diff --git a/app/version.properties b/app/version.properties
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f0149ab6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/version.properties
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+# this file is purely for f-droid because it cannot infer the version name/code from the git tag
+versionName=3.9.770
+versionCode=300900770
\ No newline at end of file