diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/8285-apt_rpm-state-deprecate.yml b/changelogs/fragments/8285-apt_rpm-state-deprecate.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..19f3415841
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/8285-apt_rpm-state-deprecate.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+deprecated_features:
+  - "apt_rpm - the behavior of ``state=present`` and ``state=installed`` is deprecated and will change in community.general 11.0.0.
+     Right now the module will upgrade a package to the latest version if one of these two states is used. You should explicitly
+     use ``state=latest`` if you want this behavior, and switch to ``state=present_not_latest`` if you do not want to upgrade the
+     package if it is already installed. In community.general 11.0.0 the behavior of ``state=present`` and ``state=installed`` will
+     change to that of ``state=present_not_latest`` (https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.general/issues/8217,
+     https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.general/pull/8285)."
diff --git a/plugins/modules/apt_rpm.py b/plugins/modules/apt_rpm.py
index 07da307633..3a0b6d805f 100644
--- a/plugins/modules/apt_rpm.py
+++ b/plugins/modules/apt_rpm.py
@@ -310,6 +310,18 @@ def main():
         module.fail_json(msg="cannot find /usr/bin/apt-get and/or /usr/bin/rpm")
 
     p = module.params
+    if p['state'] in ['installed', 'present']:
+        module.deprecate(
+            'state=%s currently behaves unexpectedly by always upgrading to the latest version if'
+            ' the package is already installed. This behavior is deprecated and will change in'
+            ' community.general 11.0.0. You can use state=latest to explicitly request this behavior'
+            ' or state=present_not_latest to explicitly request the behavior that state=%s will have'
+            ' in community.general 11.0.0, namely that the package will not be upgraded if it is'
+            ' already installed.' % (p['state'], p['state']),
+            version='11.0.0',
+            collection_name='community.general',
+        )
+
     modified = False
     output = ""