diff --git a/nixos/machines/foxhut/machine.nix b/nixos/machines/foxhut/machine.nix
index 49ec1f0d..7041b1e7 100644
--- a/nixos/machines/foxhut/machine.nix
+++ b/nixos/machines/foxhut/machine.nix
@@ -1,10 +1,16 @@
 { pkgs, pkgs-unstable, asahi-firmware, ... }:
 { config, ... }:
 
-{
+# signal needs to be updated quite continuously. https://lazamar.co.uk/nix-versions/ is nice
+let pkgs-signal = import (builtins.fetchTarball {
+      url = "https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/archive/2ee7b5ee169e9634ea8c331ac67ada859a386676.tar.gz";
+      sha256 = "11n1mg1vyi9w2k71g7v4la3k79f906nvyvn79gyrjdyaz9lj9wsi";
+    }) {
+      inherit (pkgs) system;
+    };
+in {
   environment.systemPackages = (with pkgs-unstable; [
     renoise
-    signal-desktop
     wireguard-tools
     cifs-utils
     sshfs
@@ -13,7 +19,7 @@
     vlc
   ]) ++ (with pkgs; [
     prismlauncher
-  ]);
+  ]) ++ [pkgs-signal.signal-desktop];
 
   services.mysql = {
     enable = true;