diff --git a/CHANGES.rst b/CHANGES.rst
index 1ce58632b..a1a062467 100644
--- a/CHANGES.rst
+++ b/CHANGES.rst
@@ -1,3 +1,31 @@
+Changes in synapse v0.18.4 (2016-11-22)
+=======================================
+
+Bug fixes:
+
+* Add workaround for buggy clients that the fail to register (PR #1632)
+
+
+Changes in synapse v0.18.4-rc1 (2016-11-14)
+===========================================
+
+Changes:
+
+* Various database efficiency improvements (PR #1188, #1192)
+* Update default config to blacklist more internal IPs, thanks to Euan Kemp (PR
+  #1198)
+* Allow specifying duration in minutes in config, thanks to Daniel Dent (PR
+  #1625)
+
+
+Bug fixes:
+
+* Fix media repo to set CORs headers on responses (PR #1190)
+* Fix registration to not error on non-ascii passwords (PR #1191)
+* Fix create event code to limit the number of prev_events (PR #1615)
+* Fix bug in transaction ID deduplication (PR #1624)
+
+
 Changes in synapse v0.18.3 (2016-11-08)
 =======================================
 
diff --git a/synapse/__init__.py b/synapse/__init__.py
index d366b69da..432567a11 100644
--- a/synapse/__init__.py
+++ b/synapse/__init__.py
@@ -16,4 +16,4 @@
 """ This is a reference implementation of a Matrix home server.
 """
 
-__version__ = "0.18.3"
+__version__ = "0.18.4"
diff --git a/synapse/rest/client/v2_alpha/register.py b/synapse/rest/client/v2_alpha/register.py
index 68d18a9b8..6cfb20866 100644
--- a/synapse/rest/client/v2_alpha/register.py
+++ b/synapse/rest/client/v2_alpha/register.py
@@ -169,6 +169,17 @@ class RegisterRestServlet(RestServlet):
 
         guest_access_token = body.get("guest_access_token", None)
 
+        if (
+            'initial_device_display_name' in body and
+            'password' not in body
+        ):
+            # ignore 'initial_device_display_name' if sent without
+            # a password to work around a client bug where it sent
+            # the 'initial_device_display_name' param alone, wiping out
+            # the original registration params
+            logger.warn("Ignoring initial_device_display_name without password")
+            del body['initial_device_display_name']
+
         session_id = self.auth_handler.get_session_id(body)
         registered_user_id = None
         if session_id: