diff --git a/po/cachy-auto-update.pot b/po/cachy-auto-update.pot
index ddb4e36..f700517 100644
--- a/po/cachy-auto-update.pot
+++ b/po/cachy-auto-update.pot
@@ -230,19 +230,23 @@ msgid "Without a command an interactive menu is shown."
 msgstr ""
 
 #. Progress bar
-msgid "Repository packages"
+#. The headline of the desktop's progress entry. Whoever reads it has not gone
+#. looking for it - it appears next to whatever they were doing - so each one
+#. says outright that this is an update running, rather than naming the kind of
+#. package on its own.
+msgid "Updating system packages"
 msgstr ""
 
-msgid "AUR packages"
+msgid "Updating AUR packages"
 msgstr ""
 
-msgid "Flatpaks"
+msgid "Updating Flatpak apps"
 msgstr ""
 
-msgid "AppImages"
+msgid "Updating AppImages"
 msgstr ""
 
-msgid "Cleaning up"
+msgid "Cleaning up after the update"
 msgstr ""
 
 msgid "Package"
diff --git a/po/de.po b/po/de.po
index 31925a0..583e9b6 100644
--- a/po/de.po
+++ b/po/de.po
@@ -231,20 +231,24 @@ msgid "Without a command an interactive menu is shown."
 msgstr "Ohne Befehl wird ein interaktives Menü angezeigt."
 
 #. Progress bar
-msgid "Repository packages"
-msgstr "Paketquellen"
+#. The headline of the desktop's progress entry. Whoever reads it has not gone
+#. looking for it - it appears next to whatever they were doing - so each one
+#. says outright that this is an update running, rather than naming the kind of
+#. package on its own.
+msgid "Updating system packages"
+msgstr "Systempakete werden aktualisiert"
 
-msgid "AUR packages"
-msgstr "AUR-Pakete"
+msgid "Updating AUR packages"
+msgstr "AUR-Pakete werden aktualisiert"
 
-msgid "Flatpaks"
-msgstr "Flatpaks"
+msgid "Updating Flatpak apps"
+msgstr "Flatpak-Programme werden aktualisiert"
 
-msgid "AppImages"
-msgstr "AppImages"
+msgid "Updating AppImages"
+msgstr "AppImages werden aktualisiert"
 
-msgid "Cleaning up"
-msgstr "Wird aufgeräumt"
+msgid "Cleaning up after the update"
+msgstr "Aufräumen nach dem Update"
 
 msgid "Package"
 msgstr "Paket"
diff --git a/src/lib/pkg_appimage.sh b/src/lib/pkg_appimage.sh
index 0ac4d9c..b968f70 100644
--- a/src/lib/pkg_appimage.sh
+++ b/src/lib/pkg_appimage.sh
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ cau_appimage_update() {
 	local user uid count rc=0
 	local -a cmd
 
-	cau_progress_step appimage "AppImages"
+	cau_progress_step appimage "Updating AppImages"
 
 	while read -r user uid; do
 		[[ -n $user ]] || continue
diff --git a/src/lib/pkg_aur.sh b/src/lib/pkg_aur.sh
index 53dc2a0..8a13d38 100644
--- a/src/lib/pkg_aur.sh
+++ b/src/lib/pkg_aur.sh
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ cau_aur_update() {
 
 	cau_aur_ready || return 0
 
-	cau_progress_step aur "AUR packages"
+	cau_progress_step aur "Updating AUR packages"
 
 	pending="$(cau_aur_pending)"
 	if (( pending == 0 )); then
diff --git a/src/lib/pkg_flatpak.sh b/src/lib/pkg_flatpak.sh
index fccd457..3e2aa3a 100644
--- a/src/lib/pkg_flatpak.sh
+++ b/src/lib/pkg_flatpak.sh
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ cau_flatpak_update() {
 
 	cau_have flatpak || return 0
 
-	cau_progress_step flatpak "Flatpaks"
+	cau_progress_step flatpak "Updating Flatpak apps"
 
 	# refresh appstream metadata first so remote-ls sees current versions
 	cau_run_logged flatpak update --appstream --system --noninteractive || true
diff --git a/src/lib/pkg_pacman.sh b/src/lib/pkg_pacman.sh
index 34098d1..1d9515b 100644
--- a/src/lib/pkg_pacman.sh
+++ b/src/lib/pkg_pacman.sh
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@ cau_pacman_update() {
 	local log kind
 	local -a flags
 
-	cau_progress_step repo "Repository packages"
+	cau_progress_step repo "Updating system packages"
 
 	if ! cau_pacman_pending; then
 		cau_info "No repository updates pending"
@@ -342,7 +342,7 @@ cau_pacman_pacnew_count() {
 cau_pacman_cleanup() {
 	local -a orphans
 
-	cau_progress_step cleanup "Cleaning up"
+	cau_progress_step cleanup "Cleaning up after the update"
 
 	if [[ $CFG_REMOVE_ORPHANS == yes ]]; then
 		mapfile -t orphans < <(pacman -Qtdq 2>/dev/null)