diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 3d3a09c6..2126e832 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ resolver = "2"
 [workspace.dependencies]
 async-trait = "0.1"
 
-dapr-macros = { version = "0.16.0-rc.1", path = "./dapr-macros" }
+dapr-macros = { version = "0.16.0-rc.2", path = "./dapr-macros" }
 
 prost = "0.13.1"
 prost-build = "0.13.1"
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ tonic = "0.12.1"
 tonic-build = "0.12.1"
 
 [workspace.package]
-version = "0.16.0-rc.1"
+version = "0.16.0-rc.2"
 authors = [
     "Mike Nguyen <hey@mike.ee>",
     "The Dapr Authors <dapr@dapr.io>"
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f0f01b1e..b7fdac92 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -45,13 +45,15 @@ resiliency.
 
 Ensure you have Rust version 1.78 or higher installed. If not, install Rust [here](https://www.rust-lang.org/tools/install).
 
+These crates no longer require protoc unless to recompile the protobuf files.
+
 ## How to use
 
 Add the following to your `Cargo.toml` file:
 
 ```toml
 [dependencies]
-dapr = "0.16.0-rc.1"
+dapr = "0.16.0-rc.2"
 ```
 
 Here's a basic example to create a client: