diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/admin/addon/components/admin-config-area-empty-list.gjs b/app/assets/javascripts/admin/addon/components/admin-config-area-empty-list.gjs
index 08a7009ef2c..cfcfdeb8b4f 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/admin/addon/components/admin-config-area-empty-list.gjs
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/admin/addon/components/admin-config-area-empty-list.gjs
@@ -1,19 +1,22 @@
+import { htmlSafe } from "@ember/template";
 import DButton from "discourse/components/d-button";
 import concatClass from "discourse/helpers/concat-class";
-import { i18n } from "discourse-i18n";
 
 const AdminConfigAreaEmptyList = <template>
   <div class="admin-config-area-empty-list">
-    {{i18n @emptyLabel}}
-    <DButton
-      @label={{@ctaLabel}}
-      class={{concatClass
-        "btn-default btn-small admin-config-area-empty-list__cta-button"
-        @ctaClass
-      }}
-      @action={{@ctaAction}}
-      @route={{@ctaRoute}}
-    />
+    {{htmlSafe @emptyLabel}}
+
+    {{#if @ctaLabel}}
+      <DButton
+        @label={{@ctaLabel}}
+        class={{concatClass
+          "btn-default btn-small admin-config-area-empty-list__cta-button"
+          @ctaClass
+        }}
+        @action={{@ctaAction}}
+        @route={{@ctaRoute}}
+      />
+    {{/if}}
   </div>
 </template>;
 
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/admin/addon/components/dashboard-new-features.gjs b/app/assets/javascripts/admin/addon/components/dashboard-new-features.gjs
index d94c4176b7d..66b851fcb38 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/admin/addon/components/dashboard-new-features.gjs
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/admin/addon/components/dashboard-new-features.gjs
@@ -3,10 +3,13 @@ import { tracked } from "@glimmer/tracking";
 import didInsert from "@ember/render-modifiers/modifiers/did-insert";
 import { service } from "@ember/service";
 import { htmlSafe } from "@ember/template";
+import ConditionalLoadingSpinner from "discourse/components/conditional-loading-spinner";
 import { ajax } from "discourse/lib/ajax";
+import { popupAjaxError } from "discourse/lib/ajax-error";
 import { bind } from "discourse-common/utils/decorators";
 import { i18n } from "discourse-i18n";
 import AdminConfigAreaCard from "admin/components/admin-config-area-card";
+import AdminConfigAreaEmptyList from "admin/components/admin-config-area-empty-list";
 import DashboardNewFeatureItem from "admin/components/dashboard-new-feature-item";
 
 export default class DashboardNewFeatures extends Component {
@@ -14,34 +17,44 @@ export default class DashboardNewFeatures extends Component {
 
   @tracked newFeatures = null;
   @tracked groupedNewFeatures = null;
-  @tracked isLoaded = false;
+  @tracked isLoading = true;
+
+  constructor() {
+    super(...arguments);
+    this.args.onCheckForFeatures(this.loadNewFeatures);
+  }
 
   @bind
-  loadNewFeatures() {
-    ajax("/admin/whats-new.json")
-      .then((json) => {
-        const items = json.new_features.reduce((acc, feature) => {
-          const key = moment(feature.released_at || feature.created_at).format(
-            "YYYY-MM"
-          );
-          acc[key] = acc[key] || [];
-          acc[key].push(feature);
-          return acc;
-        }, {});
+  async loadNewFeatures(opts = {}) {
+    opts.forceRefresh ||= false;
+    this.isLoading = true;
 
-        this.groupedNewFeatures = Object.keys(items).map((date) => {
-          return {
-            date: moment
-              .tz(date, this.currentUser.user_option.timezone)
-              .format("MMMM YYYY"),
-            features: items[date],
-          };
-        });
-        this.isLoaded = true;
-      })
-      .finally(() => {
-        this.isLoaded = true;
+    try {
+      const json = await ajax(
+        "/admin/whats-new.json?force_refresh=" + opts.forceRefresh
+      );
+      const items = json.new_features.reduce((acc, feature) => {
+        const key = moment(feature.released_at || feature.created_at).format(
+          "YYYY-MM"
+        );
+        acc[key] = acc[key] || [];
+        acc[key].push(feature);
+        return acc;
+      }, {});
+
+      this.groupedNewFeatures = Object.keys(items).map((date) => {
+        return {
+          date: moment
+            .tz(date, this.currentUser.user_option.timezone)
+            .format("MMMM YYYY"),
+          features: items[date],
+        };
       });
+    } catch (err) {
+      popupAjaxError(err);
+    } finally {
+      this.isLoading = false;
+    }
   }
 
   <template>
@@ -49,7 +62,7 @@ export default class DashboardNewFeatures extends Component {
       class="admin-config-area__primary-content"
       {{didInsert this.loadNewFeatures}}
     >
-      {{#if this.groupedNewFeatures}}
+      <ConditionalLoadingSpinner @condition={{this.isLoading}}>
         {{#each this.groupedNewFeatures as |groupedFeatures|}}
           <AdminConfigAreaCard @translatedHeading={{groupedFeatures.date}}>
             <:content>
@@ -58,15 +71,17 @@ export default class DashboardNewFeatures extends Component {
               {{/each}}
             </:content>
           </AdminConfigAreaCard>
+        {{else}}
+          <AdminConfigAreaEmptyList
+            @emptyLabel={{htmlSafe
+              (i18n
+                "admin.dashboard.new_features.previous_announcements"
+                url="https://meta.discourse.org/tags/c/announcements/67/release-notes"
+              )
+            }}
+          />
         {{/each}}
-      {{else if this.isLoaded}}
-        {{htmlSafe
-          (i18n
-            "admin.dashboard.new_features.previous_announcements"
-            url="https://meta.discourse.org/tags/c/announcements/67/release-notes"
-          )
-        }}
-      {{/if}}
+      </ConditionalLoadingSpinner>
     </div>
   </template>
 }
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/admin/addon/controllers/admin-whats-new.js b/app/assets/javascripts/admin/addon/controllers/admin-whats-new.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2f4a8c3daa7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/admin/addon/controllers/admin-whats-new.js
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+import Controller from "@ember/controller";
+import { action } from "@ember/object";
+
+export default class AdminWhatsNewController extends Controller {
+  @action
+  checkForUpdates() {
+    this.checkFeaturesCallback?.({ forceRefresh: true });
+  }
+
+  @action
+  bindCheckFeatures(checkFeaturesCallback) {
+    this.checkFeaturesCallback = checkFeaturesCallback;
+  }
+}
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/admin/addon/templates/whats-new.hbs b/app/assets/javascripts/admin/addon/templates/whats-new.hbs
index 751967c07d7..854339cfc96 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/admin/addon/templates/whats-new.hbs
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/admin/addon/templates/whats-new.hbs
@@ -10,10 +10,16 @@
       @label={{i18n "admin.dashboard.new_features.title"}}
     />
   </:breadcrumbs>
+  <:actions as |actions|>
+    <actions.Primary
+      @label="admin.new_features.check_for_updates"
+      @action={{this.checkForUpdates}}
+    />
+  </:actions>
 </AdminPageHeader>
 
 <div class="admin-container admin-config-page__main-area">
   <div class="admin-config-area">
-    <DashboardNewFeatures />
+    <DashboardNewFeatures @onCheckForFeatures={{this.bindCheckFeatures}} />
   </div>
 </div>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/app/controllers/admin/dashboard_controller.rb b/app/controllers/admin/dashboard_controller.rb
index 1ce362d2498..2253b89abb7 100644
--- a/app/controllers/admin/dashboard_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/admin/dashboard_controller.rb
@@ -31,7 +31,19 @@ class Admin::DashboardController < Admin::StaffController
   end
 
   def new_features
-    new_features = DiscourseUpdates.new_features
+    force_refresh = params[:force_refresh] == "true"
+
+    if force_refresh
+      RateLimiter.new(
+        current_user,
+        "force-refresh-new-features",
+        5,
+        1.minute,
+        apply_limit_to_staff: true,
+      ).performed!
+    end
+
+    new_features = DiscourseUpdates.new_features(force_refresh:)
 
     if current_user.admin? && most_recent = new_features&.first
       DiscourseUpdates.bump_last_viewed_feature_date(current_user.id, most_recent["created_at"])
diff --git a/config/locales/client.en.yml b/config/locales/client.en.yml
index eaef3cbaf38..5accd159f38 100644
--- a/config/locales/client.en.yml
+++ b/config/locales/client.en.yml
@@ -5115,6 +5115,7 @@ en:
 
       new_features:
         title: "What's new"
+        check_for_updates: "Check for updates"
       dashboard:
         title: "Dashboard"
         last_updated: "Dashboard updated:"
diff --git a/lib/discourse_updates.rb b/lib/discourse_updates.rb
index 3ddae519197..b280728740a 100644
--- a/lib/discourse_updates.rb
+++ b/lib/discourse_updates.rb
@@ -132,7 +132,8 @@ module DiscourseUpdates
     end
 
     def new_features_payload
-      response = Excon.new(new_features_endpoint).request(expects: [200], method: :Get)
+      response =
+        Excon.new(new_features_endpoint).request(expects: [200], method: :Get, read_timeout: 5)
       response.body
     end
 
@@ -141,7 +142,9 @@ module DiscourseUpdates
       Discourse.redis.set(new_features_key, payload)
     end
 
-    def new_features
+    def new_features(force_refresh: false)
+      update_new_features if force_refresh
+
       entries =
         begin
           JSON.parse(Discourse.redis.get(new_features_key))
diff --git a/spec/lib/discourse_updates_spec.rb b/spec/lib/discourse_updates_spec.rb
index c53b362f461..3b5dd23adba 100644
--- a/spec/lib/discourse_updates_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/lib/discourse_updates_spec.rb
@@ -308,6 +308,14 @@ RSpec.describe DiscourseUpdates do
       expect(result[0]["title"]).to eq("Bells")
       expect(result[1]["title"]).to eq("Whistles")
     end
+
+    it "correctly refetches features if force_refresh is used" do
+      DiscourseUpdates.expects(:update_new_features).once
+      result = DiscourseUpdates.new_features
+      expect(result.length).to eq(3)
+      result = DiscourseUpdates.new_features(force_refresh: true)
+      expect(result.length).to eq(3)
+    end
   end
 
   describe "#get_last_viewed_feature_date" do
diff --git a/spec/requests/admin/dashboard_controller_spec.rb b/spec/requests/admin/dashboard_controller_spec.rb
index 1847e41a7b4..42c7311ccc3 100644
--- a/spec/requests/admin/dashboard_controller_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/requests/admin/dashboard_controller_spec.rb
@@ -191,6 +191,38 @@ RSpec.describe Admin::DashboardController do
         expect(json["has_unseen_features"]).to eq(true)
       end
 
+      it "allows for forcing a refresh of new features, busting the cache" do
+        populate_new_features
+
+        get "/admin/whats-new.json"
+        expect(response.status).to eq(200)
+        json = response.parsed_body
+        expect(json["new_features"].length).to eq(2)
+
+        get "/admin/whats-new.json"
+        expect(response.status).to eq(200)
+        json = response.parsed_body
+        expect(json["new_features"].length).to eq(2)
+
+        DiscourseUpdates.stubs(:new_features_payload).returns(
+          [
+            {
+              "id" => "3",
+              "emoji" => "🚀",
+              "title" => "Space platform launched!",
+              "description" => "Now to make it to the next planet unscathed...",
+              "created_at" => 1.minute.ago,
+            },
+          ].to_json,
+        )
+
+        get "/admin/whats-new.json?force_refresh=true"
+        expect(response.status).to eq(200)
+        json = response.parsed_body
+        expect(json["new_features"].length).to eq(1)
+        expect(json["new_features"][0]["id"]).to eq("3")
+      end
+
       it "passes unseen feature state" do
         populate_new_features
         DiscourseUpdates.mark_new_features_as_seen(admin.id)