diff --git a/app/dates.js b/app/dates.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b9767c663a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/dates.js
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+const moment = require('moment')
+
+exports.todayYMD = () => {
+  return moment().format('YYYY-MM-DD')
+}
+
+exports.todayWOY = () => {
+  return moment().isoWeek()
+}
+
+// Months a returned zero based from moment
+// We add 1 to make sure January does not fail a truth test
+exports.todayMonth = () => {
+  return moment().month() + 1
+}
diff --git a/app/updater.js b/app/updater.js
index 712335c5119..1e9cdeda215 100644
--- a/app/updater.js
+++ b/app/updater.js
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ const querystring = require('querystring')
 const AppStore = require('../js/stores/appStore')
 const AppActions = require('../js/actions/appActions')
 const Immutable = require('immutable')
+const dates = require('./dates')
 
 const fs = require('fs')
 const path = require('path')
@@ -23,6 +24,7 @@ const updateLogPath = path.join(app.getPath('userData'), 'updateLog.log')
 // in built mode console.log output is not emitted to the terminal
 // in prod mode we pipe to a file
 var debug = function (contents) {
+  console.log(contents)
   fs.appendFile(updateLogPath, new Date().toISOString() + ' - ' + contents + '\n')
 }
 
@@ -86,67 +88,44 @@ exports.init = (platform, ver) => {
   }
 }
 
-const secondsPerDay = 24 * 60 * 60
-const secondsPerWeek = secondsPerDay * 7
-const secondsPerMonth = secondsPerDay * 30
-
 // Build a set of three params providing flags determining when the last update occurred
 // This is a privacy preserving policy. Instead of passing personally identifying
-// information, the browser will pass the three boolean values indicating when the last
+// information, the browser will pass thefour boolean values indicating when the last
 // update check occurred.
-var paramsFromLastCheckDelta = (seconds) => {
-  // Default params
-  var params = {
-    daily: false,
-    weekly: false,
-    monthly: false
-  }
-
-  // First ever check
-  if (seconds === 0) {
-    params.daily = true
-    return params
-  }
-
-  // More than one today
-  if (seconds < secondsPerDay) {
-    return params
-  }
-
-  // If we have not checked today, but we have since last week (first check as well)
-  if (seconds === 0 || (seconds > secondsPerDay && seconds < secondsPerWeek)) {
-    params.daily = true
-    return params
+var paramsFromLastCheckDelta = (lastCheckYMD, lastCheckWOY, lastCheckMonth, firstCheckMade) => {
+  return {
+    daily: !lastCheckYMD || (dates.todayYMD() > lastCheckYMD),
+    weekly: !lastCheckWOY || (dates.todayWOY() !== lastCheckWOY),
+    monthly: !lastCheckMonth || (dates.todayMonth() !== lastCheckMonth),
+    first: !firstCheckMade
   }
-
-  // If we have not checked this week, but have this month
-  if (seconds >= secondsPerWeek && seconds < secondsPerMonth) {
-    params.weekly = true
-    return params
-  }
-
-  params.monthly = true
-
-  return params
 }
 
 // Make a request to the update server to retrieve meta data
 var requestVersionInfo = (done) => {
   if (!platformBaseUrl) throw new Error('platformBaseUrl not set')
 
-  // Get the timestamp of the last update request
-  var lastCheckTimestamp = AppStore.getState().toJS().updates['lastCheckTimestamp'] || 0
-  debug(`lastCheckTimestamp = ${lastCheckTimestamp}`)
+  // Get the daily, week of year and month update checks
+  var lastCheckYMD = AppStore.getState().toJS().updates['lastCheckYMD'] || null
+  debug(`lastCheckYMD = ${lastCheckYMD}`)
 
-  // Calculate the number of seconds since the last update
-  var secondsSinceLastCheck = 0
-  if (lastCheckTimestamp) {
-    secondsSinceLastCheck = Math.round(((new Date()).getTime() - lastCheckTimestamp) / 1000)
-  }
-  debug(`secondsSinceLastCheck = ${secondsSinceLastCheck}`)
+  var lastCheckWOY = AppStore.getState().toJS().updates['lastCheckWOY'] || null
+  debug(`lastCheckWOY = ${lastCheckWOY}`)
+
+  var lastCheckMonth = AppStore.getState().toJS().updates['lastCheckMonth'] || null
+  debug(`lastCheckMonth = ${lastCheckMonth}`)
+
+  // Has the browser ever asked for an update
+  var firstCheckMade = AppStore.getState().toJS().updates['firstCheckMade'] || false
+  debug(`firstCheckMade = ${firstCheckMade}`)
 
-  // Build query string based on the number of seconds since last check
-  var query = paramsFromLastCheckDelta(secondsSinceLastCheck)
+  // Build query string based on the last date an update request was made
+  var query = paramsFromLastCheckDelta(
+    lastCheckYMD,
+    lastCheckWOY,
+    lastCheckMonth,
+    firstCheckMade
+  )
   var queryString = `${platformBaseUrl}?${querystring.stringify(query)}`
   debug(queryString)
 
diff --git a/js/stores/appStore.js b/js/stores/appStore.js
index 9c2f3b14e89..f46a11e9dbf 100644
--- a/js/stores/appStore.js
+++ b/js/stores/appStore.js
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ const LocalShortcuts = require('../../app/localShortcuts')
 const AppActions = require('../actions/appActions')
 const firstDefinedValue = require('../lib/functional').firstDefinedValue
 const Serializer = require('../dispatcher/serializer')
+const dates = require('../../app/dates')
 const path = require('path')
 
 let appState
@@ -250,6 +251,10 @@ const handleAppAction = (action) => {
       break
     case AppConstants.APP_UPDATE_LAST_CHECK:
       appState = appState.setIn(['updates', 'lastCheckTimestamp'], (new Date()).getTime())
+      appState = appState.setIn(['updates', 'lastCheckYMD'], dates.todayYMD())
+      appState = appState.setIn(['updates', 'lastCheckWOY'], dates.todayWOY())
+      appState = appState.setIn(['updates', 'lastCheckMonth'], dates.todayMonth())
+      appState = appState.setIn(['updates', 'firstCheckMade'], true)
       appStore.emitChange()
       break
     case AppConstants.APP_SET_UPDATE_STATUS:
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 814a99b22eb..77b67e388d3 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@
     "font-awesome": "^4.5.0",
     "font-awesome-webpack": "0.0.4",
     "immutable": "^3.7.5",
+    "moment": "^2.11.1",
     "react": "^0.14.3",
     "react-dom": "^0.14.3",
     "sqlite3": "^3.1.0",