diff --git a/tools/trim-incomplete-translations-for-release.py b/tools/trim-incomplete-translations-for-release.py
index 75b6fd6ea..a56f173a2 100755
--- a/tools/trim-incomplete-translations-for-release.py
+++ b/tools/trim-incomplete-translations-for-release.py
@@ -1,9 +1,15 @@
 #!/usr/bin/python3
+#
+# WARNING!  THIS DELETES TRANSLATIONS!
+#
+# The incomplete translations should be kept by rebasing the weblate
+# remote on top of this commit, once its complete.
 
 import csv
 import git
 import os
 import requests
+import sys
 
 
 projectbasedir = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(__file__))
@@ -11,7 +17,7 @@ print(projectbasedir)
 
 repo = git.Repo(projectbasedir)
 
-msg = 'removing all translations less than 75% complete\n\n'
+msg = 'removing all translations less than 70% complete\n\n'
 
 url = 'https://hosted.weblate.org/exports/stats/f-droid/f-droid/?format=csv'
 r = requests.get(url)
@@ -19,7 +25,7 @@ stats = csv.reader(r.iter_lines(decode_unicode=True), delimiter=',')
 next(stats)  # skip CSV header
 for row in stats:
     if len(row) > 4:
-        if float(row[4]) > 75.0:
+        if float(row[4]) > 70.0:
             continue
         locale = row[1]
         if '_' in locale:
@@ -33,10 +39,22 @@ for row in stats:
         percent = str(int(float(row[4]))) + '%'
         print('Removing incomplete file: (' + percent + ')\t',
               translation_file)
-        os.remove(os.path.join(projectbasedir, translation_file))
-        repo.index.remove([translation_file, ])
+        delfile = os.path.join(projectbasedir, translation_file)
+        if os.path.exists(delfile):
+            os.remove(delfile)
+            repo.index.remove([translation_file, ])
         if len(percent) == 2:
             msg += ' '
         msg += percent + '  ' + row[1] + '  ' + row[0] + '\n'
 
+found = False
+for remote in repo.remotes:
+    if remote.name == 'weblate':
+        remote.fetch()
+        found = True
+
+if not found:
+    print('ERROR: there must be a weblate remote to preserve incomplete translations!')
+    sys.exit(1)
+
 repo.index.commit(msg)