diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index 5866fa546f..5c07be1dc0 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-2022.05-dev
+2022.05-rc
diff --git a/boot.php b/boot.php
index 473b006407..077557f8f5 100644
--- a/boot.php
+++ b/boot.php
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ use Friendica\Model\Contact;
 
 define('FRIENDICA_PLATFORM',     'Friendica');
 define('FRIENDICA_CODENAME',     'Siberian Iris');
-define('FRIENDICA_VERSION',      '2022.05-dev');
+define('FRIENDICA_VERSION',      '2022.05-rc');
 define('DFRN_PROTOCOL_VERSION',  '2.23');
 define('NEW_TABLE_STRUCTURE_VERSION', 1288);
 
diff --git a/database.sql b/database.sql
index 7511672f30..f44bccc00b 100644
--- a/database.sql
+++ b/database.sql
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 -- ------------------------------------------
--- Friendica 2022.05-dev (Siberian Iris)
+-- Friendica 2022.05-rc (Siberian Iris)
 -- DB_UPDATE_VERSION 1460
 -- ------------------------------------------
 
diff --git a/view/lang/C/messages.po b/view/lang/C/messages.po
index 595091f2ce..29efca8c27 100644
--- a/view/lang/C/messages.po
+++ b/view/lang/C/messages.po
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 #, fuzzy
 msgid ""
 msgstr ""
-"Project-Id-Version: 2022.05-dev\n"
+"Project-Id-Version: 2022.05-rc\n"
 "Report-Msgid-Bugs-To: \n"
 "POT-Creation-Date: 2022-04-24 08:25-0400\n"
 "PO-Revision-Date: YEAR-MO-DA HO:MI+ZONE\n"