diff --git a/src/gui/mainwindow.cpp b/src/gui/mainwindow.cpp
index e30da68d1..271932fbc 100644
--- a/src/gui/mainwindow.cpp
+++ b/src/gui/mainwindow.cpp
@@ -1662,11 +1662,11 @@ void MainWindow::handleUpdateCheckFinished(ProgramUpdater *updater, const bool i
         updater->deleteLater();
     };
 
-    const QString newVersion = updater->getNewVersion();
-    if (!newVersion.isEmpty())
+    const auto newVersion = updater->getNewVersion();
+    if (newVersion.isValid())
     {
         const QString msg {tr("A new version is available.") + u"<br/>"
-            + tr("Do you want to download %1?").arg(newVersion) + u"<br/><br/>"
+            + tr("Do you want to download %1?").arg(newVersion.toString()) + u"<br/><br/>"
             + u"<a href=\"https://www.qbittorrent.org/news\">%1</a>"_s.arg(tr("Open changelog..."))};
         auto *msgBox = new QMessageBox {QMessageBox::Question, tr("qBittorrent Update Available"), msg
             , (QMessageBox::Yes | QMessageBox::No), this};
diff --git a/src/gui/programupdater.cpp b/src/gui/programupdater.cpp
index 063bc5473..dc6965f29 100644
--- a/src/gui/programupdater.cpp
+++ b/src/gui/programupdater.cpp
@@ -35,10 +35,13 @@
 #include <QtSystemDetection>
 #include <QDebug>
 #include <QDesktopServices>
+#include <QJsonDocument>
+#include <QJsonValue>
 #include <QRegularExpression>
 #include <QXmlStreamReader>
 
 #include "base/global.h"
+#include "base/logger.h"
 #include "base/net/downloadmanager.h"
 #include "base/preferences.h"
 #include "base/utils/version.h"
@@ -46,23 +49,20 @@
 
 namespace
 {
-    bool isVersionMoreRecent(const QString &remoteVersion)
+    bool isVersionMoreRecent(const ProgramUpdater::Version &remoteVersion)
     {
-        using Version = Utils::Version<4, 3>;
-
-        const auto newVersion = Version::fromString(remoteVersion);
-        if (!newVersion.isValid())
+        if (!remoteVersion.isValid())
             return false;
 
-        const Version currentVersion {QBT_VERSION_MAJOR, QBT_VERSION_MINOR, QBT_VERSION_BUGFIX, QBT_VERSION_BUILD};
-        if (newVersion == currentVersion)
+        const ProgramUpdater::Version currentVersion {QBT_VERSION_MAJOR, QBT_VERSION_MINOR, QBT_VERSION_BUGFIX, QBT_VERSION_BUILD};
+        if (remoteVersion == currentVersion)
         {
             const bool isDevVersion = QStringLiteral(QBT_VERSION_STATUS).contains(
                 QRegularExpression(u"(alpha|beta|rc)"_s));
             if (isDevVersion)
                 return true;
         }
-        return (newVersion > currentVersion);
+        return (remoteVersion > currentVersion);
     }
 
     QString buildVariant()
@@ -82,30 +82,34 @@ namespace
 
 void ProgramUpdater::checkForUpdates() const
 {
+    const auto USER_AGENT = QStringLiteral("qBittorrent/" QBT_VERSION_2 " ProgramUpdater (www.qbittorrent.org)");
     const auto RSS_URL = u"https://www.fosshub.com/feed/5b8793a7f9ee5a5c3e97a3b2.xml"_s;
+    const auto FALLBACK_URL = u"https://www.qbittorrent.org/versions.json"_s;
+
     // Don't change this User-Agent. In case our updater goes haywire,
     // the filehost can identify it and contact us.
-    Net::DownloadManager::instance()->download(
-            Net::DownloadRequest(RSS_URL).userAgent(QStringLiteral("qBittorrent/" QBT_VERSION_2 " ProgramUpdater (www.qbittorrent.org)"))
+    Net::DownloadManager::instance()->download(Net::DownloadRequest(RSS_URL).userAgent(USER_AGENT)
             , Preferences::instance()->useProxyForGeneralPurposes(), this, &ProgramUpdater::rssDownloadFinished);
+    Net::DownloadManager::instance()->download(Net::DownloadRequest(FALLBACK_URL).userAgent(USER_AGENT)
+            , Preferences::instance()->useProxyForGeneralPurposes(), this, &ProgramUpdater::fallbackDownloadFinished);
+
+    m_hasCompletedOneReq = false;
 }
 
-QString ProgramUpdater::getNewVersion() const
+ProgramUpdater::Version ProgramUpdater::getNewVersion() const
 {
-    return m_newVersion;
+    return shouldUseFallback() ? m_fallbackRemoteVersion : m_remoteVersion;
 }
 
 void ProgramUpdater::rssDownloadFinished(const Net::DownloadResult &result)
 {
     if (result.status != Net::DownloadStatus::Success)
     {
-        qDebug() << "Downloading the new qBittorrent updates RSS failed:" << result.errorString;
-        emit updateCheckFinished();
+        LogMsg(tr("Failed to download the update info. URL: %1. Error: %2").arg(result.url, result.errorString) , Log::WARNING);
+        handleFinishedRequest();
         return;
     }
 
-    qDebug("Finished downloading the new qBittorrent updates RSS");
-
     const auto getStringValue = [](QXmlStreamReader &xml) -> QString
     {
         xml.readNext();
@@ -146,9 +150,10 @@ void ProgramUpdater::rssDownloadFinished(const Net::DownloadResult &result)
                     if (!version.isEmpty())
                     {
                         qDebug("Detected version is %s", qUtf8Printable(version));
-                        if (isVersionMoreRecent(version))
+                        const ProgramUpdater::Version tmpVer {version};
+                        if (isVersionMoreRecent(tmpVer))
                         {
-                            m_newVersion = version;
+                            m_remoteVersion = tmpVer;
                             m_updateURL = updateLink;
                         }
                     }
@@ -163,10 +168,50 @@ void ProgramUpdater::rssDownloadFinished(const Net::DownloadResult &result)
         }
     }
 
-    emit updateCheckFinished();
+    handleFinishedRequest();
+}
+
+void ProgramUpdater::fallbackDownloadFinished(const Net::DownloadResult &result)
+{
+    if (result.status != Net::DownloadStatus::Success)
+    {
+        LogMsg(tr("Failed to download the update info. URL: %1. Error: %2").arg(result.url, result.errorString) , Log::WARNING);
+        handleFinishedRequest();
+        return;
+    }
+
+    const auto json = QJsonDocument::fromJson(result.data);
+
+#if defined(Q_OS_MACOS)
+    const QString platformKey = u"macos"_s;
+#elif defined(Q_OS_WIN)
+    const QString platformKey = u"win"_s;
+#endif
+
+    if (const QJsonValue verJSON = json[platformKey][u"version"_s]; verJSON.isString())
+    {
+        const ProgramUpdater::Version tmpVer {verJSON.toString()};
+        if (isVersionMoreRecent(tmpVer))
+            m_fallbackRemoteVersion = tmpVer;
+    }
+
+    handleFinishedRequest();
 }
 
 bool ProgramUpdater::updateProgram() const
 {
-    return QDesktopServices::openUrl(m_updateURL);
+    return QDesktopServices::openUrl(shouldUseFallback() ? u"https://www.qbittorrent.org/download"_s : m_updateURL);
+}
+
+void ProgramUpdater::handleFinishedRequest()
+{
+    if (m_hasCompletedOneReq)
+        emit updateCheckFinished();
+    else
+        m_hasCompletedOneReq = true;
+}
+
+bool ProgramUpdater::shouldUseFallback() const
+{
+    return m_fallbackRemoteVersion > m_remoteVersion;
 }
diff --git a/src/gui/programupdater.h b/src/gui/programupdater.h
index 88d41985f..531d12118 100644
--- a/src/gui/programupdater.h
+++ b/src/gui/programupdater.h
@@ -30,9 +30,10 @@
 #pragma once
 
 #include <QObject>
-#include <QString>
 #include <QUrl>
 
+#include "base/utils/version.h"
+
 namespace Net
 {
     struct DownloadResult;
@@ -45,9 +46,10 @@ class ProgramUpdater final : public QObject
 
 public:
     using QObject::QObject;
+    using Version = Utils::Version<4, 3>;
 
     void checkForUpdates() const;
-    QString getNewVersion() const;
+    Version getNewVersion() const;
     bool updateProgram() const;
 
 signals:
@@ -55,8 +57,14 @@ signals:
 
 private slots:
     void rssDownloadFinished(const Net::DownloadResult &result);
+    void fallbackDownloadFinished(const Net::DownloadResult &result);
 
 private:
-    QString m_newVersion;
+    void handleFinishedRequest();
+    bool shouldUseFallback() const;
+
+    mutable bool m_hasCompletedOneReq = false;
+    Version m_remoteVersion;
+    Version m_fallbackRemoteVersion;
     QUrl m_updateURL;
 };