diff --git a/fdroidserver/checkupdates.py b/fdroidserver/checkupdates.py
index d9ad8048..bd97135d 100644
--- a/fdroidserver/checkupdates.py
+++ b/fdroidserver/checkupdates.py
@@ -740,9 +740,22 @@ def checkout_appid_branch(appid):
     return True
 
 
-def push_commits(remote_name='origin', branch_name='checkupdates', verbose=False):
+def get_changes_versus_ref(git_repo, ref, f):
+    changes = []
+    for m in re.findall(
+        r"^[+-].*", git_repo.git.diff(f"{ref}", '--', f), flags=re.MULTILINE
+    ):
+        if not re.match(r"^(\+\+\+|---) ", m):
+            changes.append(m)
+    return changes
+
+
+def push_commits(branch_name='checkupdates', verbose=False):
     """Make git branch then push commits as merge request.
 
+    The appid is parsed from the actual file that was changed so that
+    only the right branch is ever updated.
+
     This uses the appid as the standard branch name so that there is
     only ever one open merge request per-app.  If multiple apps are
     included in the branch, then 'checkupdates' is used as branch
@@ -760,9 +773,7 @@ def push_commits(remote_name='origin', branch_name='checkupdates', verbose=False
     git_repo = git.Repo.init('.')
     upstream_main = get_upstream_main_branch(git_repo)
     files = set()
-    for commit in git_repo.iter_commits(
-        f'{upstream_main}...HEAD', right_only=True
-    ):
+    for commit in git_repo.iter_commits(f'{upstream_main}...HEAD', right_only=True):
         files.update(commit.stats.files.keys())
 
     files = list(files)
@@ -773,6 +784,11 @@ def push_commits(remote_name='origin', branch_name='checkupdates', verbose=False
     if not files:
         return
 
+    remote = git_repo.remotes.origin
+    if branch_name in remote.refs:
+        if not get_changes_versus_ref(git_repo, f'origin/{branch_name}', files[0]):
+            return
+
     git_repo.create_head(branch_name, force=True)
     push_options = [
         'merge_request.create',
@@ -784,13 +800,7 @@ def push_commits(remote_name='origin', branch_name='checkupdates', verbose=False
 
     # mark as draft if there are only changes to CurrentVersion:
     current_version_only = True
-    for m in re.findall(
-        r"^[+-].*",
-        git_repo.git.diff(f"{upstream_main}...HEAD"),
-        flags=re.MULTILINE,
-    ):
-        if re.match(r"^(\+\+\+|---) ", m):
-            continue
+    for m in get_changes_versus_ref(git_repo, upstream_main, files[0]):
         if not re.match(r"^[-+]CurrentVersion", m):
             current_version_only = False
             break
@@ -810,7 +820,6 @@ def push_commits(remote_name='origin', branch_name='checkupdates', verbose=False
 
         progress = MyProgressPrinter()
 
-    remote = git_repo.remotes[remote_name]
     pushinfos = remote.push(
         branch_name,
         progress=progress,
diff --git a/tests/test_checkupdates.py b/tests/test_checkupdates.py
index 2e802741..87420d2b 100755
--- a/tests/test_checkupdates.py
+++ b/tests/test_checkupdates.py
@@ -324,6 +324,9 @@ class CheckupdatesTest(unittest.TestCase):
         for f in (basedir / 'metadata').glob('*.yml'):
             shutil.copy(f, 'metadata')
         git_repo = git.Repo.init(testdir)
+        with git_repo.config_writer() as cw:
+            cw.set_value('user', 'name', 'Foo Bar')
+            cw.set_value('user', 'email', 'foo@bar.com')
         git_repo.git.add(all=True)
         git_repo.index.commit("all metadata files")
 
@@ -341,6 +344,40 @@ class CheckupdatesTest(unittest.TestCase):
 
         return git_repo, origin_repo, upstream_repo
 
+    def test_get_changes_versus_ref(self):
+        def _make_commit_new_app(git_repo, metadata_file):
+            app = fdroidserver.metadata.App()
+            fdroidserver.metadata.write_metadata(metadata_file, app)
+            git_repo.git.add(metadata_file)
+            git_repo.git.commit(metadata_file, message=f'changed {metadata_file}')
+
+        git_repo, origin_repo, upstream_repo = self._get_test_git_repos()
+        for remote in git_repo.remotes:
+            remote.push(git_repo.active_branch)
+        appid = 'com.testvalue'
+        metadata_file = f'metadata/{appid}.yml'
+
+        # set up remote branch with change to app
+        git_repo.git.checkout('-b', appid)
+        _make_commit_new_app(git_repo, metadata_file)
+        git_repo.remotes.origin.push(appid)
+
+        # reset local branch and there should be differences
+        upstream_main = fdroidserver.checkupdates.get_upstream_main_branch(git_repo)
+        git_repo.git.reset(upstream_main)
+        self.assertTrue(
+            fdroidserver.checkupdates.get_changes_versus_ref(
+                git_repo, f'origin/{appid}', metadata_file
+            )
+        )
+        # make new commit that matches the previous, different commit, no diff
+        _make_commit_new_app(git_repo, metadata_file)
+        self.assertFalse(
+            fdroidserver.checkupdates.get_changes_versus_ref(
+                git_repo, f'origin/{appid}', metadata_file
+            )
+        )
+
     def test_push_commits(self):
         git_repo, origin_repo, upstream_repo = self._get_test_git_repos()
         for remote in git_repo.remotes: