Changelog

What's new in blackbear

Every release, the short version. For the longer stories, check out our news posts.

v1.83 August 16, 2026

Ask for a deck, get a deck

Pax goes from answering to authoring: complete slide decks composed as real files, skills you approve, conversations you can take with you. And the desktop app minds its manners.

New
  • Ask Pax for a presentation and get one: they compose complete slide decks — outline to finished slides — as real files in your workspace, with a live preview right in the conversation.
  • Pax can grow skills: reusable know-how saved as ordinary files that you can read, edit, and explicitly approve before they guide future work.
  • Take any Pax conversation with you: export it as a readable Markdown note or a complete transcript, choosing exactly which parts to include.
  • Lock elements on a slide and its structure stays put — locked panels resist every stray click, drag, and keyboard command.
Improved
  • Pax replies now tell you what actually got made: clean summaries of created and changed files instead of a play-by-play of every tool call.
  • The desktop window follows your theme all the way to the titlebar — light stays light, dark stays dark.
  • The Mac app no longer interrupts your session with system keychain prompts.
  • Connect requests accepted while you were offline now complete on their own once you are back.
Fixed
  • Drag and drop works again throughout the desktop app — board cards, file organizing, all of it.
  • Sign in with Apple on the Mac app hands off to your browser and completes reliably.
  • Pax conversations and pending actions sync faithfully between devices, and Pax on Gemini no longer loses steps when replaying tool work.
  • A sync hiccup no longer piles up repeated failure notifications, and opening the app with an expired session lands on sign-in instead of an error.
v1.82 August 14, 2026

Sharper slides, steadier sound

Slides learn marquee selection, boards get a proper card menu, and recording becomes something you never have to think about again.

New
  • Drag a marquee in Slides to grab several objects at once and move them as one.
  • Board cards in Sheets carry a context menu now, right where your cursor already is.
Improved
  • Recording is dependable on every platform: memos finalize completely before saving, and files carry their true audio format so they play cleanly outside blackbear too.
  • Ambient sound and playback run cooler. We fixed a class of leaks that could quietly double the audio engine and work your machine harder than intended.
v1.81 August 12, 2026

Sheets that reach outward, history that tells the truth

Sheet rows connect to real tasks, events, and people. Version history is rebuilt end-to-end: leaner on your device, encrypted across your devices, and honest about what restore brings back.

New
  • Connect a Sheet row to the rest of your life: link rows to real tasks and calendar events with full forms, track them from either side, and save repeat flows as one-click row action templates.
  • Sheets learn people and tags: columns can reference actual people (including a real owner) and your real tags, not just text that looks like them.
  • CSV and Excel, in and out: import a spreadsheet and choose exactly where it lands, or export your sheet, powered by the same native core on every platform.
  • Version history, rebuilt: files keep lean checkpoints, restore brings back the complete file honestly, and snapshot content syncs between your devices under end-to-end encryption.
  • The Reader opens up to Pax: they can now read whole books and documents in careful bounded passes, with deep reads running in a background worker so the app never stutters.
Improved
  • Reading on the phone got a chrome polish, Sheets adopt the mobile File Card, and linked-row dialogs fit small screens properly.
  • New sheets can set up their columns at creation, and boards answer to friendly aliases in search.
  • Inline references and note alignment in the editor got a careful pass.
Fixed
  • Calendar recurrences handle their edge cases, and infinitely repeating events stay visible.
  • A workbook emptied on two devices at once recovers instead of vanishing, and sheets reopen on a page that still exists.
  • Binary media like audio and images survives a trip through the trash.
v1.80 August 2, 2026

Pax on your subscription, on your terms

Bring your ChatGPT subscription to Pax, decide exactly what they can see, and hold the reins on every run.

New
  • Sign in with ChatGPT: if you already have a ChatGPT subscription, Pax can run on it. A quick device-code login on web or desktop, no API key required.
  • Decide exactly what Pax can see. Mark any file, folder, or tag as open or off-limits with a right-click, then audit every marking in one place under Settings → Pax.
  • Slash commands arrive in Pax chat: type / for actions instead of hunting through menus, under a reworked, tidier header.
  • You hold the reins on every run: set how many turns Pax may take per request, and stop them mid-flight with a Stop that actually cancels.
Improved
  • Every model now wears an honest data-boundary label (on-device, zero-retention cloud, or cloud) so you know where a request goes before you send it.
  • Per-request budget ceilings keep spending where you set it.
  • Key setup tells the truth while it loads: no more flash of “no API key” when one is safely stored.
v1.79 July 27, 2026

The phone gets out of the way, and sign-in stays put

Opening a file on your phone now leads with the content itself, and your session quietly takes care of its own upkeep.

New
  • The File Card arrives on mobile: title, details, and actions live in a compact card with a bottom sheet, so the editor fills your screen instead of desktop chrome squeezed small.
  • The blackbear CLI can sign in through your browser with a secure one-time handoff. No keys to copy around.
Improved
  • Sign-in got quietly sturdier: your session refreshes itself in the background and carries across restarts, so the app asks for your attention far less often.
  • Desk’s type filters wear the right icon for every file format.
v1.78 July 23, 2026

A smoother way in, and a quieter sync

Apple Sign-In and Face ID make the iPhone app feel native from the first screen, while sync, search, focus mode, and mobile layout get a careful stability pass.

New
  • Sign in with Apple is built into the iPhone app, from first-time sign-in to Account settings, using Apple’s native authorization sheet.
  • Unlock your encrypted vault with Face ID after setting it up. Your passphrase still protects the vault; biometrics give you a faster way back in on your device.
Improved
  • Focus mode is quieter across notes, audio, books, sheets, and slides: file metadata gets out of the way while the essential editor header stays available.
  • Onboarding and navigation now respect iPhone safe areas throughout, with more breathing room around bottom actions and tabs.
  • The iPhone app carries blackbear’s proper icon and clearer account/about language.
Fixed
  • Sync conflict alerts now wait for the full sync cycle to settle, then clear themselves when newer changes have already resolved the conflict.
  • Global search no longer goes blank when an imported calendar event has no description.
  • Face ID, microphone, and camera permissions are described correctly to iOS, preventing the privacy-related startup crash seen in early TestFlight builds.
  • The production reader bundle no longer carries a sample book that belongs only in tests.
v1.77 July 13, 2026

Files on the canvas, friends at the door

The drawing canvas becomes a project board, # and @ reference anything inline — and the people you invite can join you without paying.

New
  • Put files on a drawing canvas. Notes, docs, sheets, and pictures become live cards you can arrange spatially — drag them in from Desk, watch their content render in place, double-click to open one beside the board. A shared canvas carries its embedded files with it, and PNG export renders what the cards actually show.
  • Type # to tag and @ to mention, right in your notes. Completion offers matches or creates on the spot, and placement carries meaning: a tag on a heading covers its section, on a line covers that block. TagView gathers those exact places with jump-to anchors, and [[title]] completion rides the same rails.
  • Sheets grow tags and person columns — reference real people and tags as chips in your tables, with names resolving wherever the sheet travels.
  • Invite anyone — they don’t need a paid account. Someone who follows your invite link on a free account can message you, collaborate on your files, follow your timeline, and join your calls. You host; everyone you invite participates free.
  • On desktop, your data’s foundation moved into a natively encrypted database with a silent one-time migration — stronger custody for your content, out of reach of browser storage cleanup.
Improved
  • Lightweight markdown previews render the full language now — tables, task lists, quotes, and links, everywhere excerpts appear.
  • Like counts expand to names — see who, not just how many.
  • Saving a calendar event asks how to notify each person — invites go out per-person, on the channel you choose.
  • Tables in notes select within the cell first (⌘A), and in-editor search got blackbear’s own panel.
  • Timeline posts can be text-only, and the composer previews images before you post.
Fixed
  • Guests can open files shared with them right after connecting — no more waiting for a key that already arrived.
  • Jumping to a heading the moment a note opens lands on the heading, not the top.
  • Canvas selection stays crisp on retina displays, scroll position survives reopening, and connectors bind cleanly to embedded cards.
  • A brand-new stream file seeds its starter correctly and opens with a short in-editor guide.
v1.76 July 7, 2026

A feed for your people, and programs for your files

Connect grows personal timelines, Streams make your files programmable, the app splits into panes — and voice memos transcribe without leaving your machine. (This one gathers up everything shipped since mid-June.)

New
  • Post to your people. Connect grows personal timelines — write a post, attach pictures or whole files, and the people who follow you see it in their feed. Content travels end-to-end encrypted and arrives real: tap to enlarge, read the full piece, save your own copy. Likes and comments ride the same private channels.
  • Follow with a link or a QR code — you decide what the grant covers before it leaves your hands. Connecting makes the follow mutual by default, and existing contacts upgrade to timelines in one tap.
  • Streams: a file that’s a small program. Write TypeScript with real completions, hover docs, and inline diagnostics; run it in a sandbox against your own files; and approve every proposed change, one by one, before anything is touched.
  • Split the app into panes. A note beside a sheet beside today’s plan — every surface can open in a pane, with keyboard shortcuts and URLs that remember your layout.
  • Voice memos transcribe on your device. Desktop gains a native Whisper engine — audio becomes text without your voice leaving the machine, and audio embeds in notes carry the full transcript.
  • Calendar invites go out as real email with an RSVP round-trip, and People can be created on their own — with email and phone links that just work.
Improved
  • A two-pane Create New modal, g-prefix navigation sequences, a global new-file chord, and view cycling — the keyboard drives the whole app now.
  • Search results show readable, format-aware snippets with scope pills — never raw data fragments.
  • Remote cursors in shared documents track instantly — the lag is gone.
  • Clicking below images and audio embeds places the cursor where you meant, and table cells render inline markdown without click drift.
  • Calendar events can carry all-day reminders, in a cleaner form.
Fixed
  • Shared-file membership, invites, and acceptance state persist reliably across devices — accepting sticks, whatever order sync arrives in.
  • System folders (Home, Templates) can’t be deleted by accident.
  • The file back button survives long journeys, and follow relationships show names instead of ghost conversations.
  • Onboarding imports carry your content only — app system state never rides along.
v1.75 June 18, 2026

Pictures, and a place for everything that’s happening

Images become real files you can edit and share, and the app finally tells you when something needs you.

New
  • Images are a first-class file type. Bring a picture in and work it: crop, rotate, flip, straighten, adjustment sliders, and filter presets, with undo/redo and zoom/pan. None of it is destructive: your original is always intact. Download in PNG, JPEG, or WebP.
  • Edit images together. An image can be shared and co-edited live, end-to-end encrypted, the same way your documents are. Edits travel, and a shared image lands as a real file on the other side.
  • A Notification Center. One place for what’s happening: connect requests, collaboration invites, and shared files, with an actionable inbox you can accept or decline right there. Quiet bells on Desk and Today mean nothing waits unseen.
  • See who’s asking. A connect request can carry a sealed introduction, so you know who’s reaching out before you accept, with an anonymous option for anyone who’d rather stay unnamed. Names never touch our servers in the clear.
Improved
  • Shared files behave like a drive. A dedicated Shared Files space, grouped by who you’re sharing with, and you can share a whole folder, not just a file, with new files in it shared as you go.
  • Send a file as a snapshot. Hand someone a point-in-time copy straight from the file menu; they get a clean card to receive it.
  • One file menu everywhere. Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawing, and Images now share the same file bar: consistent actions, folder and tag controls, send, and download wherever you are.
  • Pax speaks more models. OpenAI joins Anthropic and Gemini in the app (GPT-5.4 Mini by default), with each provider’s key kept in your encrypted Account Keychain. Pax can now edit Markdown notes directly, with find/replace and an outline.
Fixed
  • Chat stays pinned to the bottom when you open it, even while media is still loading.
  • Image filters replace cleanly instead of stacking, and the edit trays anchor where they should, with no first-open flash.
  • Pax stays put in their dock as the sidebar settles.
v1.74 June 11, 2026

Transparency, and a den for Pax

A release about being able to see what your app is doing, and about our bear getting a home of their own.

New
  • Sidebar health beacon + Transparency panel: connection, sync, and storage status at a glance, with a diagnostics view when you want the details.
  • Pax has a den: a custom cave glyph appears in the dock whenever they’re away.
Improved
  • Calendar scrolling is noticeably smoother; month grid scrolling is now fully compositor-driven.
  • Cold offline boots recover on their own: the app reconnects and reconciles without a reload, and a watchdog keeps flaky networks from holding the boot overlay hostage.
Fixed
  • Week view header now follows the selected week’s month.
  • Sidebar collapse/expand settles cleanly: no transient jumps, and Pax never leaves their dock.
  • Messaging reconnects promptly after sign-in instead of waiting on a stale connection.
v1.73 June 10, 2026

Sharing grows teeth

Shared files now have real, enforceable membership, and Pax runs on the Rust engine everywhere.

New
  • Remove a single person from a shared file. Access is revoked with a full key rotation, not just hidden.
  • Removed members find out: a clear notice, and their local copy is cleaned up, even if the file is closed at the time.
  • Viewer roles are enforced at the input layer: read-only surfaces with a View-only indicator across Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drawing.
  • Share roles are backed by verifiable, signed capability grants: what the dialog says is what the system enforces.
Improved
  • Pax now executes through the Rust engine on every platform, and picked up entity-aware tagging, smarter fuzzy matching, and awareness of the page you’re on.
Fixed
  • A rare case where Account Keychain entries could be lost when devices merged.
  • Free → paid upgrades reliably backfill all of your content, even if you sign out right after upgrading.
v1.72 June 8, 2026

Shared images, tidier accounts

Images in shared documents finally travel with the document, encrypted end-to-end.

New
  • Images in shared Docs and Slides sync across accounts, end-to-end encrypted; collaborators see the pictures, not just the prose.
  • Daily templates on Today are editable: shape the day’s scaffold to how you actually work.
Improved
  • Sign-out is a real teardown: per-account storage is cleanly separated and fully cleared.
  • Integration credentials moved into the encrypted Account Keychain.
  • Document printing: true print fidelity, including colors under highlights and clean page breaks.
Fixed
  • Sheets keep per-cell formatting when you edit a value or formula.
  • “Stop sharing” is available from Sheet, Drawing, and Slides dialogs.
v1.71 June 5, 2026

Sheets on the Rust kernel

The spreadsheet formula engine is now the same Rust engine everywhere: app, CLI, and collaborators all compute the same truth.

New
  • Formula evaluation runs on the Rust render kernel (via WASM), replacing ~2,700 lines of TypeScript with one engine shared across the app and the bb CLI.
  • Board view grew up: honest cards, row detail and editing, a configuration modal, and editable, reorderable select options.
  • Sign in with email or phone; one field, either works.
Improved
  • Percent formatting displays the way you expect (0.27 → 27%) and survives configuration edits.
  • Column widths and floating-chart geometry persist and sync across devices.
Fixed
  • Calendar dates in sheets are timezone-stable.
  • The cell you’re editing saves when you click away.
v1.70 June 3, 2026

Slides go collaborative

Real-time, end-to-end encrypted collaborative editing comes to Slides.

New
  • Edit a deck together, live, with collaborator presence and claim-a-text-box so you’re never typing over each other. End-to-end encrypted, like everything else.
  • Workflows learned event-shaped schedule steps, so automations can key off your calendar.
  • New decks start with a title slide, and the new deck model brings free undo/redo.
Improved
  • Slides render through the Rust kernel, the same renderer the CLI uses.
  • Shared files now appear reliably on freshly added devices.
  • Page intros and notices flow through the notification system with sensible icons.
Fixed
  • Docs show collaborator display names instead of key fingerprints.
  • Sync no longer stalls on data it can’t decrypt; it sets problem rows aside and keeps moving.
v1.69 May 29, 2026

Sturdier live collaboration

A faster, more resilient transport under every shared editing session.

New
  • WebSocket-first transport for live collaboration, with graceful fallback.
  • Structured merge conflicts — when two edits truly collide, the merge is smarter and nothing is silently dropped.
Improved
  • Clear reconnection states and adaptive backoff under rate limits.
Fixed
  • A divergence bug in encrypted collaborative editing.
  • Sign-in credential linking (OAuth and phone) on desktop.
v1.68 May 27, 2026

Contacts with faces

Avatars arrive in messaging, exchanged privately, like everything else.

New
  • Contact avatars: profile pictures are exchanged through encrypted profile sharing and show up across messaging.
  • A credentials section in Account settings: see and manage how you sign in.
Improved
  • Contacts and profiles update reactively everywhere: change once, see it everywhere instantly.
  • Plan upgrades take effect immediately, no sign-out required.
  • Phone sign-in accepts the formats people actually type.
v1.67 May 23, 2026

Touch ID for the vault

Faster unlocks on the Mac, and a cleaner desktop foundation.

New
  • Biometric unlock: open your vault with Touch ID on macOS, with an inline toggle on the unlock screen.
Improved
  • Desktop app hardening around content security policies: local AI (Ollama), sandboxed previews, and plugin IPC all coexist cleanly.
Fixed
  • Release builds no longer open devtools.
  • Encrypted keychain entries reveal and copy correctly.
v1.66 May 22, 2026

Pages, pickers, and portraits

The page builder matures and your profile gets a face.

New
  • Profile avatar upload with a proper crop dialog: perfect circles, zoom that respects image bounds.
  • Page templates: drag-to-reorder blocks, an icon-and-image picker, and a smoother create-new-page flow.
Fixed
  • A batch of mobile and desktop build issues.
v1.65 May 17, 2026

The hardening sprint

A release almost entirely about strengthening the foundations: encryption boundaries, the keychain, and the engine under Pax.

New
  • Account Keychain entries are individually encrypted.
  • Runtime validation at every crypto boundary: the app verifies the shape of everything crossing into the encryption layer.
Improved
  • Pax’s engine completed its migration to Rust (with a new suite of contract tests to keep it honest).
  • Collaborative editing batches outbound updates for smoother sessions.
  • CI now runs a standing security audit on every build.
roll-up May 1–13, 2026

Early May — the week the CLI arrived

The first half of May brought blackbear’s biggest single drop: a Rust CLI built for agents, the Graph view, Store files for structured data, cryptographic authorship, the Discovery catalog, a redesigned landing page — and the end of the trial timer. The local app became free for everyone, with anonymous mode for those who want no account at all.

New
  • bb — a Rust CLI giving agents (and terminal humans) first-class access to notes, tasks, files, and sync.
  • Graph view: see your notes, tags, and documents as the web they actually are.
  • Store files: structured, schema’d data as a first-class file type.
  • Cryptographic authorship — every change attributable to the profile that made it.
  • Google OAuth sign-in alongside magic links.
Read the full Week 8 post
roll-up April 2026 · 110 releases

April — depth and dependability

April was a month of deep passes: Drawing, Documents, Reader, and Audio each got sustained attention measured in dozens of releases. Onboarding was rebuilt end to end, messaging internals were refactored for reliability, and the first Windows desktop work landed. Less flash, more floor.

Improved
  • Drawing: stability and precision across the infinite canvas.
  • Documents: WYSIWYG editing depth: tables, pagination, and print groundwork.
  • Reader: steadier EPUB/PDF handling and annotation polish.
  • Audio: recording and playback reliability.
  • Onboarding: rebuilt from the first screen up.
roll-up March 2026 · 107 releases

March — v1.0 and the first 107 releases

blackbear 1.0 shipped on March 3. Then we shipped 106 more times before the month ended. The core took shape in public: Sheets, Discover feeds, Pax, Drawing, Calendar, tables, and the sync engine that carries all of it. If you kicked the tires that month — thank you. You shaped what this became.

blackbear ships continuously — 305 releases and counting since March 2026. This page condenses the journey; the app updates itself.

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