diff --git a/apps/desktop/electron/preload.ts b/apps/desktop/electron/preload.ts
index 17ed4b6..55da108 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/electron/preload.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/electron/preload.ts
@@ -28,6 +28,13 @@ import {
   type UpdateCheckResult,
   type UpdateProgress,
 } from './ipc-types';
+// Static import of the desktop package.json so the bundler inlines the
+// version string at build time. The previous `process.env.npm_package_-
+// version` approach worked in dev (pnpm sets it as a script env var) but
+// fell back to '0.0.0' in packaged builds — every installed user got
+// flagged as "Update verfügbar" against their own actually-current
+// version. resolveJsonModule + esModuleInterop are on in tsconfig.node.
+import pkg from '../package.json';
 
 type Unsubscribe = () => void;
 
@@ -40,7 +47,7 @@ function on<T>(channel: string, cb: (payload: T) => void): Unsubscribe {
 const api = {
   platform: ELECTRON_RUNTIME_MARKER,
   osPlatform: process.platform as NodeJS.Platform,
-  appVersion: process.env.npm_package_version ?? '0.0.0',
+  appVersion: pkg.version,
 
   // Screen sources ---------------------------------------------------------
   getScreenSources: (): Promise<ScreenSource[]> => ipcRenderer.invoke(CHANNELS.SCREEN_GET_SOURCES),