diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index cb30febef..840a22512 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,59 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## [2.59.0] - 2026-08-14
+
+### API-Changes
+
+- [**breaking**] Remove deprecated `dc_chat_is_protected()`.
+- Deprecate `dc_chat_get_info_json()` ([#8580](https://github.com/chatmail/core/pull/8580))
+
+### Features / Changes
+
+- Add stock strings for being added/removed from group ([#8562](https://github.com/chatmail/core/pull/8562)).
+- Client version information ([#8557](https://github.com/chatmail/core/pull/8557)).
+- Remove hidden headers.
+- Stop creating info messages for old broadcast lists.
+
+### Fixes
+
+- Filtered reactions are info, not error in device chat.
+- Send MDNs to self even if MDNs are disabled.
+- Send HTTP requests in origin not absolute form.
+
+### Documentation
+
+- json-rpc: improve `reactions_by_contact` doc.
+- Do not refer to `is_chat_protected()`.
+- Do not talk about verified chats in securejoin QR-scanning functions.
+- Add SQL schema documentation.
+
+### Miscellaneous Tasks
+
+- Fix nightly clippy warnings.
+- cargo: bump astral-tokio-tar from 0.6.3 to 0.6.4.
+- cargo: bump bytes from 1.12.0 to 1.12.1.
+- FFI: don't swallow but log errors in three places.
+
+### Refactor
+
+- Remove `MessengerMessage`.
+- Stop setting chats.protected column explicitly.
+- Merge `msg_group_left_local` into `msg_del_member_local` ([#8575](https://github.com/chatmail/core/pull/8575)).
+- Rename `_ex()` -> `_ext()`.
+- mimefactory: add Encryption enum.
+
+### Tests
+
+- Fix flakyness of iroh tests by sending "forever" so that late swarm-joins still make the test work.
+- Move iroh tests into separate module.
+- Provide complete test isolation by not re-using account addresses.
+- Avoid another source of random failures with `direct_imap` failing to connect on first try.
+- Remove all cache-related logic in the FFI pytest plugin.
+- Add a CI-failing check that documented sql schema matches real one.
+- Abort early if DNS to chatmail domain does not work and nicer pytest startup header.
+- Load test data through the `data` fixture.
+- Allow to run the test suite against underscore-domain relays.
+
 ## [2.58.0] - 2026-08-10
 
 ### API-Changes
@@ -8637,3 +8691,4 @@ https://github.com/chatmail/core/pulls?q=is%3Apr+is%3Aclosed
 [2.56.0]: https://github.com/chatmail/core/compare/v2.55.0..v2.56.0
 [2.57.0]: https://github.com/chatmail/core/compare/v2.56.0..v2.57.0
 [2.58.0]: https://github.com/chatmail/core/compare/v2.57.0..v2.58.0
+[2.59.0]: https://github.com/chatmail/core/compare/v2.58.0..v2.59.0
diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index f7ec364e5..731464956 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1328,7 +1328,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "deltachat"
-version = "2.59.0-dev"
+version = "2.59.0"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "astral-tokio-tar",
@@ -1436,7 +1436,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "deltachat-jsonrpc"
-version = "2.59.0-dev"
+version = "2.59.0"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "async-channel 2.5.0",
@@ -1457,7 +1457,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "deltachat-repl"
-version = "2.59.0-dev"
+version = "2.59.0"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "deltachat",
@@ -1473,7 +1473,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "deltachat-rpc-server"
-version = "2.59.0-dev"
+version = "2.59.0"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "deltachat",
@@ -1502,7 +1502,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "deltachat_ffi"
-version = "2.59.0-dev"
+version = "2.59.0"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "deltachat",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index aba160432..eecdabc0f 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "deltachat"
-version = "2.59.0-dev"
+version = "2.59.0"
 edition = "2024"
 license = "MPL-2.0"
 rust-version = "1.89"
diff --git a/deltachat-ffi/Cargo.toml b/deltachat-ffi/Cargo.toml
index a2dc9b5bb..1177bca4f 100644
--- a/deltachat-ffi/Cargo.toml
+++ b/deltachat-ffi/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "deltachat_ffi"
-version = "2.59.0-dev"
+version = "2.59.0"
 description = "Deltachat FFI"
 edition = "2024"
 readme = "README.md"
diff --git a/deltachat-jsonrpc/Cargo.toml b/deltachat-jsonrpc/Cargo.toml
index f58c1a81c..5423a3965 100644
--- a/deltachat-jsonrpc/Cargo.toml
+++ b/deltachat-jsonrpc/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "deltachat-jsonrpc"
-version = "2.59.0-dev"
+version = "2.59.0"
 description = "DeltaChat JSON-RPC API"
 edition = "2024"
 license = "MPL-2.0"
diff --git a/deltachat-jsonrpc/typescript/package.json b/deltachat-jsonrpc/typescript/package.json
index 86ef7c8c5..e58bd0ec1 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": "2.59.0-dev"
+  "version": "2.59.0"
 }
diff --git a/deltachat-repl/Cargo.toml b/deltachat-repl/Cargo.toml
index f178b7b88..032573be2 100644
--- a/deltachat-repl/Cargo.toml
+++ b/deltachat-repl/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "deltachat-repl"
-version = "2.59.0-dev"
+version = "2.59.0"
 license = "MPL-2.0"
 edition = "2024"
 repository = "https://github.com/chatmail/core"
diff --git a/deltachat-rpc-client/pyproject.toml b/deltachat-rpc-client/pyproject.toml
index 4eeb6a417..65e4b20fb 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 = "2.59.0-dev"
+version = "2.59.0"
 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 1f0c9713e..2c86867e5 100644
--- a/deltachat-rpc-server/Cargo.toml
+++ b/deltachat-rpc-server/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "deltachat-rpc-server"
-version = "2.59.0-dev"
+version = "2.59.0"
 description = "DeltaChat JSON-RPC server"
 edition = "2024"
 readme = "README.md"
diff --git a/deltachat-rpc-server/npm-package/package.json b/deltachat-rpc-server/npm-package/package.json
index 974f0872c..2b9feaf91 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": "2.59.0-dev"
+  "version": "2.59.0"
 }
diff --git a/python/pyproject.toml b/python/pyproject.toml
index 6d5167233..61e2b9e57 100644
--- a/python/pyproject.toml
+++ b/python/pyproject.toml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 
 [project]
 name = "deltachat"
-version = "2.59.0-dev"
+version = "2.59.0"
 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 2e4141bcd..e59f916ac 100644
--- a/release-date.in
+++ b/release-date.in
@@ -1 +1 @@
-2026-08-11
\ No newline at end of file
+2026-08-14
\ No newline at end of file