diff --git a/api/Sources/Api/Routes/Appcast.swift b/api/Sources/Api/Routes/Appcast.swift
index 516e7d0e..51a9df0f 100644
--- a/api/Sources/Api/Routes/Appcast.swift
+++ b/api/Sources/Api/Routes/Appcast.swift
@@ -6,10 +6,9 @@ enum AppcastRoute {
   static func handler(_ request: Request) async throws -> Response {
     let query = try request.query.decode(AppcastQuery.self)
     let releases = try await Current.db.query(Release.self)
-      .where(query.version.map { _ in .always } ?? (.channel == query.channel ?? .stable))
-      .where(query.version.map { .semver == $0 } ?? .always)
       .orderBy(.createdAt, .desc)
       .all()
+      .filter { $0.channel.isAtLeastAsStable(as: query.channel ?? .stable) }
 
     return Response(
       headers: ["Content-Type": "application/xml"],
diff --git a/api/Tests/ApiTests/AppcastTests.swift b/api/Tests/ApiTests/AppcastTests.swift
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c4597481
--- /dev/null
+++ b/api/Tests/ApiTests/AppcastTests.swift
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+import XCTest
+import XCTVapor
+import XExpect
+
+@testable import Api
+
+final class AppcastTests: ApiTestCase {
+  func testAppcastVersions() async throws {
+    try await replaceAllReleases(with: [
+      Release("2.0.0", channel: .stable, pace: nil, createdAt: .epoch),
+      Release("2.1.0", channel: .canary, pace: nil, createdAt: .epoch.advanced(by: .days(10))),
+      Release("2.1.1", channel: .stable, pace: nil, createdAt: .epoch.advanced(by: .days(20))),
+    ])
+
+    try app.test(.GET, "appcast.xml", afterResponse: { res in
+      expect(filenames(from: res)).toEqual([
+        "Gertrude.2.1.1.zip",
+        "Gertrude.2.0.0.zip",
+      ])
+    })
+
+    // canary is one behind stable, so...
+    try app.test(.GET, "appcast.xml?channel=canary", afterResponse: { res in
+      expect(filenames(from: res)).toEqual([
+        "Gertrude.2.1.1.zip", // <-- ...includes stable
+        "Gertrude.2.1.0.zip",
+        "Gertrude.2.0.0.zip",
+      ])
+    })
+  }
+
+  func filenames(from response: XCTHTTPResponse) -> [String] {
+    response.body.string.split(separator: "\n")
+      .filter { $0.contains("url=") }
+      .map { $0.trimmingCharacters(in: .whitespaces) }
+      .compactMap { $0.split(separator: "/").last }
+      .map { String($0.replacingOccurrences(of: "\"", with: "")) }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/api/Tests/ApiTests/MacappPairResolvers/CheckInLatestReleaseTests.swift b/api/Tests/ApiTests/MacappPairResolvers/CheckInLatestReleaseTests.swift
index e7be87fd..d392b317 100644
--- a/api/Tests/ApiTests/MacappPairResolvers/CheckInLatestReleaseTests.swift
+++ b/api/Tests/ApiTests/MacappPairResolvers/CheckInLatestReleaseTests.swift
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ final class CheckInLatestReleaseTests: ApiTestCase {
   }
 
   func testAppOnLatestVersionHappyPath() async throws {
-    try await createReleases([
+    try await replaceAllReleases(with: [
       Release("1.0.0", pace: 10),
       Release("1.1.0", pace: 10),
     ])
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ final class CheckInLatestReleaseTests: ApiTestCase {
   }
 
   func testAppBehindOne() async throws {
-    try await createReleases([
+    try await replaceAllReleases(with: [
       Release("1.0.0", pace: 10, createdAt: .epoch),
       Release("1.1.0", pace: 10, createdAt: .epoch.advanced(by: .days(10))),
       Release("1.2.0", pace: 10, createdAt: .epoch.advanced(by: .days(20))),
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ final class CheckInLatestReleaseTests: ApiTestCase {
   }
 
   func testAppBehindTwoUsesFirstPace() async throws {
-    try await createReleases([
+    try await replaceAllReleases(with: [
       Release("1.0.0", pace: 10, createdAt: .epoch),
       Release("1.1.0", pace: 10, createdAt: .epoch.advanced(by: .days(10))),
       Release("1.2.0", pace: 10, createdAt: .epoch.advanced(by: .days(20))),
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ final class CheckInLatestReleaseTests: ApiTestCase {
   }
 
   func testOnBetaAheadOfStable() async throws {
-    try await createReleases([
+    try await replaceAllReleases(with: [
       Release("1.0.0", pace: 10, createdAt: .epoch),
       Release("1.1.0", pace: 10, createdAt: .epoch.advanced(by: .days(10))),
       Release("2.0.0", channel: .beta, pace: 10, createdAt: .epoch.advanced(by: .days(20))),
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ final class CheckInLatestReleaseTests: ApiTestCase {
   }
 
   func testOnCanaryBehindStable() async throws {
-    try await createReleases([
+    try await replaceAllReleases(with: [
       Release("2.0.0", channel: .stable, pace: nil, createdAt: .epoch),
       Release("2.1.0", channel: .canary, pace: nil, createdAt: .epoch.advanced(by: .days(10))),
       Release("2.1.1", channel: .stable, pace: nil, createdAt: .epoch.advanced(by: .days(20))),
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ final class CheckInLatestReleaseTests: ApiTestCase {
 
 // extensions, helpers
 
-func createReleases(_ releases: [Release]) async throws {
+func replaceAllReleases(with releases: [Release]) async throws {
   try await Current.db.deleteAll(Release.self)
   try await Current.db.create(releases)
   for var release in releases {
diff --git a/api/Tests/ApiTests/MacappPairResolvers/CheckInResolverTests.swift b/api/Tests/ApiTests/MacappPairResolvers/CheckInResolverTests.swift
index 9921873b..cc02a71a 100644
--- a/api/Tests/ApiTests/MacappPairResolvers/CheckInResolverTests.swift
+++ b/api/Tests/ApiTests/MacappPairResolvers/CheckInResolverTests.swift
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ final class CheckInResolverTests: ApiTestCase {
   }
 
   func testCheckIn_OtherProps() async throws {
-    try await createReleases([
+    try await replaceAllReleases(with: [
       Release("2.0.3", channel: .stable),
       Release("2.0.4", channel: .stable),
       Release("3.0.0", channel: .beta),