diff --git a/app.briar.gtk.json b/app.briar.gtk.json
index fe4d80b9abbf38d1e0e58441a2fe7ab277330028..63cbc4e14fdb8892d83757811763646343fbfac1 100644
--- a/app.briar.gtk.json
+++ b/app.briar.gtk.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
     "app-id": "app.briar.gtk",
     "runtime": "org.gnome.Platform",
-    "runtime-version": "3.36",
+    "runtime-version": "3.38",
     "sdk": "org.gnome.Sdk",
     "sdk-extensions": [
         "org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk"
diff --git a/debian/control b/debian/control
index 1f6f14933b2e09bc7dc968c577ba9293dc1e0203..b90fc6a49bbe92975ed0c4cc5d8027e58edc8518 100644
--- a/debian/control
+++ b/debian/control
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ Build-Depends:
  gettext,
  libhandy-1-dev,
  meson,
- python3-all,
+ python3-all (>= 3.8),
  python3-gi
 Standards-Version: 4.5.0
 Rules-Requires-Root: no
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ Architecture: all
 Depends:
  ${misc:Depends},
  gir1.2-handy-1 (>= 0.90.0),
- python3,
+ python3 (>= 3.8),
  python3-briar-wrapper(>= 0.0.4),
  python3-gi
 Description: Secure messaging, anywhere