diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 9e12e366..92c5b6d8 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1341,7 +1341,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "fractal"
-version = "8.0.0"
+version = "9.0.0-beta"
 dependencies = [
  "ashpd",
  "djb_hash",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index ee8991dd..2d5067f1 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "fractal"
-version = "8.0.0"
+version = "9.0.0-beta"
 authors = ["Julian Sparber <julian@sparber.net>"]
 edition = "2021"
 rust-version = "1.76"
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 8f76dbff..75dfa8ed 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ You can get the official Fractal Flatpak from Flathub.
 
 ### Beta version
 
-The current beta version is 8 (same as stable).
+The current beta version is 9.beta (released September 26th 2024).
 
 It is available as a Flatpak on Flathub Beta.
 
diff --git a/data/org.gnome.Fractal.metainfo.xml.in.in b/data/org.gnome.Fractal.metainfo.xml.in.in
index 39040b27..2d1a17a3 100644
--- a/data/org.gnome.Fractal.metainfo.xml.in.in
+++ b/data/org.gnome.Fractal.metainfo.xml.in.in
@@ -71,6 +71,45 @@
   </content_rating>
 
   <releases>@development-release@
+    <release version="9~beta" type="development" date="2024-09-26">
+      <description>
+        <p>
+          Back to school, and Fractal is back too! The leaves are starting to cover the floor in our
+          part of the globe, but you don’t have to shake a tree to get our goodness:
+        </p>
+        <ul>
+          <li>
+            We switched to the glycin library (the same one used by GNOME Image Viewer) to load
+            images, allowing us to fix several issues, like supporting more animated formats and
+            SVGs and respecting EXIF orientation.
+          </li>
+          <li>
+            The annoying bug where some rooms would stay as unread even after opening them is now a
+            distant memory.
+          </li>
+          <li>
+            The media cache uses its own database that you can delete if you want to free some space
+            on your system. It will also soon be able to clean up unused media files to prevent it
+            from growing indefinitely.
+          </li>
+          <li>
+            Sometimes the day separators would show up with the wrong date, not anymore!
+          </li>
+          <li>
+            We migrated to the new GTK 4.16 and libadwaita 1.6 APIs, including CSS variables,
+            AdwButtonRow and AdwSpinner.
+          </li>
+        </ul>
+        <p>
+          As usual, this release includes other improvements, fixes and new translations thanks to
+          all our contributors, and our upstream projects.
+        </p>
+        <p>
+          As the version implies, there might be a slight risk of regressions, but it should be
+          mostly stable. If all goes well the next step is the release candidate!
+        </p>
+      </description>
+    </release>
     <release version="8" type="stable" date="2024-08-01">
       <description>
         <p>
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 07a35fa4..2d3d8f8d 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 project('fractal',
         'rust',
-        version: '8',
+        version: '9.beta',
         license: 'GPL-3.0-or-later',
         meson_version: '>= 1.1')
 
@@ -10,8 +10,8 @@ gnome = import('gnome')
 base_id = 'org.gnome.Fractal'
 application_id = base_id
 
-major_version = '8'
-pre_release_version = ''
+major_version = '9'
+pre_release_version = 'beta'
 
 version = major_version
 if pre_release_version != ''