diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 0a75617..b9537c6 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,11 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## v1.1.11 — Updater Validation Release — 2026-06-17
+
+- **Version:** Bumped `__version__` to `1.1.11-dev`.
+- **Updater test release** — intentionally minimal release used to validate the `v1.1.10` installer-based Windows updater path end-to-end.
+- **No functional app changes** — this release exists so installed `v1.1.10` builds can detect a newer GitHub Release, download `PDFReader-by-Sparsh-Setup.exe`, request UAC, and apply the update through Inno Setup.
+
 ## v1.1.10 — Installer-Based Windows Updater — 2026-06-17
 
 - **Version:** Bumped `__version__` to `1.1.10-dev`.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 815d92d..ec039e2 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ PDFReader by Sparsh is a **stable, local-first desktop PDF utility** built with
 
 The app is intentionally local-first: PDFs are opened, rendered, searched, merged, split, annotated, and compressed on your computer — no uploads, no accounts, no telemetry.
 
-**v1.1.10** is the current stable release for Windows. macOS builds are published for source-build testing but are not stable — the primary target is Windows. See the [changelog](CHANGELOG.md) and [roadmap](ROADMAP.md) for what's new and what's next.
+**v1.1.11** is the current Windows release. It is an updater validation release for the v1.1.10 installer-based update path. macOS builds are published for source-build testing but are not stable — the primary target is Windows. See the [changelog](CHANGELOG.md) and [roadmap](ROADMAP.md) for what's new and what's next.
 
 ## Download
 
@@ -288,13 +288,18 @@ sudo pacman -S tesseract tesseract-data-eng
 - [x] Windows publisher docs — "Unknown Publisher" explained
 - [x] 9 new regression tests (28 total, all passing)
 
-### ✓ v1.1.10 — Installer-Based Windows Updater (Current Stable — Windows)
+### ✓ v1.1.10 — Installer-Based Windows Updater
 
 - [x] Windows in-app updates use `PDFReader-by-Sparsh-Setup.exe`
 - [x] Inno Setup handles UAC elevation and Program Files replacement
 - [x] Portable ZIP remains available for manual recovery
 - [x] Release workflow requires the Windows installer asset
 
+### ✓ v1.1.11 — Updater Validation Release (Current Windows Release)
+
+- [x] Minimal version-only release to test v1.1.10 → v1.1.11 updater flow
+- [x] Confirms Windows updater downloads and launches `PDFReader-by-Sparsh-Setup.exe`
+
 ### Near-Term
 Items in active or planned development.
 
diff --git a/main.py b/main.py
index 3ec3b82..936ed92 100644
--- a/main.py
+++ b/main.py
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@
 )
 
 
-__version__ = "1.1.10-dev"
+__version__ = "1.1.11-dev"
 GITHUB_REPO = "sparshsam/pdfreader-by-sparsh"
 WINDOWS_INSTALLER_ASSET = "PDFReader-by-Sparsh-Setup.exe"
 WINDOWS_PORTABLE_ASSET = "PDFReader-by-Sparsh-Windows.zip"