diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index 38213bd2ff..92f6a87a77 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -1,3 +1,54 @@
+# Synapse 1.157.0rc1 (2026-07-14)
+
+Please check [the relevant section in the upgrade notes](https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/blob/develop/docs/upgrade.md#upgrading-to-v11570) as this release removes support for the deprecated MSC3861 Auth Delegation (`experimental_features.msc3861`).
+
+## Features
+
+- [MSC4140: Cancellable delayed events](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/4140): Limit how many delayed events a user may have scheduled at once. ([\#19539](https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/issues/19539))
+- Support [MSC4446](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/4446) for moving fully read markers backwards. Contributed by @SpiritCroc @ Beeper. ([\#19663](https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/issues/19663))
+- Add before and after time filters to the ['Redact events of a user'](https://element-hq.github.io/synapse/v1.157/admin_api/user_admin_api.html#redact-events-of-a-user) Admin API. ([\#19802](https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/issues/19802))
+- Updated experimental support for [MSC4388: Secure out-of-band channel for sign in with QR](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/4388). ([\#19808](https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/issues/19808))
+- Add an `exclude_rooms_from_presence` configuration option to stop presence being routed between users solely because they share one of the listed rooms. ([\#19935](https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/issues/19935))
+
+## Bugfixes
+
+- [MSC4140: Cancellable delayed events](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/4140): Update error responses to match their format in the current draft of the MSC. ([\#19539](https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/issues/19539))
+- Lock Sliding Sync connections when inserting lazy members, to prevent repeated deadlocks. ([\#19826](https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/issues/19826))
+- Fix the `flag_existing_quarantined_media` background update skipping some quarantined remote media. Introduced in v1.152.0. ([\#19901](https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/issues/19901))
+- Fix a bug introduced in Synapse v1.150.0 where reactivating a deactivated and erased user did not restore their profile, breaking login, name changes, and invitations.
+  Contributed by @m4us1ne. ([\#19902](https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/issues/19902))
+- Fix a regression where application services that opted into ephemeral events using the legacy `de.sorunome.msc2409.push_ephemeral` registration flag stopped receiving ephemeral events (including to-device messages used for encryption). Introduced in v1.156.0. ([\#19928](https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/issues/19928))
+- Fix a bug causing device list pruning to skip some rows when the transaction gets retried. ([\#19947](https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/issues/19947))
+- Fix presence states being shown to clients forever after presence is disabled, by marking any previously only users as offline. ([\#19948](https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/issues/19948))
+- Fix `SYNAPSE_ASYNC_IO_REACTOR=1` on Python 3.14. ([\#19949](https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/issues/19949))
+
+## Deprecations and Removals
+
+- Remove support for experimental [MSC3861](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/3861) auth delegation, in favour of the stable Matrix Authentication Service integration support. See [the upgrade notes](https://element-hq.github.io/synapse/v1.157/upgrade.html#upgrading-to-v11570). ([\#19895](https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/issues/19895))
+
+## Internal Changes
+
+- Port the synchronous core of client event serialization to Rust. ([\#19837](https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/issues/19837), [\#19922](https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/issues/19922))
+- Update `HomeserverTestCase.get_success(...)` and friends to drive async Rust (Tokio runtime/thread pool). ([\#19871](https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/issues/19871), [\#19879](https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/issues/19879))
+- Allow Rust code to have database access via Python database connection pool. ([\#19878](https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/issues/19878))
+- Add `golangci-lint` to CI. ([\#19888](https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/issues/19888))
+- Remove wall-clock dependency of `test_redact_messages_all_rooms` test, as this caused flakiness. ([\#19890](https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/issues/19890))
+- Change the [MSC3814](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/3814) dehydrated device `/events` endpoint from `POST` to `GET`. ([\#19896](https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/issues/19896))
+- Change the [MSC3814](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/3814) dehydrated device `/events` endpoint paging to match spec conventions. ([\#19897](https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/issues/19897))
+- Fix storage type mismatches where values were bound with a type that didn't match their database column. ([\#19911](https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/issues/19911))
+- Speed up deletion of old sliding sync connections by adding an index. ([\#19912](https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/issues/19912))
+- Add note to 3PID email token request unit tests that the endpoint being tested can have an expected, artificial delay of up to 1s. ([\#19916](https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/issues/19916))
+- Add an index to `sliding_sync_connection_lazy_members` to speed up deleting old sliding sync connection positions. ([\#19923](https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/issues/19923))
+- Fix `test_lock_contention` being flaky when running against PostgreSQL by budgeting CPU time rather than wall-clock time. ([\#19929](https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/issues/19929))
+- Fix Complement test flake when restarting Synapse workers (cross-test pollution caused by nginx upstreams being temporarily unavailable). ([\#19936](https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/issues/19936))
+- Add clean deploy `FIXME` note for `TestOIDCProviderUnavailable` (problem tracked by [#19937](https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/issues/19937)). ([\#19938](https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/issues/19938))
+- Minor presence performance improvements for large servers. ([\#19939](https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/issues/19939))
+- Reduce replication traffic caused by presence. ([\#19941](https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/issues/19941))
+- Add `last_active_granularity`, `sync_online_timeout` and `idle_timeout` options to the `presence` config section to allow tuning the presence state machine timers. ([\#19942](https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/issues/19942))
+
+
+
+
 # Synapse 1.156.0 (2026-07-07)
 
 No significant changes since 1.156.0rc1.
diff --git a/changelog.d/19539.bugfix b/changelog.d/19539.bugfix
deleted file mode 100644
index 41beb3a179..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/19539.bugfix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-[MSC4140: Cancellable delayed events](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/4140): Update error responses to match their format in the current draft of the MSC.
diff --git a/changelog.d/19539.feature b/changelog.d/19539.feature
deleted file mode 100644
index 93eb4cc1b9..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/19539.feature
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-[MSC4140: Cancellable delayed events](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/4140): Limit how many delayed events a user may have scheduled at once.
diff --git a/changelog.d/19663.feature b/changelog.d/19663.feature
deleted file mode 100644
index 9f61182a90..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/19663.feature
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Support [MSC4446](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/4446) for moving fully read markers backwards. Contributed by @SpiritCroc @ Beeper.
diff --git a/changelog.d/19802.feature b/changelog.d/19802.feature
deleted file mode 100644
index 455b64ce0c..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/19802.feature
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Add before and after time filters to the 'Redact events of a user' Admin API.
diff --git a/changelog.d/19808.feature b/changelog.d/19808.feature
deleted file mode 100644
index 69eca83681..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/19808.feature
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Updated experimental support for [MSC4388: Secure out-of-band channel for sign in with QR](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/4388).
diff --git a/changelog.d/19826.bugfix b/changelog.d/19826.bugfix
deleted file mode 100644
index 771b197b20..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/19826.bugfix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Lock Sliding Sync connections when inserting lazy members, to prevent repeated deadlocks.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/changelog.d/19837.misc b/changelog.d/19837.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 64a531d4ed..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/19837.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Port the synchronous core of client event serialization to Rust.
diff --git a/changelog.d/19871.misc b/changelog.d/19871.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index be10ee0540..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/19871.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Update `HomeserverTestCase.get_success(...)` and friends to drive async Rust (Tokio runtime/thread pool).
diff --git a/changelog.d/19878.misc b/changelog.d/19878.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 9ea93729c9..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/19878.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Allow Rust code to have database access via Python database connection pool.
diff --git a/changelog.d/19879.misc b/changelog.d/19879.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index be10ee0540..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/19879.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Update `HomeserverTestCase.get_success(...)` and friends to drive async Rust (Tokio runtime/thread pool).
diff --git a/changelog.d/19888.misc b/changelog.d/19888.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 0506b21d42..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/19888.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Add `golangci-lint` to CI.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/changelog.d/19890.misc b/changelog.d/19890.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index b74dbc3086..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/19890.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Remove wall-clock dependency of `test_redact_messages_all_rooms` test, as this caused flakiness.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/changelog.d/19895.removal b/changelog.d/19895.removal
deleted file mode 100644
index 1b39ffb139..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/19895.removal
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Remove support for experimental [MSC3861](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/3861) auth delegation, in favour of the stable Matrix Authentication Service integration support. See [the upgrade notes](https://element-hq.github.io/synapse/v1.157/upgrade.html#upgrading-to-v11570).
diff --git a/changelog.d/19896.misc b/changelog.d/19896.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 2c6a8740ef..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/19896.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Change the [MSC3814](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/3814) dehydrated device `/events` endpoint from `POST` to `GET`.
diff --git a/changelog.d/19897.misc b/changelog.d/19897.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index f1163dc1f1..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/19897.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Change the [MSC3814](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/3814) dehydrated device `/events` endpoint paging to match spec conventions.
diff --git a/changelog.d/19901.bugfix b/changelog.d/19901.bugfix
deleted file mode 100644
index e31c665c18..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/19901.bugfix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Fix the `flag_existing_quarantined_media` background update skipping some quarantined remote media. Introduced in v1.152.0.
diff --git a/changelog.d/19902.bugfix b/changelog.d/19902.bugfix
deleted file mode 100644
index fb5f75c295..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/19902.bugfix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-Fix a bug introduced in Synapse v1.150.0 where reactivating a deactivated and erased user did not restore their profile, breaking login, name changes, and invitations.
-Contributed by @m4us1ne.
diff --git a/changelog.d/19911.misc b/changelog.d/19911.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 11331455aa..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/19911.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Fix storage type mismatches where values were bound with a type that didn't match their database column.
diff --git a/changelog.d/19912.misc b/changelog.d/19912.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index e9491ab335..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/19912.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Speed up deletion of old sliding sync connections by adding an index.
diff --git a/changelog.d/19916.misc b/changelog.d/19916.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index aeec5ae412..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/19916.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Add note to 3PID email token request unit tests that the endpoint being tested can have an expected, artificial delay of up to 1s.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/changelog.d/19922.misc b/changelog.d/19922.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 64a531d4ed..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/19922.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Port the synchronous core of client event serialization to Rust.
diff --git a/changelog.d/19923.misc b/changelog.d/19923.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 4a52d1cca2..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/19923.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Add an index to `sliding_sync_connection_lazy_members` to speed up deleting old sliding sync connection positions.
diff --git a/changelog.d/19928.bugfix b/changelog.d/19928.bugfix
deleted file mode 100644
index d69e4febbe..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/19928.bugfix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Fix a regression where application services that opted into ephemeral events using the legacy `de.sorunome.msc2409.push_ephemeral` registration flag stopped receiving ephemeral events (including to-device messages used for encryption). Introduced in v1.156.0.
diff --git a/changelog.d/19929.misc b/changelog.d/19929.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 4778f9fa32..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/19929.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Fix `test_lock_contention` being flaky when running against PostgreSQL by budgeting CPU time rather than wall-clock time.
diff --git a/changelog.d/19935.feature b/changelog.d/19935.feature
deleted file mode 100644
index cd5fa804b8..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/19935.feature
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Add an `exclude_rooms_from_presence` configuration option to stop presence being routed between users solely because they share one of the listed rooms.
diff --git a/changelog.d/19936.misc b/changelog.d/19936.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 5c1f7eef52..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/19936.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Fix Complement test flake when restarting Synapse workers (cross-test pollution caused by nginx upstreams being temporarily unavailable).
diff --git a/changelog.d/19938.misc b/changelog.d/19938.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index d02c9bf3b7..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/19938.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Add clean deploy `FIXME` note for `TestOIDCProviderUnavailable` (problem tracked by [#19937](https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/issues/19937)).
diff --git a/changelog.d/19939.misc b/changelog.d/19939.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 59d480c98d..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/19939.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Minor presence performance improvements for large servers.
diff --git a/changelog.d/19941.misc b/changelog.d/19941.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index e928f68bc5..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/19941.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Reduce replication traffic caused by presence.
diff --git a/changelog.d/19942.misc b/changelog.d/19942.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index bdd95c3c0f..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/19942.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Add `last_active_granularity`, `sync_online_timeout` and `idle_timeout` options to the `presence` config section to allow tuning the presence state machine timers.
diff --git a/changelog.d/19947.bugfix b/changelog.d/19947.bugfix
deleted file mode 100644
index c16d6deea0..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/19947.bugfix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Fix a bug causing device list pruning to skip some rows when the transaction gets retried.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/changelog.d/19948.bugfix b/changelog.d/19948.bugfix
deleted file mode 100644
index 5cd34d1abf..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/19948.bugfix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Fix presence states being shown to clients forever after presence is disabled, by marking any previously only users as offline.
diff --git a/changelog.d/19949.bugfix b/changelog.d/19949.bugfix
deleted file mode 100644
index 24ddd4dc4f..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/19949.bugfix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Fix `SYNAPSE_ASYNC_IO_REACTOR=1` on Python 3.14.
diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index c1522f068d..8c0e1ccfe8 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+matrix-synapse-py3 (1.157.0~rc1) stable; urgency=medium
+
+  * New synapse release 1.157.0rc1.
+
+ -- Synapse Packaging team <packages@matrix.org>  Tue, 14 Jul 2026 21:18:16 +0000
+
 matrix-synapse-py3 (1.156.0) stable; urgency=medium
 
   * New Synapse release 1.156.0.
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 6023740d6c..f30ac49847 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [project]
 name = "matrix-synapse"
-version = "1.156.0"
+version = "1.157.0rc1"
 description = "Homeserver for the Matrix decentralised comms protocol"
 readme = "README.rst"
 authors = [
diff --git a/schema/synapse-config.schema.yaml b/schema/synapse-config.schema.yaml
index 62e09377d4..ea5bd7c7af 100644
--- a/schema/synapse-config.schema.yaml
+++ b/schema/synapse-config.schema.yaml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 $schema: https://element-hq.github.io/synapse/latest/schema/v1/meta.schema.json
-$id: https://element-hq.github.io/synapse/schema/synapse/v1.156/synapse-config.schema.json
+$id: https://element-hq.github.io/synapse/schema/synapse/v1.157/synapse-config.schema.json
 type: object
 properties:
   modules: