diff --git a/lib-ce/emqx_dashboard/src/emqx_dashboard.app.src b/lib-ce/emqx_dashboard/src/emqx_dashboard.app.src
index 1604198dc..1354ab3c6 100644
--- a/lib-ce/emqx_dashboard/src/emqx_dashboard.app.src
+++ b/lib-ce/emqx_dashboard/src/emqx_dashboard.app.src
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {application, emqx_dashboard,
  [{description, "EMQ X Web Dashboard"},
-  {vsn, "4.4.0"}, % strict semver, bump manually!
+  {vsn, "4.4.1"}, % strict semver, bump manually!
   {modules, []},
   {registered, [emqx_dashboard_sup]},
   {applications, [kernel,stdlib,mnesia,minirest]},
diff --git a/scripts/apps-version-check.sh b/scripts/apps-version-check.sh
index e7a7d91bf..017a48c4b 100755
--- a/scripts/apps-version-check.sh
+++ b/scripts/apps-version-check.sh
@@ -55,6 +55,15 @@ check_apps() {
                 echo "$src_file needs a vsn bump (old=$old_app_version)"
                 echo "changed: $lines"
                 bad_app_count=$(( bad_app_count + 1))
+            elif [ "$app" = 'emqx_dashboard' ]; then
+                ## emqx_dashboard is ensured to be upgraded after all other plugins
+                ## at the end of its appup instructions, there is the final instruction
+                ## {apply, {emqx_plugins, load, []}
+                ## since we don't know which plugins are stopped during the upgrade
+                ## for safety, we just force a dashboard version bump for each and every release
+                ## even if there is nothing changed in the app
+                echo "$src_file needs a vsn bump to ensure plugins loaded after upgrade"
+                bad_app_count=$(( bad_app_count + 1))
             fi
         fi
     done < <(./scripts/find-apps.sh)