diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index a0f9235cac..5babc22f2a 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 Synapse 1.85.1 (2023-06-07)
 ===========================
 
+Note: this release only fixes a bug that stopped some deployments from upgrading to v1.85.0. There is no need to upgrade to v1.85.1 if successfully running v1.85.0.
+
 Bugfixes
 --------