diff --git a/libs/ui/KisMultiFeedRSSModel.cpp b/libs/ui/KisMultiFeedRSSModel.cpp
index 2fa1cdfbef..5bebd6d6e8 100644
--- a/libs/ui/KisMultiFeedRSSModel.cpp
+++ b/libs/ui/KisMultiFeedRSSModel.cpp
@@ -1,224 +1,226 @@
 /**************************************************************************
 **
 ** This file is part of Qt Creator
 **
 ** Copyright (c) 2011 Nokia Corporation and/or its subsidiary(-ies).
 **
 ** Contact: Nokia Corporation (qt-info@nokia.com)
 **
 **
 ** GNU Lesser General Public License Usage
 **
 ** This file may be used under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
 ** License version 2.1 as published by the Free Software Foundation and
 ** appearing in the file LICENSE.LGPL included in the packaging of this file.
 ** Please review the following information to ensure the GNU Lesser General
 ** Public License version 2.1 requirements will be met:
 ** http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/lgpl-2.1.html.
 **
 ** In addition, as a special exception, Nokia gives you certain additional
 ** rights. These rights are described in the Nokia Qt LGPL Exception
 ** version 1.1, included in the file LGPL_EXCEPTION.txt in this package.
 **
 ** Other Usage
 **
 ** Alternatively, this file may be used in accordance with the terms and
 ** conditions contained in a signed written agreement between you and Nokia.
 **
 ** If you have questions regarding the use of this file, please contact
 ** Nokia at qt-info@nokia.com.
 **
 **************************************************************************/
 
 #include "KisMultiFeedRSSModel.h"
 
 #include <QTimer>
 #include <QThread>
 #include <QXmlStreamReader>
 #include <QCoreApplication>
 #include <QLocale>
 
 #include <QNetworkRequest>
 #include <QNetworkReply>
 #include <KisNetworkAccessManager.h>
 
 QString shortenHtml(QString html)
 {
     html.replace(QLatin1String("<a"), QLatin1String("<i"));
     html.replace(QLatin1String("</a"), QLatin1String("</i"));
     uint firstParaEndXhtml = (uint) html.indexOf(QLatin1String("</p>"));
     uint firstParaEndHtml = (uint) html.indexOf(QLatin1String("<p>"), html.indexOf(QLatin1String("<p>"))+1);
     uint firstParaEndBr = (uint) html.indexOf(QLatin1String("<br"));
     uint firstParaEnd = qMin(firstParaEndXhtml, firstParaEndHtml);
     firstParaEnd = qMin(firstParaEnd, firstParaEndBr);
     return html.left(firstParaEnd);
 }
 
 class RssReader {
 public:
     RssItem parseItem() {
         RssItem item;
         item.source = requestUrl;
         item.blogIcon = blogIcon;
         item.blogName = blogName;
         while (!streamReader.atEnd()) {
             switch (streamReader.readNext()) {
             case QXmlStreamReader::StartElement:
                 if (streamReader.name() == QLatin1String("title"))
                     item.title = streamReader.readElementText();
                 else if (streamReader.name() == QLatin1String("link"))
                     item.link = streamReader.readElementText();
                 else if (streamReader.name() == QLatin1String("pubDate")) {
                     QString dateStr = streamReader.readElementText();
                     item.pubDate = QDateTime::fromString(dateStr, Qt::RFC2822Date);
                 }
                 else if (streamReader.name() == QLatin1String("category"))
                     item.category = streamReader.readElementText();
                 else if (streamReader.name() == QLatin1String("description"))
                     item.description = streamReader.readElementText(); //shortenHtml(streamReader.readElementText());
                 break;
             case QXmlStreamReader::EndElement:
                 if (streamReader.name() == QLatin1String("item"))
                     return item;
                 break;
             default:
                 break;
 
             }
         }
         return RssItem();
     }
 
     RssItemList parse(QNetworkReply *reply) {
         QUrl source = reply->request().url();
         requestUrl = source.toString();
         streamReader.setDevice(reply);
         RssItemList list;
         while (!streamReader.atEnd()) {
             switch (streamReader.readNext()) {
             case QXmlStreamReader::StartElement:
                 if (streamReader.name() == QLatin1String("item"))
                     list.append(parseItem());
                 else if (streamReader.name() == QLatin1String("title"))
                     blogName = streamReader.readElementText();
                 else if (streamReader.name() == QLatin1String("link")) {
                     if (!streamReader.namespaceUri().isEmpty())
                         break;
                     QString favIconString(streamReader.readElementText());
                     QUrl favIconUrl(favIconString);
                     favIconUrl.setPath(QLatin1String("favicon.ico"));
                     blogIcon = favIconUrl.toString();
                     blogIcon = QString(); // XXX: fix the favicon on krita.org!
                 }
                 break;
             default:
                 break;
             }
         }
         return list;
     }
 
 private:
     QXmlStreamReader streamReader;
     QString requestUrl;
     QString blogIcon;
     QString blogName;
 };
 
 MultiFeedRssModel::MultiFeedRssModel(QObject *parent) :
     QAbstractListModel(parent),
     m_networkAccessManager(new KisNetworkAccessManager),
     m_articleCount(0)
 {
     connect(m_networkAccessManager, SIGNAL(finished(QNetworkReply*)),
             SLOT(appendFeedData(QNetworkReply*)), Qt::QueuedConnection);
 
 }
 
 
 
 MultiFeedRssModel::~MultiFeedRssModel()
 {
 }
 
 QHash<int, QByteArray> MultiFeedRssModel::roleNames() const
 {
     QHash<int, QByteArray> roleNames;
     roleNames[TitleRole] = "title";
     roleNames[DescriptionRole] = "description";
     roleNames[PubDateRole] = "pubDate";
     roleNames[LinkRole] = "link";
     roleNames[CategoryRole] = "category";
     roleNames[BlogNameRole] = "blogName";
     roleNames[BlogIconRole] = "blogIcon";
     return roleNames;
 }
 
 void MultiFeedRssModel::addFeed(const QString& feed)
 {
     const QUrl feedUrl(feed);
     QMetaObject::invokeMethod(m_networkAccessManager, "getUrl",
                               Qt::QueuedConnection, Q_ARG(QUrl, feedUrl));
 }
 
 bool sortForPubDate(const RssItem& item1, const RssItem& item2)
 {
     return item1.pubDate > item2.pubDate;
 }
 
 void MultiFeedRssModel::appendFeedData(QNetworkReply *reply)
 {
     RssReader reader;
     m_aggregatedFeed.append(reader.parse(reply));
     std::sort(m_aggregatedFeed.begin(), m_aggregatedFeed.end(), sortForPubDate);
     setArticleCount(m_aggregatedFeed.size());
     beginResetModel();
     endResetModel();
+
+    emit feedDataChanged();
 }
 
 void MultiFeedRssModel::removeFeed(const QString &feed)
 {
     QMutableListIterator<RssItem> it(m_aggregatedFeed);
     while (it.hasNext()) {
         RssItem item = it.next();
         if (item.source == feed)
             it.remove();
     }
     setArticleCount(m_aggregatedFeed.size());
 }
 
 int MultiFeedRssModel::rowCount(const QModelIndex &) const
 {
     return m_aggregatedFeed.size();
 }
 
 QVariant MultiFeedRssModel::data(const QModelIndex &index, int role) const
 {
 
     RssItem item = m_aggregatedFeed.at(index.row());
 
     switch (role) {
     case Qt::DisplayRole:
     {
         return QString("<b><a href=\"" + item.link + "\">" + item.title + "</a></b>"
                "<br><small>(" + item.pubDate.toLocalTime().toString(Qt::DefaultLocaleShortDate) + ") "
                + item.description.left(90).append("...") + "</small><hr>");
     }
     case TitleRole:
         return item.title;
     case DescriptionRole:
         return item.description;
     case PubDateRole:
         return item.pubDate.toString("dd-MM-yyyy hh:mm");
     case LinkRole:
         return item.link;
     case CategoryRole:
         return item.category;
     case BlogNameRole:
         return item.blogName;
     case BlogIconRole:
         return item.blogIcon;
     }
 
     return QVariant();
 }
diff --git a/libs/ui/KisMultiFeedRSSModel.h b/libs/ui/KisMultiFeedRSSModel.h
index f9cd51d109..7575013244 100644
--- a/libs/ui/KisMultiFeedRSSModel.h
+++ b/libs/ui/KisMultiFeedRSSModel.h
@@ -1,107 +1,108 @@
 /**************************************************************************
 **
 ** This file is part of Qt Creator
 **
 ** Copyright (c) 2011 Nokia Corporation and/or its subsidiary(-ies).
 **
 ** Contact: Nokia Corporation (qt-info@nokia.com)
 **
 **
 ** GNU Lesser General Public License Usage
 **
 ** This file may be used under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
 ** License version 2.1 as published by the Free Software Foundation and
 ** appearing in the file LICENSE.LGPL included in the packaging of this file.
 ** Please review the following information to ensure the GNU Lesser General
 ** Public License version 2.1 requirements will be met:
 ** http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/lgpl-2.1.html.
 **
 ** In addition, as a special exception, Nokia gives you certain additional
 ** rights. These rights are described in the Nokia Qt LGPL Exception
 ** version 1.1, included in the file LGPL_EXCEPTION.txt in this package.
 **
 ** Other Usage
 **
 ** Alternatively, this file may be used in accordance with the terms and
 ** conditions contained in a signed written agreement between you and Nokia.
 **
 ** If you have questions regarding the use of this file, please contact
 ** Nokia at qt-info@nokia.com.
 **
 **************************************************************************/
 
 #ifndef MULTIFEEDRSSMODEL_H
 #define MULTIFEEDRSSMODEL_H
 
 #include <QAbstractListModel>
 #include <QStringList>
 #include <QDateTime>
 
 #include <kritaui_export.h>
 
 class QThread;
 class QNetworkReply;
 class QNetworkAccessManager;
 
 struct RssItem {
     QString source;
     QString title;
     QString link;
     QString description;
     QString category;
     QString blogName;
     QString blogIcon;
     QDateTime pubDate;
 
 };
 typedef QList<RssItem> RssItemList;
 
 class KisNetworkAccessManager;
 
 enum RssRoles { TitleRole = Qt::UserRole + 1, DescriptionRole, LinkRole,
                 PubDateRole, CategoryRole, BlogNameRole, BlogIconRole
               };
 
 class KRITAUI_EXPORT MultiFeedRssModel : public QAbstractListModel
 {
     Q_OBJECT
     Q_PROPERTY(int articleCount READ articleCount WRITE setArticleCount NOTIFY articleCountChanged)
 public:
     explicit MultiFeedRssModel(QObject *parent = 0);
     ~MultiFeedRssModel() override;
     QHash<int, QByteArray> roleNames() const override;
     void addFeed(const QString& feed);
     void removeFeed(const QString& feed);
 
     int rowCount(const QModelIndex &parent = QModelIndex()) const override;
     QVariant data(const QModelIndex &index, int role = Qt::DisplayRole) const override;
 
     int articleCount() const {
         return m_articleCount;
     }
 
 public Q_SLOTS:
     void setArticleCount(int arg) {
         if (m_articleCount != arg) {
             m_articleCount = arg;
             emit articleCountChanged(arg);
         }
     }
 
 Q_SIGNALS:
     void articleCountChanged(int arg);
+    void feedDataChanged();
 
 private Q_SLOTS:
     void appendFeedData(QNetworkReply *reply);
 
 private:
     QStringList m_sites;
     RssItemList m_aggregatedFeed;
     QNetworkAccessManager *m_networkAccessManager;
     QThread *m_namThread;
     int m_articleCount;
 };
 
 #endif // MULTIFEEDRSSMODEL_H
 
 
diff --git a/libs/ui/widgets/KisNewsWidget.cpp b/libs/ui/widgets/KisNewsWidget.cpp
index 85aeecb896..61926b3f0f 100644
--- a/libs/ui/widgets/KisNewsWidget.cpp
+++ b/libs/ui/widgets/KisNewsWidget.cpp
@@ -1,132 +1,218 @@
 /*
  * Copyright (c) 2018 boud <boud@valdyas.org>
  *
  *  This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
  *  it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
  *  the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
  *  (at your option) any later version.
  *
  *  This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
  *  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
  *  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
  *  GNU General Public License for more details.
  *
  *  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
  *  along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
  *  Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
  */
 #include "KisNewsWidget.h"
 
 #include <QDesktopServices>
 #include <QUrl>
 #include <QPainter>
 #include <QStyleOptionViewItem>
 #include <QModelIndex>
 #include <QTextDocument>
 #include <QAbstractTextDocumentLayout>
 
 #include "kis_config.h"
 #include "KisMultiFeedRSSModel.h"
+#include "QRegularExpression"
 
 
 KisNewsDelegate::KisNewsDelegate(QObject *parent)
     : QStyledItemDelegate(parent)
 {
 }
 
 void KisNewsDelegate::paint(QPainter *painter, const QStyleOptionViewItem &option, const QModelIndex &index) const
 {
     painter->save();
 
     QStyleOptionViewItem optionCopy = option;
     initStyleOption(&optionCopy, index);
 
     QStyle *style = optionCopy.widget? optionCopy.widget->style() : QApplication::style();
 
     QTextDocument doc;
     doc.setHtml(optionCopy.text);
     doc.setDocumentMargin(10);
 
     /// Painting item without text
     optionCopy.text = QString();
     style->drawControl(QStyle::CE_ItemViewItem, &optionCopy, painter);
 
     QAbstractTextDocumentLayout::PaintContext ctx;
 
     // Highlighting text if item is selected
     if (optionCopy.state & QStyle::State_Selected) {
         ctx.palette.setColor(QPalette::Text, optionCopy.palette.color(QPalette::Active, QPalette::HighlightedText));
     }
 
     painter->translate(optionCopy.rect.left(), optionCopy.rect.top());
     QRect clip(0, 0, optionCopy.rect.width(), optionCopy.rect.height());
     doc.setPageSize(clip.size());
     doc.drawContents(painter, clip);
     painter->restore();
 }
 
 QSize KisNewsDelegate::sizeHint(const QStyleOptionViewItem &option, const QModelIndex &index) const
 {
     QStyleOptionViewItem optionCopy = option;
     initStyleOption(&optionCopy, index);
 
     QTextDocument doc;
     doc.setHtml(optionCopy.text);
     doc.setTextWidth(optionCopy.rect.width());
     return QSize(doc.idealWidth(), doc.size().height());
 }
 
 KisNewsWidget::KisNewsWidget(QWidget *parent)
     : QWidget(parent)
 {
     setupUi(this);
     m_rssModel = new MultiFeedRssModel(this);
+    connect(m_rssModel, SIGNAL(feedDataChanged()), this, SLOT(rssDataChanged()));
+
 
     setCursor(Qt::PointingHandCursor);
 
     listNews->setModel(m_rssModel);
     listNews->setItemDelegate(new KisNewsDelegate(listNews));
     connect(listNews, SIGNAL(clicked(QModelIndex)), this, SLOT(itemSelected(QModelIndex)));
 }
 
 void KisNewsWidget::setAnalyticsTracking(QString text)
 {
     analyticsTrackingParameters = text;
 }
 
 void KisNewsWidget::toggleNews(bool toggle)
 {
     KisConfig cfg(false);
     cfg.writeEntry<bool>("FetchNews", toggle);
 
     if (toggle) {
         m_rssModel->addFeed(QLatin1String("https://krita.org/en/feed/"));
     }
     else {
         m_rssModel->removeFeed(QLatin1String("https://krita.org/en/feed/"));
     }
 }
 
 void KisNewsWidget::itemSelected(const QModelIndex &idx)
 {
     if (idx.isValid()) {
         QString link = idx.data(RssRoles::LinkRole).toString();
 
         // append query string for analytics tracking if we set it
         if (analyticsTrackingParameters != "") {
 
             // use title in analytics query string
             QString linkTitle = idx.data(RssRoles::TitleRole).toString();
             linkTitle = linkTitle.simplified(); // trims and makes 1 white space
             linkTitle = linkTitle.replace(" ", "");
 
             analyticsTrackingParameters = analyticsTrackingParameters.append(linkTitle);
             QDesktopServices::openUrl(QUrl(link.append(analyticsTrackingParameters)));
 
         } else {
             QDesktopServices::openUrl(QUrl(link));
         }
 
 
     }
 }
+
+void KisNewsWidget::rssDataChanged()
+{
+
+    // grab the latest release post and URL for reference later
+    // if we need to update
+    for (int i = 0; i < m_rssModel->rowCount(); i++)
+    {
+       const QModelIndex &idx = m_rssModel->index(i);
+
+       if (idx.isValid()) {
+
+           // only use official release announcements to get version number
+           if ( idx.data(RssRoles::CategoryRole).toString() !=  "Official Release") {
+               continue;
+           }
+
+           QString linkTitle = idx.data(RssRoles::TitleRole).toString();
+
+           // come up with a regex pattern to find version number
+           QRegularExpression versionRegex("\\d\\.\\d\\.?\\d?\\.?\\d");
+
+           QRegularExpressionMatch matched = versionRegex.match(linkTitle);
+
+           // only take the top match for release version since that is the newest
+           if (matched.hasMatch()) {
+               newVersionNumber = matched.captured(0);
+               newVersionLink = idx.data(RssRoles::LinkRole).toString();
+               break;
+           }
+
+       }
+    }
+
+    // see if we need to update our version, or we are on a dev version
+    calculateVersionUpdateStatus();
+}
+
+void KisNewsWidget::calculateVersionUpdateStatus()
+{
+    // do version compare to see if there is a new version available
+    // also check to see if we are on a dev version (newer than newest release)
+    QStringList currentVersionParts = qApp->applicationVersion().split(".");
+    QStringList onlineReleaseAnnouncement = newVersionNumber.split(".");
+
+    // is the major version different?
+    if (onlineReleaseAnnouncement[0] > currentVersionParts[0] ) {
+        needsVersionUpdate = true; // we are a major version behind
+        return;
+    }
+    else if (onlineReleaseAnnouncement[0] < currentVersionParts[0] ) {
+        isDevelopmentVersion = true;
+        return;
+    }
+
+    // major versions are the same, so check minor versions
+     if (onlineReleaseAnnouncement[1] > currentVersionParts[1] ) {
+         needsVersionUpdate = true; // we are a minor version behind
+         return;
+     }
+     else if (onlineReleaseAnnouncement[1] < currentVersionParts[1] ) {
+         isDevelopmentVersion = true;
+         return;
+     }
+
+     // minor versions are the same, so maybe bugfix version is different
+     // sometimes we don't communicate this, implictly make 0 if it doesn't exist
+     if (onlineReleaseAnnouncement[2].isNull()) {
+         onlineReleaseAnnouncement[2] = "0";
+     }
+     if (currentVersionParts[2].isNull()) {
+         currentVersionParts[2] = "0";
+     }
+
+     if (onlineReleaseAnnouncement[2] > currentVersionParts[2] ) {
+         needsVersionUpdate = true; // we are a bugfix version behind
+         return;
+     }
+     else if (onlineReleaseAnnouncement[2] < currentVersionParts[2] ) {
+         isDevelopmentVersion = true;
+         return;
+     }
+}
diff --git a/libs/ui/widgets/KisNewsWidget.h b/libs/ui/widgets/KisNewsWidget.h
index 7a74470b19..5a1e9a01eb 100644
--- a/libs/ui/widgets/KisNewsWidget.h
+++ b/libs/ui/widgets/KisNewsWidget.h
@@ -1,58 +1,69 @@
 /*
  * Copyright (c) 2018 boud <boud@valdyas.org>
  *
  *  This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
  *  it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
  *  the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
  *  (at your option) any later version.
  *
  *  This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
  *  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
  *  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
  *  GNU General Public License for more details.
  *
  *  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
  *  along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
  *  Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
  */
 #ifndef KISNEWSWIDGET_H
 #define KISNEWSWIDGET_H
 
 #include <QWidget>
 #include <QListView>
 #include <QStyledItemDelegate>
 
 #include <ui_KisNewsPage.h>
 
 class MultiFeedRssModel;
 
 class KisNewsDelegate : public QStyledItemDelegate
 {
     Q_OBJECT
 public:
     KisNewsDelegate(QObject *parent = 0);
     void paint(QPainter *painter, const QStyleOptionViewItem &option, const QModelIndex &index) const override;
     QSize sizeHint(const QStyleOptionViewItem &option, const QModelIndex &index) const override;
 };
 
 /**
  * @brief The KisNewsWidget class shows the latest news from Krita.org
  */
 class KisNewsWidget : public QWidget, public Ui::KisNewsPage
 {
     Q_OBJECT
 public:
     explicit KisNewsWidget(QWidget *parent = nullptr);
 
     void setAnalyticsTracking(QString text);
 
 private Q_SLOTS:
     void toggleNews(bool toggle);
     void itemSelected(const QModelIndex &idx);
+    void rssDataChanged();
 private:
     bool m_getNews {false};
     MultiFeedRssModel *m_rssModel {0};
     QString analyticsTrackingParameters;
+
+    /// for new Krita version notification
+    QString newVersionNumber;
+    QString newVersionLink;
+
+    // version checking logic tells us we need to update our Krita
+    void calculateVersionUpdateStatus();
+    bool isDevelopmentVersion = false;
+    bool needsVersionUpdate = false;
+
 };
 
 #endif // KISNEWSWIDGET_H