diff --git a/src/gui/UpdateModal/UpdateModal.test.ts b/src/gui/UpdateModal/UpdateModal.test.ts
index cb3e18c24..bcd38d75c 100644
--- a/src/gui/UpdateModal/UpdateModal.test.ts
+++ b/src/gui/UpdateModal/UpdateModal.test.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
+import { App } from "obsidian";
 import { beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
-import { getReleaseNotesAfter, renderVideoAttachments } from "./UpdateModal";
+import {
+	getReleaseNotesAfter,
+	renderVideoAttachments,
+	UpdateModal,
+} from "./UpdateModal";
 
 const requestUrlMock = vi.hoisted(() => vi.fn());
 
@@ -185,10 +190,61 @@ describe("getReleaseNotesAfter", () => {
 		);
 	});
 
-	it("throws a clear error when the start tag is absent from the releases array", async () => {
+	it("returns every stable release newer than a version missing from the list", async () => {
+		// A user upgrading from a version older than the fetched page (e.g. 1.18.1)
+		// must still get notes, not a "could not find release" failure.
+		const release = (tag_name: string, extra = {}) => ({
+			tag_name,
+			body: tag_name,
+			draft: false,
+			prerelease: false,
+			...extra,
+		});
+		mockResponse(200, [
+			release("2.10.0"),
+			release("2.9.5", { prerelease: true }),
+			release("2.9.4", { draft: true }),
+			release("2.9.0"),
+			release("not-a-version"),
+			release("1.18.0"),
+		]);
+
+		const releases = await getReleaseNotesAfter("chhoumann", "quickadd", "1.18.1");
+
+		expect(releases.map((r) => r.tag_name)).toEqual(["2.10.0", "2.9.0"]);
+	});
+
+	it("compares versions numerically, not as strings", async () => {
+		mockResponse(200, [
+			{ tag_name: "2.10.0", body: "", draft: false, prerelease: false },
+			{ tag_name: "2.9.0", body: "", draft: false, prerelease: false },
+		]);
+
+		const releases = await getReleaseNotesAfter("chhoumann", "quickadd", "2.9.0");
+
+		expect(releases.map((r) => r.tag_name)).toEqual(["2.10.0"]);
+	});
+
+	it("rejects a previous version that is not valid semver", async () => {
 		mockResponse(200, [{ tag_name: "9.9.9", body: "", draft: false, prerelease: false }]);
-		await expect(getReleaseNotesAfter("chhoumann", "quickadd", "1.0.0")).rejects.toThrow(
-			"Could not find release with tag 1.0.0",
+		await expect(getReleaseNotesAfter("chhoumann", "quickadd", "garbage")).rejects.toThrow(
+			"Invalid version garbage",
 		);
 	});
 });
+
+describe("UpdateModal", () => {
+	beforeEach(() => {
+		requestUrlMock.mockReset();
+	});
+
+	it("closes instead of staying on the loading state when the fetch fails", async () => {
+		mockResponse(403, { message: "API rate limit exceeded" });
+
+		const modal = new UpdateModal(new App() as never, "2.0.0");
+		modal.open();
+		expect(modal.contentEl.textContent).toContain("Fetching release notes...");
+
+		await vi.waitFor(() => expect(modal.containerEl.isConnected).toBe(false));
+	});
+});
diff --git a/src/gui/UpdateModal/UpdateModal.ts b/src/gui/UpdateModal/UpdateModal.ts
index 9a5529901..af763382b 100644
--- a/src/gui/UpdateModal/UpdateModal.ts
+++ b/src/gui/UpdateModal/UpdateModal.ts
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import {
 	requestUrl,
 } from "obsidian";
 import { log } from "src/logger/logManager";
+import { compareSemver, parseSemver } from "src/utils/semver";
 
 type Release = {
 	tag_name: string;
@@ -17,15 +18,14 @@ type Release = {
 };
 
 /**
- * Fetches the releases for a repository on GitHub and returns the release notes for every release
- * that comes after a specific release.
+ * Fetches the releases for a repository on GitHub and returns every stable release
+ * whose version is newer than the given one, newest first.
  *
  * @param repoOwner The owner of the repository.
  * @param repoName The name of the repository.
- * @param releaseTagName The tag name of the release to start getting release notes from.
+ * @param releaseTagName The version the user is upgrading from.
  * @returns An array of Release objects, each containing the tag name and release notes for a single release.
- * @throws An error if there was an error fetching the releases or if the release with the specified tag name
- *         could not be found.
+ * @throws An error if the releases could not be fetched or the given version is not valid semver.
  */
 export async function getReleaseNotesAfter(
 	repoOwner: string,
@@ -33,7 +33,9 @@ export async function getReleaseNotesAfter(
 	releaseTagName: string
 ): Promise<Release[]> {
 	const response = await requestUrl({
-		url: `https://api.github.com/repos/${repoOwner}/${repoName}/releases`,
+		// The newest 100 releases (GitHub's page-size cap). Anyone further behind
+		// sees the latest 100.
+		url: `https://api.github.com/repos/${repoOwner}/${repoName}/releases?per_page=100`,
 		throw: false,
 	});
 
@@ -58,19 +60,16 @@ export async function getReleaseNotesAfter(
 		throw new Error(`Failed to fetch releases: ${message}`);
 	}
 
-	const releases = body as Release[];
-
-	const startReleaseIdx = releases.findIndex(
-		(release) => release.tag_name === releaseTagName
-	);
-
-	if (startReleaseIdx === -1) {
-		throw new Error(`Could not find release with tag ${releaseTagName}`);
+	const previous = parseSemver(releaseTagName);
+	if (!previous) {
+		throw new Error(`Invalid version ${releaseTagName}`);
 	}
 
-	return releases
-		.slice(0, startReleaseIdx)
-		.filter((release) => !release.draft && !release.prerelease);
+	return (body as Release[]).filter((release) => {
+		if (release.draft || release.prerelease) return false;
+		const version = parseSemver(release.tag_name);
+		return version !== null && compareSemver(version, previous) > 0;
+	});
 }
 
 const USER_ATTACHMENT_VIDEO_URL =
@@ -204,15 +203,16 @@ export class UpdateModal extends Modal {
 
 				this.releases = releases;
 
-                if (this.releases.length === 0) {
-                    this.close();
-                    return;
-                }
+				if (this.releases.length === 0) {
+					this.close();
+					return;
+				}
 
 				this.display();
 			})
 			.catch((err) => {
 				log.logError(`Failed to fetch release notes: ${err as string}`);
+				if (!this.isClosed) this.close();
 			});
 	}
 
diff --git a/src/gui/apiModernization.test.ts b/src/gui/apiModernization.test.ts
index d615001c4..c2d7c7269 100644
--- a/src/gui/apiModernization.test.ts
+++ b/src/gui/apiModernization.test.ts
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ describe("API modernization", () => {
 			},
 		]);
 		expect(requestUrlSpy).toHaveBeenCalledWith({
-			url: "https://api.github.com/repos/owner/repo/releases",
+			url: "https://api.github.com/repos/owner/repo/releases?per_page=100",
 			throw: false,
 		});
 
diff --git a/src/utils/semver.ts b/src/utils/semver.ts
index 76526f5b7..4030465e1 100644
--- a/src/utils/semver.ts
+++ b/src/utils/semver.ts
@@ -89,3 +89,11 @@ export function isMajorUpdate(
 	return current.major > previous.major;
 }
 
+
+/**
+ * Orders two parsed versions: negative if `a` is older than `b`, positive if
+ * newer, 0 if equal.
+ */
+export function compareSemver(a: ParsedVersion, b: ParsedVersion): number {
+	return a.major - b.major || a.minor - b.minor || a.patch - b.patch;
+}