/pending/v1.8.8-alpha/manifest.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 3bf9e0df..00000000
--- a/releases/pending/v1.8.8-alpha/manifest.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,30 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "changelog": [
-    "**SSH over the mesh is now a first-class setting.** Settings gains an \"SSH over mesh\" card: off by default, and when you allow it the node's mesh firewall opens port 22 — either to every mesh peer (behind an explicit \"I understand\" confirmation, because that's a real exposure) or only to the mesh addresses you list. The rule is owned by the node (the `90-ssh.nft` drop-in), so it survives upgrades and daemon reinstalls, and the card tells you up front whether sshd is running, whether it listens on IPv6 (the mesh is IPv6-only — this is what a broken attempt looks like before it happens), and whether password login is on (keys-only is the recommended pairing). From Termux on your phone, `fipssh <user>@<node-npub>` connects once the toggle is on — the npub is the durable address, and the command is shown with a copy button on the card.",
-    "**The App Store now lists apps — not parts of apps.** The signed catalog carries every manifest because the node's update layer needs their pins, and the store briefly listed them all: Mempool API, LND UI, Bitcoin UI, the Pine voice engines, the IndeeHub and Immich backends, the mesh router and friends. Components are hidden from the store listing (they still appear where they belong — the Services tab of My Apps, once installed), and four entries that never earned a tile are gone outright: MorphOS server (old), the Web5 DID wallet, Lightning Stack (an untracked upstream bundle — LND covers the need), and CryptPad (never tested).",
-    "**App icons now persist everywhere, in the proper container style.** Two fixes: installed apps render the icon from their own manifest — Cuprate no longer falls back to the generic A-mark on its Services tile — and the store grids (the Discover page) apply the same icon container treatment (backdrop, border, shadow) as My Apps, the detail pages, and Home. Manifest-declared UI apps also classify correctly again: Alby Hub installs into My Apps with a working tile, not into Services, because a probe miss no longer buries an app the manifest itself says has a frontend.",
-    "**Installing from the store keeps you on the store page.** The install progress lives on the tile itself and the app appears in My Apps when it lands — no more being yanked to My Apps mid-browse."
-  ],
-  "components": [
-    {
-      "current_version": "1.8.8-alpha",
-      "download_url": "https://source.archipelago-foundation.org/lfg2025/archy/releases/download/v1.8.8-alpha/archipelago",
-      "name": "archipelago",
-      "new_version": "1.8.8-alpha",
-      "sha256": "96f39b8db6f08386200e1eab91c8444a7758526e6034100c8a33907ff9263530",
-      "size_bytes": 64175864
-    },
-    {
-      "current_version": "1.8.8-alpha",
-      "download_url": "https://source.archipelago-foundation.org/lfg2025/archy/releases/download/v1.8.8-alpha/archipelago-frontend-1.8.8-alpha.tar.gz",
-      "name": "archipelago-frontend-1.8.8-alpha.tar.gz",
-      "new_version": "1.8.8-alpha",
-      "sha256": "7829b67edf8dec27997dd821650ed4d61aea721f802d46a8d47014f4b4246db1",
-      "size_bytes": 97730549
-    }
-  ],
-  "release_date": "2026-09-01",
-  "signature": "c839cbdcb356a503d87bc17f52b6e5f3a934ae1e72a891f2d21d85366f23debb224a2a40b9124bab50fe95444e01e27711690b1bc50062f40b7ed4f34e078d06",
-  "signed_by": "did:key:z6Mkfu5LT8d4DjETtrkATvHh9Dvcbnr7zBCUwfau8Sw7DLWT",
-  "version": "1.8.8-alpha"
-}