diff --git a/CHANGES.rst b/CHANGES.rst
index cb317c6a8..dd4863c3e 100644
--- a/CHANGES.rst
+++ b/CHANGES.rst
@@ -1,3 +1,48 @@
+Changes in synapse v0.12.1-rc1 (2016-01-xx)
+===========================================
+
+Features:
+
+* Add unread notification counts in ``/sync`` (PR #456)
+* Add support for inviting 3pids in ``/createRoom`` (PR #460)
+* Add ability for guest accounts to upgrade (PR #462)
+* Add ``/versions`` API (PR #468)
+* Add ``event`` to ``/context`` API (PR #492)
+* Add specific error code for invalid user names in ``/register`` (PR #499)
+* Add support for push badge counts (PR #507)
+* Add support for non-guest users to peek in rooms using ``/events`` (PR #510)
+
+Changes:
+
+* Change ``/sync`` so that guest users only get rooms they've joined (PR #469)
+* Change to require unbanning before other membership changes (PR #501)
+* Change default push rules to notify for all messages (PR #486)
+* Change default push rules to not notify on membership changes (PR #514)
+* Change default push rules to only notify messages in one to one rooms
+  (PR #529)
+* Change ``/sync`` to reject requests with a ``from`` query param (PR #512)
+* Change server manhole to use SSH rather than telnet (PR #473)
+* Change server to require AS users to be registered before use (PR #487)
+* Change server not to start when ASes are invalidly configured (PR #494)
+* Change server to require ID and ``as_token`` to be unique for AS's (PR #496)
+* Change maximum pagination limit to 1000 (PR #497)
+
+Bug fixes:
+
+* Fix bug where ``/sync`` didn't return when something under the leave key
+  changed (PR #461)
+* Fix bug where we returned smaller rather than larger than requested
+  thumbnails when ``method=crop`` (PR #464)
+* Fix thumbnails API to only return cropped thumbnails when asking for a
+  cropped thumbnail (PR #475)
+* Fix bug where we occasionally still logged access tokens (PR #477)
+* Fix bug where ``/events`` would always return immediately for guest users
+  (PR #480)
+* Fix bug where ``/sync`` unexpectedly returned old left rooms (PR #481)
+* Fix enabling and disabling push rules (P #498)
+* Fix bug where ``/register`` returned 500 when given unicode username
+  (PR #513)
+
 Changes in synapse v0.12.0 (2016-01-04)
 =======================================
 
diff --git a/synapse/__init__.py b/synapse/__init__.py
index 800707913..aacacda4f 100644
--- a/synapse/__init__.py
+++ b/synapse/__init__.py
@@ -16,4 +16,4 @@
 """ This is a reference implementation of a Matrix home server.
 """
 
-__version__ = "0.12.0"
+__version__ = "0.12.1-rc1"