diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 498989d44..4e053e884 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1307,7 +1307,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "deltachat"
-version = "2.48.0"
+version = "2.49.0-dev"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "astral-tokio-tar",
@@ -1416,7 +1416,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "deltachat-jsonrpc"
-version = "2.48.0"
+version = "2.49.0-dev"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "async-channel 2.5.0",
@@ -1437,7 +1437,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "deltachat-repl"
-version = "2.48.0"
+version = "2.49.0-dev"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "deltachat",
@@ -1453,7 +1453,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "deltachat-rpc-server"
-version = "2.48.0"
+version = "2.49.0-dev"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "deltachat",
@@ -1482,7 +1482,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "deltachat_ffi"
-version = "2.48.0"
+version = "2.49.0-dev"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "deltachat",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 5f8d8d6b3..4b1c184e1 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "deltachat"
-version = "2.48.0"
+version = "2.49.0-dev"
 edition = "2024"
 license = "MPL-2.0"
 rust-version = "1.88"
diff --git a/deltachat-ffi/Cargo.toml b/deltachat-ffi/Cargo.toml
index 8d706d868..3508e1d14 100644
--- a/deltachat-ffi/Cargo.toml
+++ b/deltachat-ffi/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "deltachat_ffi"
-version = "2.48.0"
+version = "2.49.0-dev"
 description = "Deltachat FFI"
 edition = "2018"
 readme = "README.md"
diff --git a/deltachat-jsonrpc/Cargo.toml b/deltachat-jsonrpc/Cargo.toml
index 865fb039e..0b6c30759 100644
--- a/deltachat-jsonrpc/Cargo.toml
+++ b/deltachat-jsonrpc/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "deltachat-jsonrpc"
-version = "2.48.0"
+version = "2.49.0-dev"
 description = "DeltaChat JSON-RPC API"
 edition = "2021"
 license = "MPL-2.0"
diff --git a/deltachat-jsonrpc/typescript/package.json b/deltachat-jsonrpc/typescript/package.json
index c8ee203a5..570585f01 100644
--- a/deltachat-jsonrpc/typescript/package.json
+++ b/deltachat-jsonrpc/typescript/package.json
@@ -54,5 +54,5 @@
   },
   "type": "module",
   "types": "dist/deltachat.d.ts",
-  "version": "2.48.0"
+  "version": "2.49.0-dev"
 }
diff --git a/deltachat-repl/Cargo.toml b/deltachat-repl/Cargo.toml
index 8f5ecacb4..8e8a70735 100644
--- a/deltachat-repl/Cargo.toml
+++ b/deltachat-repl/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "deltachat-repl"
-version = "2.48.0"
+version = "2.49.0-dev"
 license = "MPL-2.0"
 edition = "2021"
 repository = "https://github.com/chatmail/core"
diff --git a/deltachat-rpc-client/pyproject.toml b/deltachat-rpc-client/pyproject.toml
index c8bb8c7c8..7e1cd0730 100644
--- a/deltachat-rpc-client/pyproject.toml
+++ b/deltachat-rpc-client/pyproject.toml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 
 [project]
 name = "deltachat-rpc-client"
-version = "2.48.0"
+version = "2.49.0-dev"
 license = "MPL-2.0"
 description = "Python client for Delta Chat core JSON-RPC interface"
 classifiers = [
diff --git a/deltachat-rpc-server/Cargo.toml b/deltachat-rpc-server/Cargo.toml
index 5386d5493..1c6f3fcda 100644
--- a/deltachat-rpc-server/Cargo.toml
+++ b/deltachat-rpc-server/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "deltachat-rpc-server"
-version = "2.48.0"
+version = "2.49.0-dev"
 description = "DeltaChat JSON-RPC server"
 edition = "2021"
 readme = "README.md"
diff --git a/deltachat-rpc-server/npm-package/package.json b/deltachat-rpc-server/npm-package/package.json
index 7556ae5d8..f6325bfc3 100644
--- a/deltachat-rpc-server/npm-package/package.json
+++ b/deltachat-rpc-server/npm-package/package.json
@@ -15,5 +15,5 @@
   },
   "type": "module",
   "types": "index.d.ts",
-  "version": "2.48.0"
+  "version": "2.49.0-dev"
 }
diff --git a/python/pyproject.toml b/python/pyproject.toml
index 936252e9f..ffe40a9d7 100644
--- a/python/pyproject.toml
+++ b/python/pyproject.toml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 
 [project]
 name = "deltachat"
-version = "2.48.0"
+version = "2.49.0-dev"
 license = "MPL-2.0"
 description = "Python bindings for the Delta Chat Core library using CFFI against the Rust-implemented libdeltachat"
 readme = "README.rst"
diff --git a/release-date.in b/release-date.in
index a502bb90f..1ef34d5b3 100644
--- a/release-date.in
+++ b/release-date.in
@@ -1 +1 @@
-2026-03-30
\ No newline at end of file
+2026-04-08
\ No newline at end of file