diff --git a/.github/workflows/Create-NewReleases.yml b/.github/workflows/Create-NewReleases.yml
index 5059e092..c48574ec 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/Create-NewReleases.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/Create-NewReleases.yml
@@ -79,6 +79,17 @@ jobs:
       - name: Push Changes
         run: git push origin main
           
+      - name: Build and Validate Counted Release Assets
+        run: |
+          cp MerlinAU.sh MerlinAU-install.sh
+          cp MerlinAU.sh MerlinAU-update.sh
+
+          sed -i 's/^readonly RELEASE_ASSET_KIND=.*/readonly RELEASE_ASSET_KIND="install"/' MerlinAU-install.sh
+          sed -i 's/^readonly RELEASE_ASSET_KIND=.*/readonly RELEASE_ASSET_KIND="update"/' MerlinAU-update.sh
+
+          grep -Fxq 'readonly RELEASE_ASSET_KIND="install"' MerlinAU-install.sh
+          grep -Fxq 'readonly RELEASE_ASSET_KIND="update"' MerlinAU-update.sh
+
       - name: Create and Push Tag
         run: |
           git tag ${{ steps.nextver.outputs.tag }}
@@ -92,3 +103,6 @@ jobs:
           name: "Release ${{ steps.nextver.outputs.tag }}"
           prerelease: false
           generate_release_notes: true
+          files: |
+            MerlinAU-install.sh
+            MerlinAU-update.sh
diff --git a/.github/workflows/Track_Metrics_MerlinAU.yml b/.github/workflows/Track_Metrics_MerlinAU.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..52fca3d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/Track_Metrics_MerlinAU.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+name: Track Release Downloads
+
+on:
+  schedule:
+    - cron: '0 0 * * *'
+  workflow_dispatch:
+
+jobs:
+  snapshot-metrics:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    permissions:
+      contents: write
+
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout repository
+        uses: actions/checkout@v7.0.1
+        with:
+          fetch-depth: 0
+
+      - name: Restore metrics history
+        shell: bash
+        run: |
+          mkdir -p metrics
+
+          if git ls-remote --exit-code --heads origin metrics >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+            git fetch origin metrics:refs/remotes/origin/metrics
+            git show origin/metrics:metrics/release_downloads.csv \
+              > metrics/release_downloads.csv 2>/dev/null || true
+          fi
+
+      - name: Snapshot release download counts
+        env:
+          GITHUB_REPOSITORY: ${{ github.repository }}
+          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+        run: python3 track_downloads.py
+
+      - name: Publish metrics history
+        shell: bash
+        run: |
+          cp metrics/release_downloads.csv /tmp/release_downloads.csv
+          rm -rf metrics
+
+          git config user.name "github-actions[bot]"
+          git config user.email "41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
+
+          if git show-ref --verify --quiet refs/remotes/origin/metrics; then
+            git switch --force-create metrics origin/metrics
+          else
+            git switch --orphan metrics
+            git rm -rf . >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
+          fi
+
+          mkdir -p metrics
+          cp /tmp/release_downloads.csv metrics/release_downloads.csv
+
+          git add metrics/release_downloads.csv
+
+          if git diff --cached --quiet; then
+            echo "No metrics changes to commit."
+            exit 0
+          fi
+
+          git commit -m "Update release download metrics"
+          git push origin metrics
diff --git a/MerlinAU.sh b/MerlinAU.sh
index 3e3a059b..bc7358e8 100644
--- a/MerlinAU.sh
+++ b/MerlinAU.sh
@@ -19,11 +19,11 @@
 set -u
 
 ## Set version for each Production Release ##
-readonly SCRIPT_VERSION=1.6.9
-readonly SCRIPT_VERSTAG="26092509"
+readonly SCRIPT_VERSION=1.7.0
+readonly SCRIPT_VERSTAG="26092816"
 readonly SCRIPT_NAME="MerlinAU"
 ## Set to "master" for Production Releases ##
-SCRIPT_BRANCH="master"
+SCRIPT_BRANCH="dev"
 
 ##----------------------------------------##
 ## Modified by Martinski W. [2024-Jul-03] ##
@@ -32,6 +32,15 @@ SCRIPT_BRANCH="master"
 readonly SCRIPT_URL_BASE="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ExtremeFiretop/MerlinAutoUpdate-Router"
 SCRIPT_URL_REPO="${SCRIPT_URL_BASE}/$SCRIPT_BRANCH"
 
+# Production release assets are used for install/update downloads so GitHub's
+# native per-asset download counters can provide aggregate usage statistics.
+# Development builds continue to use raw.githubusercontent.com.
+readonly RELEASE_URL_BASE="https://github.com/ExtremeFiretop/MerlinAutoUpdate-Router/releases/download"
+readonly RELEASE_INSTALL_ASSET="${SCRIPT_NAME}-install.sh"
+readonly RELEASE_UPDATE_ASSET="${SCRIPT_NAME}-update.sh"
+# Rewritten to "install" or "update" in generated GitHub Release assets.
+readonly RELEASE_ASSET_KIND="source"
+
 # Firmware URL Info #
 readonly FW_SFURL_BASE="https://sourceforge.net/projects/asuswrt-merlin/files"
 readonly FW_SFURL_RELEASE_SUFFIX="Release"
@@ -2947,9 +2956,14 @@ _CurlFileDownload_()
    then return 1
    fi
    local tempFilePathDL="${2}.DL.$$.TMP"
-   local srceFilePathURL="${SCRIPT_URL_REPO}/$1"
+   local srceFilePathURL
    local curlRetCode  returnCODE  statusSTRx  httpStatusSTR
 
+   if [ $# -gt 2 ] && [ -n "$3" ]
+   then srceFilePathURL="$3"
+   else srceFilePathURL="${SCRIPT_URL_REPO}/$1"
+   fi
+
    rm -f "$tempFilePathDL"
    printf '' > "$curlErrLogFPath"
    printf '' > "$curlTmpLogFPath"
@@ -2995,9 +3009,60 @@ _CurlFileDownload_()
    return "$returnCODE"
 }
 
-##----------------------------------------##
-## Modified by maghuro [2026-Sep-24]      ##
-##----------------------------------------##
+##------------------------------------------##
+## Added by ExtremeFiretop [2026-Sep-28]    ##
+##------------------------------------------##
+# Download a production script from a version-pinned GitHub Release asset.
+# Validate the downloaded script's asset type before replacing the installed script.
+# This provides aggregate GitHub# download counts without adding a third-party redirect service
+# or a persistent client identifier.
+_DownloadReleaseScriptAsset_()
+{
+   if [ $# -lt 3 ] || [ -z "$1" ] || [ -z "$2" ] || [ -z "$3" ]
+   then return 1
+   fi
+
+   local assetKind="$1"  releaseVersion="$2"  destFilePath="$3"
+   local assetName  releaseBaseURL  tempScriptPath
+   local downloadedKind
+
+   case "$assetKind" in
+       install) assetName="$RELEASE_INSTALL_ASSET" ;;
+       update)  assetName="$RELEASE_UPDATE_ASSET" ;;
+       *) return 1 ;;
+   esac
+
+   releaseBaseURL="${RELEASE_URL_BASE}/${releaseVersion}"
+   tempScriptPath="${destFilePath}.REL.$$.TMP"
+   rm -f "$tempScriptPath"
+
+   if ! _CurlFileDownload_ "$assetName" "$tempScriptPath" \
+        "${releaseBaseURL}/${assetName}"
+   then
+       rm -f "$tempScriptPath"
+       return 1
+   fi
+
+   downloadedKind="$(grep -m1 '^readonly RELEASE_ASSET_KIND=' "$tempScriptPath" | cut -d'"' -f2)"
+
+   if [ "$downloadedKind" != "$assetKind" ]
+   then
+       Say "${REDct}**ERROR**${NOct}: Release asset type validation failed for [$assetName]."
+       rm -f "$tempScriptPath"
+       return 1
+   fi
+
+   if ! mv -f "$tempScriptPath" "$destFilePath"
+   then
+       rm -f "$tempScriptPath"
+       return 1
+   fi
+   return 0
+}
+
+##------------------------------------------##
+## Modified by ExtremeFiretop [2026-Sep-28] ##
+##------------------------------------------##
 _DownloadScriptFiles_()
 {
    local retCode=0  isUpdateAction  updatedWebUIPage  theWebPage
@@ -3038,7 +3103,45 @@ _DownloadScriptFiles_()
        Say "${REDct}**ERROR**${NOct}: Unable to download latest WebUI ASP file for $SCRIPT_NAME."
    fi
 
-   if _CurlFileDownload_ "${SCRIPT_NAME}.sh" "$ScriptFilePath"
+   local scriptDownloadOK=false  releaseVersion
+
+   # Stable production installs/updates use GitHub Release assets so GitHub
+   # can count aggregate install/update downloads. Development stays on raw
+   # GitHub and is intentionally excluded from production download counts.
+   if [ "$SCRIPT_BRANCH" = "master" ]
+   then
+       if "$isUpdateAction"
+       then
+           releaseVersion="$DLRepoVersion"
+           [ -z "$releaseVersion" ] && releaseVersion="$(head -n1 "$SCRIPT_VERPATH")"
+           if _DownloadReleaseScriptAsset_ update "$releaseVersion" "$ScriptFilePath"
+           then scriptDownloadOK=true
+           fi
+       elif [ "$RELEASE_ASSET_KIND" = "install" ]
+       then
+           # The bootstrap itself was the counted install asset. Do not fetch
+           # the same asset a second time and inflate the install counter.
+           scriptDownloadOK=true
+       else
+           releaseVersion="$(head -n1 "$SCRIPT_VERPATH")"
+           if _DownloadReleaseScriptAsset_ install "$releaseVersion" "$ScriptFilePath"
+           then
+               scriptDownloadOK=true
+           else
+               # Preserve compatibility with a short release-publication race
+               # or an older AMTM bootstrap by falling back to the raw script.
+               Say "${YLWct}*WARNING*${NOct}: Counted install asset unavailable; falling back to repository source."
+               if _CurlFileDownload_ "${SCRIPT_NAME}.sh" "$ScriptFilePath"
+               then scriptDownloadOK=true
+               fi
+           fi
+       fi
+   elif _CurlFileDownload_ "${SCRIPT_NAME}.sh" "$ScriptFilePath"
+   then
+       scriptDownloadOK=true
+   fi
+
+   if "$scriptDownloadOK"
    then
        dos2unix "$ScriptFilePath"
        chmod 755 "$ScriptFilePath"
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 3f17e158..b0ab2416 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -194,9 +194,13 @@ Use your preferred SSH client to connect to the router.
 *Manual Installation*
 1. To Download the script to your router, Copy and paste:
 ```bash
-curl --retry 3 "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ExtremeFiretop/MerlinAutoUpdate-Router/master/MerlinAU.sh" -o "/jffs/scripts/MerlinAU.sh" && chmod +x "/jffs/scripts/MerlinAU.sh" && sh /jffs/scripts/MerlinAU.sh install
+curl -fL --retry 3 "https://github.com/ExtremeFiretop/MerlinAutoUpdate-Router/releases/latest/download/MerlinAU-install.sh" -o "/jffs/scripts/MerlinAU.sh" && chmod +x "/jffs/scripts/MerlinAU.sh" && sh /jffs/scripts/MerlinAU.sh install
 ```
 - The script is now ready for use!
+
+### Aggregate Download Counts and Privacy
+Stable MerlinAU releases use separate GitHub Release assets for fresh installs and script updates. This way, GitHub's native download counter can provide aggregate install/update activity without adding a third-party gateway, cookies, installation ID, or telemetry.
+The counters represent **download events, not unique users or routers**. Reinstalls, forced updates, retries, or manual downloads can increment them more than once.
   
 ## Usage
 
diff --git a/track_downloads.py b/track_downloads.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c4dedcb9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/track_downloads.py
@@ -0,0 +1,180 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import csv
+import json
+import os
+import sys
+from datetime import datetime, timezone
+from pathlib import Path
+from urllib.error import HTTPError, URLError
+from urllib.request import Request, urlopen
+
+ASSETS = {
+    "MerlinAU-install.sh": "install",
+    "MerlinAU-update.sh": "update",
+}
+
+OUTPUT_PATH = Path("metrics/release_downloads.csv")
+
+FIELDNAMES = [
+    "snapshot_date",
+    "snapshot_time_utc",
+    "tag",
+    "published_at",
+    "kind",
+    "asset_name",
+    "asset_id",
+    "download_count",
+]
+
+
+def github_get(url: str, token: str | None):
+    headers = {
+        "Accept": "application/vnd.github+json",
+        "User-Agent": "MerlinAU-release-metrics",
+    }
+    if token:
+        headers["Authorization"] = f"Bearer {token}"
+
+    request = Request(url, headers=headers)
+
+    try:
+        with urlopen(request, timeout=30) as response:
+            return json.load(response)
+    except HTTPError as exc:
+        body = exc.read().decode("utf-8", errors="replace")
+        raise RuntimeError(
+            f"GitHub API request failed: HTTP {exc.code} for {url}\n{body}"
+        ) from exc
+    except URLError as exc:
+        raise RuntimeError(f"GitHub API request failed for {url}: {exc}") from exc
+
+
+def get_releases(repository: str, token: str | None) -> list[dict]:
+    releases = []
+    page = 1
+
+    while True:
+        url = (
+            f"https://api.github.com/repos/{repository}/releases"
+            f"?per_page=100&page={page}"
+        )
+        payload = github_get(url, token)
+
+        if not isinstance(payload, list):
+            raise RuntimeError("Unexpected GitHub API response while listing releases.")
+
+        releases.extend(payload)
+
+        if len(payload) < 100:
+            break
+
+        page += 1
+
+    return releases
+
+
+def load_existing_rows(path: Path):
+    rows = {}
+
+    if not path.exists():
+        return rows
+
+    with path.open("r", newline="", encoding="utf-8") as handle:
+        reader = csv.DictReader(handle)
+
+        missing = [field for field in FIELDNAMES if field not in (reader.fieldnames or [])]
+        if missing:
+            raise RuntimeError(
+                f"{path} is missing expected columns: {', '.join(missing)}"
+            )
+
+        for row in reader:
+            key = (row["snapshot_date"], row["tag"], row["asset_name"])
+            rows[key] = {field: row.get(field, "") for field in FIELDNAMES}
+
+    return rows
+
+
+def write_rows(path: Path, rows) -> None:
+    path.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+    temp_path = path.with_suffix(path.suffix + ".tmp")
+
+    ordered_rows = sorted(
+        rows.values(),
+        key=lambda row: (
+            row["snapshot_date"],
+            row["published_at"],
+            row["tag"],
+            row["kind"],
+            row["asset_name"],
+        ),
+    )
+
+    with temp_path.open("w", newline="", encoding="utf-8") as handle:
+        writer = csv.DictWriter(handle, fieldnames=FIELDNAMES)
+        writer.writeheader()
+        writer.writerows(ordered_rows)
+
+    temp_path.replace(path)
+
+
+def main() -> int:
+    repository = os.environ.get("GITHUB_REPOSITORY", "").strip()
+    token = os.environ.get("GITHUB_TOKEN", "").strip() or None
+
+    if not repository or "/" not in repository:
+        print("ERROR: GITHUB_REPOSITORY must be set to owner/repository.", file=sys.stderr)
+        return 1
+
+    now = datetime.now(timezone.utc).replace(microsecond=0)
+    snapshot_date = now.date().isoformat()
+    snapshot_time = now.isoformat().replace("+00:00", "Z")
+
+    rows = load_existing_rows(OUTPUT_PATH)
+    releases = get_releases(repository, token)
+
+    matched_assets = 0
+
+    for release in releases:
+        if release.get("draft") or release.get("prerelease"):
+            continue
+
+        tag = str(release.get("tag_name") or "")
+        published_at = str(release.get("published_at") or "")
+
+        for asset in release.get("assets") or []:
+            asset_name = str(asset.get("name") or "")
+            kind = ASSETS.get(asset_name)
+
+            if kind is None:
+                continue
+
+            row = {
+                "snapshot_date": snapshot_date,
+                "snapshot_time_utc": snapshot_time,
+                "tag": tag,
+                "published_at": published_at,
+                "kind": kind,
+                "asset_name": asset_name,
+                "asset_id": str(asset.get("id") or ""),
+                "download_count": str(asset.get("download_count") or 0),
+            }
+
+            # Same-day manual reruns refresh the row instead of duplicating it.
+            key = (snapshot_date, tag, asset_name)
+            rows[key] = row
+            matched_assets += 1
+
+    write_rows(OUTPUT_PATH, rows)
+
+    print(
+        f"Recorded {matched_assets} counted release asset(s) for "
+        f"{snapshot_date} in {OUTPUT_PATH}."
+    )
+    return 0
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    raise SystemExit(main())