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Release Notes

Every update to Float, from the latest release to the very first build.

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v1.14.0 Latest
  • Fix: watching two folders whose paths share a prefix (e.g. Photos and PhotosBackup) no longer leaks files between them when you unwatch, stage, or apply filter rules.
  • Fix: hitting the free-tier folder limit now routes to the upgrade prompt with a working purchase link, not a generic 'failed to watch' toast.
  • Fix: many error toasts that used to dead-end with no useful information now show a real reason and (where applicable) a recovery path — Quick Look failures, install failures, file-open failures, cache-clear failures, context-menu errors.
  • Fix: the Install & Relaunch button in the panel no longer silently does nothing when something goes wrong. Failures surface in the About section so you can retry or download manually.
  • Fix: Spacebar Quick Look on a file that's been deleted between selection and press no longer leaves the panel stuck open. The panel now hides normally and shows what went wrong.
  • Fix: the downgrade confirmation modal now triggers correctly for tagged or partial version strings (e.g. 1.13.5-rc1). Previously, a tagged version compared as NaN and silently skipped the modal.
  • Fix: critical-update kill-switch correctly handles manifest entries like 'min_required_version: 1.14' (no patch component). Previously it silently fell through to non-forced.
  • Fix: folder filter rules continue to apply even if the rules cache hits a rare poisoned-mutex state. Previously the cache could silently disable itself and let filtered files leak back into the panel.
  • Fix: license recovery after a partial-deactivation state no longer overwrites your tier — a concurrent tier upgrade in flight is preserved.
  • Fix: when a thumbnail-rendering helper times out, Float now verifies the process is still the helper before sending SIGKILL. Closes a rare PID-reuse race that could signal an unrelated process.
  • Fix: zip creation now streams files into the archive instead of buffering each whole file in memory. Multi-GB batches no longer spike RAM.
  • Fix: dotfiles (.bashrc, .env, .gitignore) and files inside dotted parent folders (My.Old.Docs/report) are now classified consistently. 'Extract Text' no longer appears for non-document dotfiles.
  • Fix: language detection now handles both en-US and en_US tag forms. Users on systems that report underscored locales no longer fall back to English.
  • Fix: rapid folder-add-then-refresh no longer produces ghost or duplicate rows in the file grid.
  • Internal: cross-codebase audit landed 14 data-integrity, paywall, and silent-failure fixes plus a smaller error-quality sweep. Audit, solution plan, and team review documented under docs/post-mortems/2026-05-15-cross-codebase-*.
v1.13.15
  • Fix: clearer message when license activation fails — including the case where all 3 activation slots are in use. Previously surfaced a bare HTTP error.
  • Fix: re-activating a license on a machine that's already registered no longer shows a misleading 'activation limit reached' error. Float now detects the existing activation and syncs state instead.
v1.13.14
  • Fix: the menubar panel opens reliably on click again. A late dependency change in v1.13.13 briefly reintroduced the 1.13.x rendering regression; this release restores the fix from v1.13.9.
v1.13.13
  • Brand refresh: new Float wordmark — a bold F over a teal→cyan→indigo→purple→pink gradient arc — now consistent across the app icon, in-app logo, website favicon, Apple touch icon, social-preview card, and menu-bar tray icon.
  • License activation hardened to validate keys against the live Float product on Lemon Squeezy. Existing activated licenses keep working — they re-validate seamlessly on the next periodic check.
v1.13.12
  • Fix: full-resolution preview now works for every watched folder. Previously, watching a folder outside a small hardcoded list (Documents, Downloads, Desktop, Pictures, etc.) showed thumbnails in the panel but a broken-image placeholder when you opened the preview — even though Float happily watched and listed those files. Any folder under your home directory now works.
  • Fix: Settings → Cache Management → Clear Cache now also resets the failed-thumbnail blacklist. Files whose thumbnails failed three times during a transient hiccup used to stay broken until the next app restart, even after clicking Clear Cache.
v1.13.11
  • Panel size simplified to two presets: Regular and Large. Regular is now meaningfully bigger so first-startup feels right out of the box; if you preferred the old Small or Medium, you can still drag the panel to any size you want (down to 480×500).
v1.13.10
  • Fix: new manual installs no longer show macOS's 'unidentified developer' warning. Apple notarization is re-enabled across the release pipeline.
v1.13.9
  • Fix: the menubar panel now opens reliably on click. Resolves the rendering regression that affected the early 1.13.x line.
v1.13.6
  • Fix: panel rendering issues introduced earlier in the 1.13.x line have been resolved across macOS versions, including macOS 26 (Tahoe).
v1.13.4
  • Improved reliability of the Add Folder picker — folders register on first selection every time.
v1.13.3
  • Right-click the tray icon for new recovery options: Check for Updates and Reset Settings — useful if the panel ever stops responding
  • New Terminal flags for emergencies: --check-update, --reset, --safe-mode, --help (run /Applications/Float.app/Contents/MacOS/float --help for details)
  • Critical updates can now auto-install without waiting for you to click — used only when an existing version has a serious bug
  • Fix: --reset now also disables Launch at Login, so macOS can't auto-respawn the app while you're recovering
  • Fix: launching Float a second time no longer force-shows the panel at potentially off-screen coordinates
v1.13.1
  • Fix: tray icon left-click stopped opening the panel after any right-click on the menu — left clicks now always toggle the panel
v1.13.0
  • Smart folder rules — filter each watched folder by file type, filename pattern, size, and age
  • Add a + Rules button on any watched folder in Settings to set the filter; non-matching files won't appear in the panel
  • Faster startup and roughly 18% smaller app bundle
  • Accessibility: improved keyboard navigation and screen-reader labels across Settings
v1.12.0
  • Fix: OCR on large or malformed PDFs no longer locks up — added a graceful 2-minute global deadline
  • Fix: corrupted image files can't silently kill thumbnail generation; the worker pool stays healthy
  • Fix: background update checks keep running after an update is staged, so newer versions still surface if you haven't relaunched
  • Fix: license activate/validate fails faster on flaky networks (~22s max vs ~37s)
  • Fix: trial and offline-grace windows now resist system-clock manipulation via a high-water mark
v1.11.0
  • Wisdom quotes shown on the license card for paid users
  • Fix: dragging .mov and other video files no longer crashes the app
  • Escape key now closes the hover-triggered preview modal
  • Settings page layout polish
v1.10.1
  • Fix: release notes now appear in the in-app update bubble.
v1.10.0
  • OCR text extraction — extract text from images and PDFs using macOS Vision
  • Press T on a selected image or PDF to copy the recognized text to clipboard
  • Extract Text button in the preview modal with inline text view and copy button
  • Context menu Extract Text on supported files, plus a Command Bar action
  • Premium feature — configurable in Settings → File Display
v1.9.4
  • User toggles for Quick Look, Command Bar, and File Staging
  • Premium features clearly distinguished from user-disabled in keyboard handlers
  • Locked toggles show a lock icon and clickable upgrade link
  • Disabling staging cleanly clears staged files (no orphaned state)
v1.9.3
  • Stricter feature gating — free tier limited to 1 watched folder
  • Extra folders grayed out with immediate enforcement on license expiry
  • License state changes trigger instant rescan — dev toggle works in real time
v1.9.2
  • Update check on every panel open — checks once per day when you show Float
  • Settings visual polish — scroll shadow, tab separator, feature pills
  • Collapsible license card — compact bar when licensed, click to expand
  • Footer links on every settings tab — Help, Getting Started, Feature Tour always visible
  • Deactivate License available in About section
v1.9.1
  • Locked features list — trial and expired states now show exactly which premium features are locked
  • Dev license toggle for testing paid vs unpaid states
  • Opaque onboarding background — no more bleed-through from desktop
  • Removed settings help button (tour not applicable on settings page)
v1.9.0
  • Proactive update notifications — background daily check with expandable panel in status bar
  • Redesigned Settings page — license status front-and-center, tabbed navigation
  • File processing hardening — debounce watcher events, thumbnail timeouts, file size limits
  • Async command execution — license, updater, and I/O commands no longer block the UI
  • Automatic thumbnail cache cleanup — disk cache capped at 500 MB
v1.8.0
  • Theme-aware tray icon — menu bar icon now matches your active theme color
  • 4 icon styles — Float (default), Colorful, Framed, and Split (premium)
  • New Theming settings group with icon style selector
v1.7.2
  • Apple notarization — no more security warnings on first launch
  • Code hardening — enhanced minification and backend license enforcement
  • Smooth toast exit animations
  • Improved error recovery without full app reload
v1.7.0
  • Fix usage stats not tracking across all file interactions
  • Fix Float opening on wrong screen on ultrawide monitors
  • Improved performance for high-frequency file operations
v1.6.0
  • Copy as PNG — right-click any non-PNG image to convert and copy to clipboard
  • Simplified pricing: single $19 tier with 14-day free trial
  • Comprehensive UX polish across all panels and interactions
  • Apple touch icon for web bookmarks
v1.5.0
  • Trial expiry warning banner with usage stats (7 days before expiration)
  • Usage stats in Settings — files accessed and days active
  • Terms of Service and Privacy Policy links in Settings
v1.4.1
  • Fix crash when switching panel position to Docked to Tray
  • Purchase page with pricing links
v1.4.0
  • Help page and tray Help menu item for quick access to documentation
  • Graceful handling of inaccessible folders (permission-denied directories no longer block scanning)
  • Extended free trial to 45 days
v1.3.0
  • Coach marks: contextual feature education with 10 tips that appear as you explore
  • Feature Tour: guided walkthrough of all features via the "?" button
  • Settings Tour: context-aware "?" button highlights each settings section
v1.2.7
  • Eliminate macOS Keychain prompts on install and update
v1.2.6
  • Native CGImageSource thumbnails with recursive folder scanning
  • Fix Website and Contact Us links not opening in external browser
  • Fix toast spacing overlap with bottom bar
  • Fix zip compression failures
  • Fix Staging History modal overflow and scrolling
v1.2.5
  • Website and Contact Us links in Settings
v1.2.4
  • Fix squared shadow artifact at bottom corners on light backgrounds
  • Add PR preview deployment workflow for website
v1.2.3
  • Settings reorganized into collapsible groups with folders promoted to top
  • Thumbnail cache management: view size, clear cache, and refresh thumbnails
  • Fix multi-monitor positioning for monitors above the primary display
v1.2.2
  • Version picker: install any release with signature verification and downgrade support
  • Auto/manual update mode with changelog preview before installing
  • Fix settings button unclickable in WebKit drag region
  • Fix dark corner artifacts from native window shadow
  • Skeleton loading grid now scales to fill panel
  • Skip keychain prompts in dev mode
v1.2.1
  • Hardened reliability across Command Bar, Staging, Pinned files, toasts, and license activation.
v1.2.0
  • What's New carousel navigation arrows for easier scrolling
  • Window remembers custom size across restarts
  • Window resize auto-clamps to monitor bounds
  • Fix untranslated compress error and metadata success toasts
  • Fix window dimensions stored in physical instead of logical pixels
  • Add i18n enforcement rules to development guidelines
v1.1.1
  • Complete i18n coverage — all UI strings now translatable across 6 languages
  • Accessibility improvements: focus traps, ARIA roles, keyboard navigation, focus-visible rings
  • Hardened license validation against malformed timestamps and consolidated the activation flow.
  • Feature gate wiring: file limit soft enforcement with upgrade banner
v1.1.0
  • Command Bar — press Cmd+K to search and execute any action
  • Staging History — cleared staging sessions are saved; restore previous batches anytime
  • Multi-language support: English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Chinese
  • Licensing infrastructure for future premium features
  • 507 tests with full i18n key parity validation
  • Deduplicate utilities and remove dead code
v1.0.1
  • Fix event listener leaks on component unmount
  • Harden Quick Look thread with panic recovery
  • Strengthen AppleScript escaping against control characters
  • Cap failed thumbnail cache to prevent unbounded memory growth
  • Add panic guard to file watcher callback
  • Remove dead code and unused exports
v1.0.0
  • Pin files to keep them always accessible
  • Right-click context menu: Open, Reveal, Copy Path, Trash
  • Cross-folder staging bar with Zip, Copy, and drag support
  • Recent and Pinned sections with collapsible carousels
  • Keyboard navigation for file grid
  • Onboarding tips for new users
  • Toast notifications for actions and errors
  • WCAG accessibility improvements throughout
v0.8.0
  • Spacebar Quick Look preview — thanks Ken!
  • Multi-monitor: reliably opens on the correct display
  • What's New card carousel in Settings
  • Immediate update checks on startup
v0.7.0
  • Hover preview countdown with configurable delay
  • Open files in default app from preview modal
  • Welcome screen for first-run setup
  • Fix tray icon rendering on macOS 15
  • Live repositioning when toggling center/tray mode
v0.6.0
  • Auto-update support with in-app download
  • Thumbnail retry for failed previews
  • Cross-platform abstraction layer