diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 52a6bdfc4..6e6281f71 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,3 +1,21 @@
+44.9
+====
+* Fix menu alignment in RTL locales [Florian; !3151]
+* overview: Keep dimming effect for modal dialogs [Florian; !3150]
+* Fix overview transition from search results to session [Suryashankar; !3152]
+* Improve minimize animation [Keyu; !2968]
+* Add missing shift level to Georgian OSK layout [Carlos; !3145]
+* Fixed crash [Florian; !3117]
+* Misc. bug fixes and cleanups [Jonas, Florian, Julian; !786, !2475, !3153,
+  !3159, !3172]
+
+Contributors:
+  Suryashankar Das, Jonas Dreßler, Carlos Garnacho, Florian Müllner,
+  Julian Sparber, Keyu Tao
+
+Translators:
+  Daniel Rusek [cs]
+
 44.8
 ====
 * Fixed crash [Sebastian; !3006]
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 0400a89b6..6aa3f0920 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 project('gnome-shell', 'c',
-  version: '44.8',
+  version: '44.9',
   meson_version: '>= 0.58.0',
   license: 'GPLv2+'
 )
diff --git a/subprojects/extensions-app/data/metainfo/org.gnome.Extensions.metainfo.xml.in b/subprojects/extensions-app/data/metainfo/org.gnome.Extensions.metainfo.xml.in
index 84ce1b418..2ac12e9f7 100644
--- a/subprojects/extensions-app/data/metainfo/org.gnome.Extensions.metainfo.xml.in
+++ b/subprojects/extensions-app/data/metainfo/org.gnome.Extensions.metainfo.xml.in
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@
   </description>
 
   <releases>
+    <release version="44.9" date="2024-02-11"/>
     <release version="44.8" date="2024-01-06"/>
     <release version="44.7" date="2023-12-01"/>
     <release version="44.6" date="2023-10-31"/>
diff --git a/subprojects/extensions-app/meson.build b/subprojects/extensions-app/meson.build
index 7aa252e84..47110b54f 100644
--- a/subprojects/extensions-app/meson.build
+++ b/subprojects/extensions-app/meson.build
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 project('gnome-extensions-app',
-  version: '44.8',
+  version: '44.9',
   meson_version: '>= 0.58.0',
   license: 'GPLv2+'
 )
diff --git a/subprojects/extensions-tool/meson.build b/subprojects/extensions-tool/meson.build
index f6be123f2..a664269be 100644
--- a/subprojects/extensions-tool/meson.build
+++ b/subprojects/extensions-tool/meson.build
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 project('gnome-extensions-tool', 'c',
-  version: '44.8',
+  version: '44.9',
   meson_version: '>= 0.58.0',
   license: 'GPLv2+'
 )
diff --git a/subprojects/shew/meson.build b/subprojects/shew/meson.build
index 6ef37b21c..d6c0a4a20 100644
--- a/subprojects/shew/meson.build
+++ b/subprojects/shew/meson.build
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 project('shew', 'c',
-  version: '44.8',
+  version: '44.9',
   meson_version: '>= 0.58.0',
   license: 'LGPLv2+',
 )