diff --git a/pkg/config/version/checknewer.go b/pkg/config/version/checknewer.go
index 83e82a12dcaae588e3834c1ab1ea7587e2b13169..1f855d1b873512b3fc48e8112e93fcb1350dd58c 100644
--- a/pkg/config/version/checknewer.go
+++ b/pkg/config/version/checknewer.go
@@ -11,9 +11,7 @@ import (
 
 const verURI = "https://downloads.leap.se/RiseupVPN/"
 
-var VERSION string
-
-// returns true if there's a newer version string published on the server
+// CanUpgrade returns true if there's a newer version string published on the server
 // this needs to manually bump latest version for every platform in the
 // downloads server.
 // at the moment, we hardcode RiseupVPN in the path, assuming that all clients