diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 5a824225..e4455dd2 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -9,6 +9,10 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ### Changed
 
+- The `pyodide skeleton pypi --update` command and the `--update-patched` variant now
+  validate the version and the source checksum when updating a package's recipe.
+  [#27](https://github.com/pyodide/pyodide-build/pull/27)
+
 - `pyo3_config_file` is no longer available in `pyodide config` command.
   Pyodide now sets `PYO3_CROSS_PYTHON_VERSION`, `PYO3_CROSS_LIB_DIR` to specify the cross compilation environment
   for PyO3.
diff --git a/pyodide_build/mkpkg.py b/pyodide_build/mkpkg.py
index 5cd9497a..fa5ffd0c 100755
--- a/pyodide_build/mkpkg.py
+++ b/pyodide_build/mkpkg.py
@@ -245,18 +245,46 @@ def update_package(
         old_fmt = "sdist"
 
     pypi_metadata = _get_metadata(package, version)
+
+    # Grab versions from metadata
     pypi_ver = Version(pypi_metadata["info"]["version"])
     local_ver = Version(yaml_content["package"]["version"])
-    already_up_to_date = pypi_ver <= local_ver and (
+
+    # and grab checksums from metadata
+    source_fmt = source_fmt or old_fmt
+    dist_metadata = _find_dist(pypi_metadata, [source_fmt])
+    sha256 = dist_metadata["digests"]["sha256"]
+    sha256_local = yaml_content["source"].get("sha256")
+
+    # fail if local version is newer than PyPI version
+    # since updating isn't possible in that case
+    if pypi_ver < local_ver:
+        raise MkpkgFailedException(
+            f"Local version {local_ver} is newer than PyPI version {pypi_ver}, "
+            f"cannot update {package}. Please verify in case the version was "
+            "updated manually and is correct."
+        )
+
+    # conditions to check if the package is up to date
+    is_sha256_up_to_date = sha256 == sha256_local
+    is_version_up_to_date = pypi_ver == local_ver
+
+    already_up_to_date = (is_sha256_up_to_date and is_version_up_to_date) and (
         source_fmt is None or source_fmt == old_fmt
     )
     if already_up_to_date:
         logger.success(
-            f"{package} already up to date. Local: {local_ver} PyPI: {pypi_ver}"
+            f"{package} already up to date."
+            f" Local: {local_ver} and PyPI: {pypi_ver}"
+            f" and checksum received: {sha256} matches local: {sha256_local} ✅"
         )
         return
 
-    logger.info(f"{package} is out of date: {local_ver} <= {pypi_ver}.")
+    logger.info(
+        f"{package} is out of date:"
+        f" either {local_ver} < {pypi_ver}"
+        f" or checksums might have mismatched: received {sha256} against local {sha256_local} 🚨"
+    )
 
     if yaml_content["source"].get("patches"):
         if update_patched:
@@ -267,6 +295,7 @@ def update_package(
         else:
             raise MkpkgFailedException(
                 f"Pyodide applies patches to {package}. Skipping update."
+                f" Use --update-patched to force updating {package}."
             )
 
     if source_fmt: