diff --git a/crates/hephd/src/selfupdate.rs b/crates/hephd/src/selfupdate.rs
index 8c7d470..e276955 100644
--- a/crates/hephd/src/selfupdate.rs
+++ b/crates/hephd/src/selfupdate.rs
@@ -70,19 +70,17 @@ pub fn parse_latest_tag(body: &str) -> Result<String> {
     Ok(rel.tag_name)
 }
 
-/// Fetch the latest release tag from the forge over HTTP (reusing the daemon's
-/// shared `reqwest::Client`). Network/HTTP/JSON failures surface as `Err` for
-/// the caller to log-and-continue.
-pub async fn fetch_latest_tag(http: &reqwest::Client, url: &str) -> Result<String> {
-    let body = http
-        .get(url)
-        .send()
-        .await
+/// Fetch the latest release tag from the forge over HTTPS, blocking. Uses
+/// `ureq` (already a dependency, with a rustls/ring TLS backend that needs no
+/// system libs) rather than the daemon's `reqwest` client, which is built
+/// without TLS — the forge poll is the only production HTTPS-over-HTTP-client
+/// path (hub sync is plain HTTP). Network/HTTP/JSON failures surface as `Err`.
+pub fn fetch_latest_tag(url: &str) -> Result<String> {
+    let body = ureq::get(url)
+        .call()
         .context("requesting forge releases/latest")?
-        .error_for_status()
-        .context("forge releases/latest returned an error status")?
-        .text()
-        .await
+        .body_mut()
+        .read_to_string()
         .context("reading forge releases/latest body")?;
     parse_latest_tag(&body)
 }
@@ -93,25 +91,33 @@ pub trait ReleaseSource: Send + Sync + 'static {
     fn latest_tag(&self) -> impl std::future::Future<Output = Result<String>> + Send;
 }
 
-/// The production source: the forge's `releases/latest` over HTTP.
+/// The production source: the forge's `releases/latest` over HTTPS (via `ureq`).
 pub struct ForgeReleaseSource {
-    http: reqwest::Client,
     url: String,
 }
 
 impl ForgeReleaseSource {
-    /// Source backed by the daemon's shared client, hitting [`RELEASES_LATEST_URL`].
-    pub fn new(http: reqwest::Client) -> Self {
+    /// Source hitting [`RELEASES_LATEST_URL`].
+    pub fn new() -> Self {
         Self {
-            http,
             url: RELEASES_LATEST_URL.to_string(),
         }
     }
 }
 
+impl Default for ForgeReleaseSource {
+    fn default() -> Self {
+        Self::new()
+    }
+}
+
 impl ReleaseSource for ForgeReleaseSource {
     async fn latest_tag(&self) -> Result<String> {
-        fetch_latest_tag(&self.http, &self.url).await
+        // `ureq` is blocking; keep it off the async runtime.
+        let url = self.url.clone();
+        tokio::task::spawn_blocking(move || fetch_latest_tag(&url))
+            .await
+            .context("release-fetch task panicked")?
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/crates/hephd/src/server.rs b/crates/hephd/src/server.rs
index bf245ba..59826ac 100644
--- a/crates/hephd/src/server.rs
+++ b/crates/hephd/src/server.rs
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ impl Daemon {
         let Some(cfg) = self.ctx.self_update.clone() else {
             return;
         };
-        let source = selfupdate::ForgeReleaseSource::new(self.ctx.http.clone());
+        let source = selfupdate::ForgeReleaseSource::new();
         let installer: std::sync::Arc<dyn selfupdate::Installer> =
             std::sync::Arc::new(selfupdate::CargoInstaller);
         let restarter: std::sync::Arc<dyn selfupdate::Restarter> =
diff --git a/docs/changelog.d/+selfupdate-poll-tls.bugfix.md b/docs/changelog.d/+selfupdate-poll-tls.bugfix.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7097c0b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/changelog.d/+selfupdate-poll-tls.bugfix.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Fix `hephd --self-update` never detecting releases: the release poll used the daemon's `reqwest` client, which is built without a TLS backend (`default-features = false`), so every HTTPS request to the forge failed (`release check failed: requesting forge releases/latest`). The poll now uses `ureq` — already a dependency, with a rustls/ring TLS stack that needs no system libraries (and no cmake/`aws-lc-sys`). Hub sync is unaffected (it is plain HTTP).