diff --git a/dashboard/src/models/AppsModel.js b/dashboard/src/models/AppsModel.js
index 59b70406e..d0dcebfc3 100644
--- a/dashboard/src/models/AppsModel.js
+++ b/dashboard/src/models/AppsModel.js
@@ -127,8 +127,7 @@ function create() {
       }
     }
 
-    if (app.manifest.postInstallMessage) {
-      let text = app.manifest.postInstallMessage;
+    function expandTemplateVars(text) {
       // we chose - because underscore has special meaning in markdown
       text = text.replace(/\$CLOUDRON-APP-LOCATION/g, app.subdomain);
       text = text.replace(/\$CLOUDRON-APP-DOMAIN/g, app.domain);
@@ -139,6 +138,12 @@ function create() {
       text = text.replace(/\$CLOUDRON-USERNAME/g, profile.username);
       text = text.replace(/\$CLOUDRON-APP-ID/g, app.id);
 
+      return text;
+    }
+
+    if (app.manifest.postInstallMessage) {
+      let text = expandTemplateVars(app.manifest.postInstallMessage);
+
       // [^] matches even newlines. '?' makes it non-greedy
       if (app.sso) text = text.replace(/<nosso>[^]*?<\/nosso>/g, '');
       else text = text.replace(/<sso>[^]*?<\/sso>/g, '');
@@ -146,6 +151,10 @@ function create() {
       app.manifest.postInstallMessage = text.trim();
     }
 
+    for (const key of Object.keys(app.checklist)) {
+      app.checklist[key].message = expandTemplateVars(app.checklist[key].message);
+    }
+
     return app;
   }