diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 1012d5aa..4ceb8709 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -321,9 +321,6 @@ Trigger a new rollout by updating the canary image:
 ```bash
 kubectl -n test set image deployment/podinfo-canary \
 podinfod=quay.io/stefanprodan/podinfo:1.2.1
-
-kubectl -n test scale deployment/podinfo-canary \
---replicas=1
 ```
 
 Steer detects that the canary revision changed and starts a new rollout:
@@ -332,14 +329,15 @@ Steer detects that the canary revision changed and starts a new rollout:
 kubectl -n test describe rollout/podinfo
 
 Status:
-  Canary Revision:  16871136
+  Canary Revision:  19871136
   Failed Checks:    0
   State:            finished
 Events:
   Type     Reason  Age   From     Message
   ----     ------  ----  ----     -------
-  Normal   Synced  3m    steerer  Waiting for podinfo.test rollout to finish: 0 of 1 updated replicas are available
-  Normal   Synced  3m    steerer  Starting rollout for podinfo.test
+  Normal   Synced  3m    steerer  New revision detected podinfo-canary.test old 17211012 new 17246876
+  Normal   Synced  3m    steerer  Scaling up podinfo.test
+  Warning  Synced  3m    steerer  Waiting for podinfo.test rollout to finish: 0 of 1 updated replicas are available
   Normal   Synced  3m    steerer  Advance rollout podinfo.test weight 10
   Normal   Synced  3m    steerer  Advance rollout podinfo.test weight 20
   Normal   Synced  3m    steerer  Advance rollout podinfo.test weight 30
diff --git a/artifacts/rollouts/podinfo.yaml b/artifacts/rollouts/podinfo.yaml
index aa8a7608..e7270a93 100644
--- a/artifacts/rollouts/podinfo.yaml
+++ b/artifacts/rollouts/podinfo.yaml
@@ -7,9 +7,6 @@
 apiVersion: apps.weave.works/v1beta1
 kind: Rollout
 metadata:
-  annotations:
-    apps.weave.works/canary-revision: ""
-    apps.weave.works/status: ""
   name: podinfo
   namespace: test
 spec:
diff --git a/artifacts/steerer/deployment.yaml b/artifacts/steerer/deployment.yaml
index f03fcdff..7062bba6 100644
--- a/artifacts/steerer/deployment.yaml
+++ b/artifacts/steerer/deployment.yaml
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ spec:
       serviceAccountName: steerer
       containers:
       - name: steerer
-        image: stefanprodan/steerer:0.0.1-rc.6
+        image: stefanprodan/steerer:0.0.1-rc.18
         imagePullPolicy: Always
         ports:
         - name: http
diff --git a/docs/steerer-0.0.1.tgz b/docs/steerer-0.0.1.tgz
index 8195d067..d5604231 100644
Binary files a/docs/steerer-0.0.1.tgz and b/docs/steerer-0.0.1.tgz differ
diff --git a/pkg/controller/deployment.go b/pkg/controller/deployment.go
index a05e29ae..e40bf4e7 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/deployment.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/deployment.go
@@ -10,11 +10,6 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
 )
 
-const (
-	revisionAnnotation = "apps.weave.works/canary-revision"
-	statusAnnotation   = "apps.weave.works/status"
-)
-
 func (c *Controller) doRollouts() {
 	c.rollouts.Range(func(key interface{}, value interface{}) bool {
 		r := value.(*rolloutv1.Rollout)
@@ -39,7 +34,7 @@ func (c *Controller) advanceDeploymentRollout(name string, namespace string) {
 	}
 
 	// gate stage: check if canary deployment exists and is healthy
-	canary, ok := c.getDeployment(r, r.Spec.Canary.Name, r.Namespace)
+	canary, ok := c.getCanaryDeployment(r, r.Spec.Canary.Name, r.Namespace)
 	if !ok {
 		return
 	}
@@ -58,7 +53,7 @@ func (c *Controller) advanceDeploymentRollout(name string, namespace string) {
 	}
 
 	// gate stage: check if rollout should start (canary revision has changes) or continue
-	if ok := c.checkRolloutStatus(r, canary.ResourceVersion); !ok {
+	if ok := c.checkRolloutStatus(r, canary); !ok {
 		return
 	}
 
@@ -81,7 +76,7 @@ func (c *Controller) advanceDeploymentRollout(name string, namespace string) {
 		c.scaleToZeroCanary(r)
 
 		// mark rollout as failed
-		c.updateRolloutStatus(r, "failed")
+		c.updateRolloutStatus(r, "promotion-failed")
 		return
 	}
 
@@ -134,10 +129,9 @@ func (c *Controller) advanceDeploymentRollout(name string, namespace string) {
 		}
 
 		// final stage: mark rollout as finished and scale canary to zero replicas
-		c.updateRolloutStatus(r, "finished")
-		c.recordEventInfof(r, "Promotion completed! Scaling down %s.%s",
-			r.Name, r.Namespace, canary.GetName(), canary.Namespace)
+		c.recordEventInfof(r, "Scaling down %s.%s", canary.GetName(), canary.Namespace)
 		c.scaleToZeroCanary(r)
+		c.updateRolloutStatus(r, "promotion-finished")
 	}
 }
 
@@ -151,12 +145,12 @@ func (c *Controller) getRollout(name string, namespace string) (*rolloutv1.Rollo
 	return r, true
 }
 
-func (c *Controller) checkRolloutStatus(r *rolloutv1.Rollout, canaryVersion string) bool {
+func (c *Controller) checkRolloutStatus(r *rolloutv1.Rollout, canary *appsv1.Deployment) bool {
 	var err error
 	if r.Status.State == "" {
 		r.Status = rolloutv1.RolloutStatus{
 			State:          "running",
-			CanaryRevision: canaryVersion,
+			CanaryRevision: canary.ResourceVersion,
 			FailedChecks:   0,
 		}
 		r, err = c.rolloutClient.AppsV1beta1().Rollouts(r.Namespace).Update(r)
@@ -171,10 +165,32 @@ func (c *Controller) checkRolloutStatus(r *rolloutv1.Rollout, canaryVersion stri
 		return true
 	}
 
-	if r.Status.CanaryRevision != canaryVersion {
+	if r.Status.State == "promotion-finished" {
+		c.setCanaryRevision(r, "finished")
+		c.logger.Infof("Promotion completed! %s.%s revision %s", r.Spec.Canary.Name, r.Namespace,
+			c.getDeploymentRevision(r.Spec.Canary.Name, r.Namespace))
+		return false
+	}
+
+	if r.Status.State == "promotion-failed" {
+		c.setCanaryRevision(r, "failed")
+		c.logger.Infof("Promotion failed! %s.%s revision %s", r.Spec.Canary.Name, r.Namespace,
+			c.getDeploymentRevision(r.Spec.Canary.Name, r.Namespace))
+		return false
+	}
+
+	if r.Status.CanaryRevision != canary.ResourceVersion {
+		c.recordEventInfof(r, "New revision detected %s.%s old %s new %s",
+			canary.GetName(), canary.Namespace, r.Status.CanaryRevision, canary.ResourceVersion)
+		canary.Spec.Replicas = int32p(1)
+		canary, err = c.kubeClient.AppsV1().Deployments(canary.Namespace).Update(canary)
+		if err != nil {
+			c.recordEventErrorf(r, "Scaling up %s.%s failed: %v", canary.GetName(), canary.Namespace, err)
+			return false
+		}
 		r.Status = rolloutv1.RolloutStatus{
 			State:          "running",
-			CanaryRevision: canaryVersion,
+			CanaryRevision: canary.ResourceVersion,
 			FailedChecks:   0,
 		}
 		r, err = c.rolloutClient.AppsV1beta1().Rollouts(r.Namespace).Update(r)
@@ -182,7 +198,9 @@ func (c *Controller) checkRolloutStatus(r *rolloutv1.Rollout, canaryVersion stri
 			c.logger.Errorf("Rollout %s.%s status update failed: %v", r.Name, r.Namespace, err)
 			return false
 		}
-		return true
+		c.recordEventInfof(r, "Scaling up %s.%s", canary.GetName(), canary.Namespace)
+
+		return false
 	}
 
 	return false
@@ -229,6 +247,31 @@ func (c *Controller) getDeployment(r *rolloutv1.Rollout, name string, namespace
 	return dep, true
 }
 
+func (c *Controller) getCanaryDeployment(r *rolloutv1.Rollout, name string, namespace string) (*appsv1.Deployment, bool) {
+	dep, err := c.kubeClient.AppsV1().Deployments(namespace).Get(name, v1.GetOptions{})
+	if err != nil {
+		c.recordEventErrorf(r, "Deployment %s.%s not found", name, namespace)
+		return nil, false
+	}
+
+	if msg, healthy := getDeploymentStatus(dep); !healthy {
+		c.recordEventWarningf(r, "Halt rollout %s.%s %s", dep.GetName(), dep.Namespace, msg)
+		return nil, false
+	}
+
+	return dep, true
+}
+
+func (c *Controller) getDeploymentRevision(name string, namespace string) string {
+	dep, err := c.kubeClient.AppsV1().Deployments(namespace).Get(name, v1.GetOptions{})
+	if err != nil {
+		c.logger.Errorf("Deployment %s.%s not found", name, namespace)
+		return ""
+	}
+
+	return dep.ResourceVersion
+}
+
 func (c *Controller) checkDeploymentMetrics(r *rolloutv1.Rollout) bool {
 	for _, metric := range r.Spec.CanaryAnalysis.Metrics {
 		if metric.Name == "istio_requests_total" {
@@ -270,13 +313,31 @@ func (c *Controller) scaleToZeroCanary(r *rolloutv1.Rollout) {
 	}
 	//HPA https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/29212
 	canary.Spec.Replicas = int32p(0)
-	_, err = c.kubeClient.AppsV1().Deployments(canary.Namespace).Update(canary)
+	canary, err = c.kubeClient.AppsV1().Deployments(canary.Namespace).Update(canary)
 	if err != nil {
 		c.recordEventErrorf(r, "Scaling down %s.%s failed: %v", canary.GetName(), canary.Namespace, err)
 		return
 	}
 }
 
+func (c *Controller) setCanaryRevision(r *rolloutv1.Rollout, status string) {
+	canaryRevision := c.getDeploymentRevision(r.Spec.Canary.Name, r.Namespace)
+	r, ok := c.getRollout(r.Name, r.Namespace)
+	if !ok {
+		return
+	}
+	r.Status = rolloutv1.RolloutStatus{
+		State:          status,
+		CanaryRevision: canaryRevision,
+		FailedChecks:   r.Status.FailedChecks,
+	}
+	r, err := c.rolloutClient.AppsV1beta1().Rollouts(r.Namespace).Update(r)
+	if err != nil {
+		c.logger.Errorf("Rollout %s.%s status update failed: %v", r.Name, r.Namespace, err)
+	}
+	//c.logger.Infof("Rollout %s.%s status %+v", r.Spec.Canary.Name, r.Namespace, r.Status)
+}
+
 func (c *Controller) getVirtualService(r *rolloutv1.Rollout) (
 	vs *istiov1alpha3.VirtualService,
 	primary istiov1alpha3.DestinationWeight,
diff --git a/pkg/version/version.go b/pkg/version/version.go
index 0cb94f9e..35a444ca 100644
--- a/pkg/version/version.go
+++ b/pkg/version/version.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 package version
 
-var VERSION = "0.0.1-rc.6"
+var VERSION = "0.0.1-rc.18"
 var REVISION = "unknown"