diff --git a/setup/start.sh b/setup/start.sh
index e26a4569c..15f1591fd 100755
--- a/setup/start.sh
+++ b/setup/start.sh
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ set_progress() {
     (echo "{ \"update\": { \"percent\": \"${percent}\", \"message\": \"${message}\" }, \"backup\": {} }" > "${SETUP_PROGRESS_JSON}") 2> /dev/null || true # as this will fail in non-update mode
 }
 
-set_progress "10" "Configuring host"
+set_progress "20" "Configuring host"
 sed -e 's/^#NTP=/NTP=0.ubuntu.pool.ntp.org 1.ubuntu.pool.ntp.org 2.ubuntu.pool.ntp.org 3.ubuntu.pool.ntp.org/' -i /etc/systemd/timesyncd.conf
 timedatectl set-ntp 1
 timedatectl set-timezone UTC
diff --git a/src/backups.js b/src/backups.js
index 23aa89f34..479dd30e9 100644
--- a/src/backups.js
+++ b/src/backups.js
@@ -355,6 +355,8 @@ function backupBoxAndApps(auditSource, callback) {
         progress.set(progress.BACKUP, processed, '');
 
         async.mapSeries(allApps, function iterator(app, iteratorCallback) {
+            progress.set(progress.BACKUP, processed,  'Backing up app at ' + app.location);
+
             ++processed;
 
             backupApp(app, app.manifest, prefix, function (error, backupId) {
@@ -375,6 +377,8 @@ function backupBoxAndApps(auditSource, callback) {
 
             backupIds = backupIds.filter(function (id) { return id !== null; }); // remove apps in bad state that were never backed up
 
+            progress.set(progress.BACKUP, processed, 'Backing up system data');
+
             backupBoxWithAppBackupIds(backupIds, prefix, function (error, filename) {
                 progress.set(progress.BACKUP, 100, error ? error.message : '');
 
diff --git a/src/cloudron.js b/src/cloudron.js
index f6e069a6f..a80e2c1a1 100644
--- a/src/cloudron.js
+++ b/src/cloudron.js
@@ -759,6 +759,8 @@ function doUpdate(boxUpdateInfo, callback) {
 
         debug('updating box %s %j', boxUpdateInfo.sourceTarballUrl, data);
 
+        progress.set(progress.UPDATE, 5, 'Downloading and extracting new version');
+
         shell.sudo('update', [ UPDATE_CMD, boxUpdateInfo.sourceTarballUrl, JSON.stringify(data) ], function (error) {
             if (error) return updateError(error);
 
diff --git a/webadmin/src/js/update.js b/webadmin/src/js/update.js
index 96bdb7f4d..c7c914ac9 100644
--- a/webadmin/src/js/update.js
+++ b/webadmin/src/js/update.js
@@ -25,9 +25,15 @@ app.controller('Controller', ['$scope', '$http', '$interval', function ($scope,
                     $scope.error = true;
                     $scope.message = data.update.message;
                 } else {
-                    $scope.title = 'Update in progress...';
-                    $scope.percent = data.update.percent;
-                    $scope.message = data.update.message;
+                    if (data.backup && data.backup.percent < 100) {
+                        $scope.title = 'Backup in progress...';
+                        $scope.percent = (data.backup.percent / 100) * 50;
+                        $scope.message = data.backup.message;
+                    } else {
+                        $scope.title = 'Update in progress...';
+                        $scope.percent = 50 + ((data.update.percent / 100) * 50);   // first half is backup
+                        $scope.message = data.update.message;
+                    }
                 }
             } else { // migrating
                 if (data.migrate.percent === -1) {
@@ -55,7 +61,7 @@ app.controller('Controller', ['$scope', '$http', '$interval', function ($scope,
         });
     }
 
-    $interval(fetchProgress, 5000);
+    $interval(fetchProgress, 2000);
 
     fetchProgress();
 }]);