diff --git a/include/checkversion.php b/include/checkversion.php
index 6cd34b2ce9..0567a59540 100644
--- a/include/checkversion.php
+++ b/include/checkversion.php
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ function checkversion_run () {
 	if ($checkurl == 'none' ) {
 		return;
 	}
-	$gitversion = dbesc(trim(fetch_url($checkurl)));
+	$gitversion = dbesc(trim(fetch_url("https://raw.githubusercontent.com/friendica/friendica/".$checkurl."/VERSION")));
 	Config::set('system', 'git_friendica_version', $gitversion);
 
 	logger('checkversion: end');
diff --git a/mod/admin.php b/mod/admin.php
index dba180c129..303747c819 100644
--- a/mod/admin.php
+++ b/mod/admin.php
@@ -1149,8 +1149,8 @@ function admin_page_site(App $a) {
 
 	$check_git_version_choices = array(
 		"none" => t("Don't check"),
-		"https://raw.githubusercontent.com/friendica/friendica/master/VERSION" => t("check the stable version"),
-		"https://raw.githubusercontent.com/friendica/friendica/develop/VERSION" => t("check the development version")
+		"master" => t("check the stable version"),
+		"develop" => t("check the development version")
 	);
 
 	if ($a->config['hostname'] == "") {