diff --git a/src/excmds.ts b/src/excmds.ts
index e5c81f8d..1c2ab501 100644
--- a/src/excmds.ts
+++ b/src/excmds.ts
@@ -92,6 +92,7 @@ import * as TTS from "@src/lib/text_to_speech"
 import * as excmd_parser from "@src/parsers/exmode"
 import * as escape from "@src/lib/escape"
 import * as R from "ramda"
+import * as semverCompare from "semver-compare"
 
 /**
  * This is used to drive some excmd handling in `composite`.
@@ -832,16 +833,29 @@ export async function source_quiet(...args: string[]) {
  */
 //#background
 export async function updatenative(interactive = true) {
-    const tag = TRI_VERSION.includes("pre") ? "master" : TRI_VERSION
-    if (await Native.nativegate("0", interactive)) {
-        if ((await browser.runtime.getPlatformInfo()).os === "mac") {
-            if (interactive) logger.error("Updating the native messenger on OSX is broken. Please use `:nativeinstall` instead.")
-            return
-        }
-        await Native.run((await config.get("nativeinstallcmd")).replace("%TAG", tag))
-
-        if (interactive) native()
+    if (!(await Native.nativegate("0", interactive))) {
+        return
+    } else if ((await browser.runtime.getPlatformInfo()).os === "mac") {
+        if (interactive) logger.error("Updating the native messenger on OSX is broken. Please use `:nativeinstall` instead.")
+        return
     }
+
+    const tag = TRI_VERSION.includes("pre") ? "master" : TRI_VERSION
+    const update_command = (await config.get("nativeinstallcmd")).replace("%TAG", tag)
+    const native_version = await Native.getNativeMessengerVersion()
+
+    if (semverCompare(native_version, "0.2.0") < 0) {
+        await Native.run(update_command)
+    } else if (semverCompare(native_version, "0.3.1") < 0) {
+        if (interactive) {
+            throw new Error("Updating is broken on this version of the native messenger. Please use `:nativeinstall` instead.")
+        }
+        return
+    } else {
+        await Native.runAsync(update_command)
+    }
+
+    if (interactive) native()
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/src/lib/config.ts b/src/lib/config.ts
index ef88d600..fee604d7 100644
--- a/src/lib/config.ts
+++ b/src/lib/config.ts
@@ -1151,7 +1151,11 @@ const platform_defaults = {
             "<C-6>": "buffer #",
         } as unknown,
 
-        nativeinstallcmd: `powershell -NoProfile -Command "(New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadFile('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tridactyl/native_messenger/master/installers/windows.ps1', """$env:temp/tridactyl_installnative.ps1""")" & powershell -NoProfile -File %temp%\\tridactyl_installnative.ps1 -Tag %TAG & del %temp%\\tridactyl_installnative.ps1`,
+        nativeinstallcmd: `powershell -NoProfile -Command "\
+[Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol -bor [Net.SecurityProtocolType]::Tls12;\
+(New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadFile('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tridactyl/native_messenger/master/installers/windows.ps1', '%TEMP%/tridactyl_installnative.ps1');\
+& '%TEMP%/tridactyl_installnative.ps1' -Tag %TAG;\
+Remove-Item '%TEMP%/tridactyl_installnative.ps1'"`,
     },
     linux: {
         nmaps: {
diff --git a/src/lib/native.ts b/src/lib/native.ts
index 5b96cbe8..08056d81 100644
--- a/src/lib/native.ts
+++ b/src/lib/native.ts
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ const NATIVE_NAME = "tridactyl"
 type MessageCommand =
     | "version"
     | "run"
+    | "run_async"
     | "read"
     | "write"
     | "writerc"
@@ -383,6 +384,16 @@ export async function run(command: string, content = "") {
     return msg
 }
 
+export async function runAsync(command: string) {
+    const required_version = "0.3.1"
+    if (!await nativegate(required_version, false)) {
+        throw new Error(
+            `runAsync needs native messenger version >= ${required_version}.`,
+        )
+    }
+    logger.info(await sendNativeMsg("run_async", { command }))
+}
+
 /** Evaluates a string in the native messenger. This has to be python code. If
  *  you want to run shell strings, use run() instead.
  *