Recorder Changelog

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🚀 New Features

• [Windows] Windows x64 Release: BuildBetter Recorder is now available as a signed per-user Windows installer with automatic WebView2 setup and Windows-specific updates.
• [Desktop] BuildBetter Workspaces and Collections: Signed-in users can browse Personal and workspace Collections, manage access, share links, nest and move Collections, and drag recordings into them.
• [Desktop] BuildBetter-First Experience: BuildBetter transcription, BB Agent chat, and BB Agent summaries are now the signed-in defaults while explicit provider choices and local recovery remain available.
• [Desktop] Scoped Search and AI Chat: Search local metadata quickly and keep recording, person, company, or Collection context attached to streamed AI answers.

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✨ Improvements & Enhancements

• [Desktop] Complete Cloud History: Recorder pages through your permissioned cloud recordings and Collections and retains the last complete catalog when sync is temporarily unavailable.
• [Desktop] Reliable Collection Handoffs: Local recordings upload before hosted Collection membership is created, multipart recordings stay together, and failed moves preserve the source for retry.
• [Shared] Safer Account Transitions: Credentials and hosted metadata stay isolated by account and are cleared safely when you sign out or change workspaces.

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🐛 Bug Fixes

• [Desktop] Stable Workspace Switching: Concurrent sign-in, sign-out, and workspace changes no longer race and leave cloud content in the wrong state.
• [Windows] Reliable Updates: Windows installs receive only compatible signed Windows update packages.

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🚀 New Features

• [iOS] BuildBetter Workspace: Browse cloud conversations, People, Companies, Collections, and recurring Series from the iPhone app.
• [iOS] Universal Search and Ask: Search the selected workspace, open complete results, or ask BuildBetter from the same composer.
• [iOS] Cloud Conversation Details: Read summaries, transcripts, and citations, see participants, and ask questions about an individual conversation.
• [iOS] Upcoming Meeting Controls: Review meeting and bot status, open the meeting, or start a local recording when the bot is off.

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✨ Improvements & Enhancements

• [iOS] Faster Workspace Browsing: Live search, pagination, source filters, Collection sorting, profile images, and direct links make large libraries easier to navigate.
• [iOS] Persistent Workspace Selection: The app remembers the selected workspace for cloud content, search, and AI answers after relaunching.
• [iOS] Local-First Recording: Recording, playback, transcription, recovery, and account-free setup continue to work without connecting BuildBetter.
• [iOS] Plaud Workflows Preserved: Plaud pairing, recording, import, AutoSync, and transcription remain available alongside the workspace experience.

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🐛 Bug Fixes

• [iOS] Complete Cloud Results: Cloud recordings load from the selected workspace with accurate totals and incremental pagination.
• [iOS] Reliable Search and Ask: Keyboard, scrolling, clearing, complete results, and streamed Markdown answers now behave consistently.
• [iOS] Correct Browse Navigation: Returning from a Collection, Series, Company, or Person goes back to the originating screen.
• [iOS] Clear Meeting Actions: Meetings distinguish BuildBetter bot coverage from local recording actions, including for future meetings.

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🚀 New Features

• [Desktop] Unified Recorder Workspace: Access Home, Recent recordings, People, Companies, Collections, recurring Series, upcoming meetings, and active recordings from one place.
• [Desktop] Workspace Search: Search across local and cloud recordings, transcripts, people, companies, Collections, and meeting details.
• [Desktop] AI Chat Everywhere: Ask AI about an individual recording or a broader workspace scope, with supporting evidence, chat history, voice dictation, model selection, and streaming answers.
• [Desktop] Summary Templates: Create and use structured summary templates with sections, citations, custom instructions, and locally generated summaries.
• [Desktop] Collections and Recurring Series: Organize recordings in nested Collections, pin favorites to the sidebar, and browse recurring meeting Series with accurately scoped recordings and AI chat.
• [Desktop] Cloud Recording Details: View hosted recordings with playback, transcripts, notes, summaries, participants, tags, Collections, and direct BuildBetter actions.
• [Desktop] Enhanced Playback: A shared audio/video player with seeking, 10-second skips, playback speed controls, hover previews, multi-part media selection, and hosted-video thumbnails.
• [Desktop] Menu-Bar Agenda: See upcoming BuildBetter and Mac Calendar meetings directly from the menu bar.
• [Desktop] Local-First Experience: Use Recent recordings, upcoming Mac Calendar meetings, recording controls, and local AI features even when not signed in.
• [Desktop] Configurable Media Retention: Choose whether uploaded local audio and video is kept, deleted automatically after a verified upload, or reviewed later.
• [Desktop] Instant Dictation: Dictate text with live transcription and quickly paste it into other apps; interrupted or failed dictation can be recovered from Snippets.
• [Desktop] Startup Safe Mode: Recover from launch issues with a simplified mode that lets you check for updates, restart normally, or continue using the full app.
• [iOS] Plaud Integration: Connect compatible Plaud devices, choose Plaud or iPhone recording, import recordings over Bluetooth or Wi‑Fi, and optionally AutoSync new device recordings.
• [iOS] Recovery Library: Access, play, share, and copy transcripts from locally preserved recordings if the main app cannot open normally.
• [iOS] Demo Mode: Explore realistic sample meetings, recordings, transcripts, summaries, uploads, and Plaud workflows without affecting real data.

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✨ Improvements & Enhancements

• [Desktop] More Reliable Uploads: Upload progress, completion confirmation, retry support, and clearer errors make cloud uploads easier to follow and recover.
• [Desktop] Safer Local Cleanup: Local media can be removed after a confirmed cloud upload while keeping transcripts, notes, summaries, metadata, and chat history available.
• [Desktop] Improved AI Guidance: Clearer setup help for local models, Apple Intelligence, Ollama, cloud providers, and BuildBetter AI.
• [Desktop] Smarter AI Answers: Chat better prioritizes recordings and transcripts relevant to your selected scope, combining local and BuildBetter evidence when available.
• [Desktop] Refined Recording Workspace: The former separate Live Notes window is now a docked recording page that opens with active calls and restores your previous layout afterward.
• [Desktop] Better Directories and Profiles: People and Company profiles now include photos or logos, contact details, relationships, linked recordings, and improved search.
• [Desktop] Improved Recording Browsing: Recent recordings support source filters, pagination, clearer empty states, faster loading, and cached results for large libraries.
• [Shared] Improved Accessibility: Keyboard navigation, visible focus indicators, labels, tooltips, responsive layouts, and scrolling behavior improved throughout the app.
• [Shared] More Consistent Design: Controls, menus, dialogs, tabs, settings, empty states, recording lists, and light/dark themes now have a more unified appearance.
• [iOS] Improved Recording Experience: Onboarding, recording controls, navigation, playback, upload feedback, permissions guidance, and responsive layouts have been refreshed.
• [iOS] More Resilient Plaud Transfers: Device status, connection feedback, import progress, retryable Wi‑Fi transfers, and direct access to imported recordings are improved.

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🐛 Bug Fixes

• [Desktop] Protected Uploads and Recordings: Fixed issues that could cause corrupted uploads, duplicate cloud recordings, premature local-media deletion, or interrupted upload recovery.
• [Desktop] Reliable Back-to-Back Recording: Stopping one recording no longer closes or navigates away from a newer recording.
• [Desktop] Stable AI Streaming: Fixed cases where responses from multiple AI requests could overlap or mix together.
• [Desktop] Better Transcript Browsing: Live transcripts no longer force you back to the newest text while you’re reading earlier content.
• [Desktop] Lower Resource Usage: Reduced unnecessary CPU and memory use during recording, meeting detection, dictation, and visualizer updates.
• [Desktop] Corrected macOS Permissions: System-audio recording now uses the correct permission flow.
• [Desktop] Improved Privacy: Sensitive transcripts, summaries, upload links, and service responses are no longer written to app logs.
• [Desktop] Improved Cloud Capture Stability: Fixed startup crashes, capture restart loops, status flickering, meeting-visibility warnings, screen-sharing issues, and stale transcript warnings.
• [iOS] More Reliable Transcription: Fixed paused-duration calculations, incomplete transcripts, speech-recognition recovery, no-speech messaging, and transcription retry behavior.
• [iOS] Improved Playback and Recovery: Fixed playback for large, saved, and imported recordings, along with crash/force-quit recovery and cleanup of deleted recordings’ pending uploads.
• [iOS] Fixed Plaud Compatibility Issues: Resolved newer iOS compatibility problems, pairing and token issues, and unreliable Wi‑Fi transfer retries.
• [iOS] Fixed Layout and Navigation Problems: Addressed scrolling, modal dismissal, swipe-back navigation, header behavior, overflow, banners, and compact-screen layouts.

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🐛 Bug Fixes

• [Desktop] Fixed Crash on Launch: The app could quit immediately at startup, before its window appeared — most likely with Stage Manager enabled. Because the crash happened before the update check could run, affected installs needed a manual reinstall.
• [Desktop] Fixed Misleading “Bring Meeting to Front” Warning: While cloud capture was still connecting, the app could warn that it couldn’t see your meeting even when it was right in front of you. It now stays quiet while connecting and only asks when it genuinely lost sight of a window it was capturing.
• [Desktop] More Reliable Cloud Meeting Capture: Recordings no longer finalize prematurely, Teams Desktop screenshares are captured on macOS, Teams Web meeting titles are cleaner, and several Safari screenshare and black-frame issues are fixed.
• [Desktop] Fixed False “Final Transcript Incomplete” Warning: A transcript error from a previous recording could appear on the recording you just started, even while it was still actively recording. The warning now clears when you switch recordings and never shows over a live capture.
• [Desktop] Fixed Cloud Capture Restart Loop: Cloud meeting capture no longer drops to “Cloud unavailable” and restart-loops on signed builds.
• [Desktop] Fixed Cloud Status Flickering: The cloud capture indicator no longer flips back and forth between Connecting and Local only during a recording.

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🚀 New Features

• [Desktop] Instant Dictation: Dictation can now transcribe while you speak instead of waiting until you finish, so text appears almost immediately when you release the key.
• [Desktop] Streaming Dictation Engines: Added live streaming support for Apple Speech, BuildBetter, and Deepgram, alongside the on-device engines, with a local engine as a safety net.
• [Desktop] Never Lose a Dictation: Spoken audio is preserved through failures, cancellations, and interruptions — kept in Snippets with a clear recovery state so it can be retried instead of lost.
• [Desktop] Transcript Quality Panel: Transcripts show which engine and model produced them, with an at-a-glance quality indicator and a one-click path to upgrade or install speaker labeling.
• [Desktop] Summary Quality & Regeneration: Summaries show the model that generated them and offer a redesigned regenerate menu, so you can switch models and re-run without leaving the page.
• [Desktop] Notes Editor Redesign: Notes gained a proper markdown editor with an Edit/Preview switcher, an Enhance action, and a clearer layout.
• [Desktop] Fragmented Cloud Recording Playback: Calls captured in the cloud as multiple parts now play back with a part picker, instead of showing only the newest fragment.
• [Desktop] Cloud Video Badges: Recording lists now mark which calls were captured to the cloud.

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✨ Improvements & Enhancements

• [Desktop] Much Faster Dictation: The microphone, speech engine, and on-device cleanup are prepared ahead of time, cutting the delay between pressing the key, speaking, and text being pasted.
• [Desktop] Better Dictation Cleanup: Cleanup preserves words you actually spoke while removing filler and model artifacts, and no longer pastes an assistant-style preamble.
• [Desktop] Redesigned Recording Details: The recording page was reworked with a clearer header, type label, media thumbnails, a properties list, and refreshed empty states.
• [Desktop] Clearer Cloud Meeting Guidance: Cloud capture explains itself better, with a clear “meeting ended, cloud video saved” state and no more repeated prompts to rejoin after a call is over.
• [Desktop] More Reliable Meeting Detection: Meeting detection no longer oscillates mid-call, won’t auto-rejoin a call you deliberately stopped, and ad-hoc recordings stay quietly local when there’s no meeting.
• [Desktop] Steadier Cloud Transcription: Fixed a duplicate-send issue that could make cloud transcription unrecoverable, and cloud capture no longer churns through teardown/restart cycles.
• [Desktop] Audio Capture Hardening: Reduced dropouts and choppiness from buffer overflow and mixer starvation during long recordings.

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🐛 Bug Fixes

• [Desktop] Fixed Lost Dictation Audio: Dictation clips are no longer overwritten or deleted in edge cases, including rapid back-to-back dictations, and snippets record their true duration.
• [Desktop] Fixed Dictation Cancellation: Canceling no longer risks pasting text later by accident or discarding recoverable audio.
• [Desktop] Fixed Cloud Video Playback When Signed Out: Cloud video is shown with a clear “sign in to stream” prompt instead of disappearing when authentication lapses.
• [Desktop] Fixed Duplicate Transcript Lines: Local recordings no longer duplicate speech captured from both microphone and system audio.
• [Desktop] Fixed Audio Retention on Fast Stop: Stopping a recording quickly no longer risks losing its retained audio.
• [Desktop] Fixed Large Upload Failures: Long recordings are compressed before upload so transcription no longer fails on oversized files.
• [Desktop] Fixed Unexpected Sign-Outs: Resolved an authentication caching issue that could log some users out unexpectedly.

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🚀 New Features

• [Desktop] Redesigned Settings: Settings now open as an integrated in-app page with sidebar navigation and built-in search, instead of a separate popup window.

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🐛 Bug Fixes

• [Desktop] Persistent Update Button: The “Update” button no longer stays visible when you’re already running the latest version.

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🚀 New Features

• [Desktop] Push-to-Talk Dictation: Added a dedicated dictation experience with faster microphone start, better handling for short phrases like “OK” or “No,” and more reliable final transcription.
• [Desktop] Dictation Engine Selection: You can now choose your preferred dictation engine in Settings, or let the app automatically pick the best available option.
• [Desktop] Global Escape to Cancel Dictation: You can now cancel dictation with Esc even while working in another app on macOS.
• [Desktop] Retry Failed Dictation: If a dictation fails but audio was captured, you can now retry transcription later from Snippets instead of losing it.
• [Desktop] Recording Media Badges: Call recordings now show whether they were captured as video or audio-only in recording lists and search results.
• [Desktop] Cloud Recording Sign-In Prompts: Added clearer sign-in prompts when cloud recording or cloud video features aren’t available because you’re signed out.
• [Desktop] Dedicated Recordings Pages: Added separate pages for Call Recordings, Screen Recordings, Snippets, Favorites, folders, and Archive, with list/table views, filters, sorting, and bulk actions.
• [Desktop] Bottom Playback Bar: Added a persistent playback bar with play/pause, scrubbing, skip controls, and playback speed.
• [Desktop] Cloud Video Playback: You can now watch or listen to supported cloud recordings directly in the app, with links to open them in BuildBetter when needed.
• [Desktop] Global Search and Settings Search: Added quick search for settings, recordings, notes, and transcripts, including the ⌘K / Ctrl+K shortcut.
• [Desktop] Onboarding Review Step: Added a setup review screen during onboarding so you can confirm and change key options before finishing.
• [Desktop] Appearance Preview in Onboarding: Onboarding now includes visual previews for theme and window style choices.
• [Desktop] Speaker Labeling Setup in Onboarding: Added guided setup for speaker labeling during onboarding, including model download progress when needed.
• [Desktop] More AI Models: Added support for OpenAI GPT-5.5 and Claude Opus 4.8 in the model picker.
• [Desktop] Inline Search in Recordings Views: Added section-specific search within recordings and snippets for faster filtering.
• [Desktop] Cloud Video/Audio Meeting Capture: Added cloud-powered video and audio capture for desktop meeting recordings, alongside local recording.
• [Desktop] Playback Refresh for Expired Media: Added automatic refresh for expired cloud playback links so recordings stay playable longer.

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✨ Improvements & Enhancements

• [Desktop] Faster Dictation Start: Dictation now feels much more responsive by reducing startup delays and preparing the microphone and speech engine ahead of time.
• [Desktop] Better Dictation Accuracy: Dictation now uses a full-clip transcription pass when you finish speaking, which improves punctuation, preserves short words better, and avoids fragmented results.
• [Desktop] Safer Dictation Recovery: Spoken dictation clips are now preserved in Snippets when canceled or when transcription fails, making recovery much easier.
• [Desktop] Clearer Dictation Feedback: Dictation now shows a cleaner listening state, elapsed time, and clearer processing and error feedback.
• [Desktop] Better Quiet-Mic Handling: Dictation is now more reliable for quiet microphones and low-volume speech, with improved detection and microphone visualization.
• [Desktop] Faster Dictation Stop: Stopping dictation now feels quicker, with faster cleanup and faster display of final results.
• [Desktop] More Reliable Hotkeys: Dictation hotkeys now work more consistently on macOS, including while the app itself is focused.
• [Desktop] Smarter Cloud Fallbacks: When cloud transcription or cloud recording isn’t available, the app now more clearly explains what’s happening and falls back to local transcription more gracefully.
• [Desktop] Improved Cloud Video Status: Cloud recordings and previews now show clearer loading, processing, and availability states.
• [Desktop] Better Favorites: Favorites now include all active favorited recordings, including screen recordings, with cleaner sidebar behavior.
• [Desktop] Improved Recording Browsing: Recordings are easier to browse with richer filters, sorting, tags, folders, archive support, and improved metadata display.
• [Desktop] Better Playback Experience: Recording playback now shows clearer “finalizing” or loading states instead of failing too early.
• [Desktop] Improved Search Results: Search now does a better job surfacing matches from titles, notes, and transcripts, with clearer highlighting.
• [Desktop] Better Onboarding Guidance: Onboarding is now more guided, flexible, and personalized, with clearer setup explanations, permission guidance, and next-step recommendations.
• [Desktop] Smarter Onboarding Defaults: Fresh setups now choose more sensible defaults for transcription and related settings based on your account and setup.
• [Desktop] More Flexible Setup Choices: During onboarding, you can more easily choose transcription engine, language, dictation hotkey, AI summaries, and related preferences.
• [Desktop] Reduced Interruptions: The app now shows fewer unnecessary prompts and toasts during onboarding and recording flows.
• [Desktop] Improved Calendar Permission Handling: Calendar access changes are recognized more quickly without needing to restart the app.
• [Desktop] Better Meeting Capture Status: Meeting recording now shows clearer statuses like Connecting, Cloud ready, Uploading, and Local only.
• [Desktop] Improved Screen Recording Transcript Flow: Screen recordings now better support delayed transcription and retained audio for later transcript generation.
• [Desktop] Better Desktop Responsiveness: Local transcription uses system resources more efficiently, improving responsiveness during recording, especially on lower-powered machines.

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🐛 Bug Fixes

• [Desktop] Dictation No Longer Drops Short Phrases: Fixed cases where short but valid responses like “Okay,” “No,” or “you” could be treated as silence and discarded.
• [Desktop] Fixed Missed First Words in Dictation: Dictation is less likely to cut off the beginning of speech after launch or after the mic has been idle.
• [Desktop] Fixed Dictation Reliability Issues: Resolved several cases where dictation could silently fail, get stuck processing, use the wrong microphone, or stop responding correctly.
• [Desktop] Fixed Dictation Cancellation Issues: Canceling dictation no longer risks pasting text later by accident or deleting recoverable audio.
• [Desktop] Fixed Dictation Audio Loss: Prevented saved dictation audio from being overwritten or deleted in edge cases.
• [Desktop] Fixed macOS Hotkey Problems: Resolved issues where dictation hotkeys could miss key presses or releases, get stuck on/off, or stop working until restart.
• [Desktop] Fixed Cloud Dictation Model Selection: Explicitly chosen cloud transcription models are now correctly used instead of falling back unexpectedly.
• [Desktop] Fixed Unexpected Sign-Outs: Fixed an authentication issue that could log some users out unexpectedly.
• [Desktop] Fixed Retina Window Alignment: Corrected subtle window positioning issues on high-DPI displays.
• [Desktop] Fixed Cloud Video Playback Loops: Large cloud videos no longer get stuck endlessly retrying while loading.
• [Desktop] Fixed Cloud Recording Preview Failures: Resolved cases where cloud video previews could fail to appear even after processing completed.
• [Desktop] Fixed Sign-In Flow from Floating Bar: Sign-in actions from the floating bar now open the right place more reliably.
• [Desktop] Fixed Favorites Missing Items: Older or less recent favorited recordings, especially screen recordings, now appear correctly.
• [Desktop] Fixed Calendar Refresh Issues: Meeting and calendar views now recover properly after granting access, without getting stuck in retry loops.
• [Desktop] Fixed Duplicate Transcript Lines: Local recordings no longer duplicate speech when the same audio is captured from both microphone and system audio.
• [Desktop] Fixed Long Recording Retranscription Failures: Large recordings are now more reliable to retranscribe.
• [Desktop] Fixed Audio Retention Issues: Recordings are less likely to lose retained audio when stopped quickly or during finalization.
• [Desktop] Fixed Settings Opening Issues: Opening Settings from onboarding or a freshly opened dashboard now works more reliably.
• [Desktop] Fixed Recording Detail View Glitches: Switching between recordings no longer briefly shows the previous recording’s transcript.
• [Desktop] Fixed Screen Thumbnail Generation: Screen recording previews now generate more reliably.
• [Desktop] Fixed Cloud Capture Reliability: Cloud meeting capture now recovers better from missed events and avoids duplicate uploads.
• [Desktop] Fixed Meeting Detection on macOS 26.5: Improved meeting detection reliability for Zoom and similar apps on newer macOS versions.
• [Desktop] Fixed Onboarding Save and Resume Issues: Onboarding choices now save more reliably and are less likely to be lost across restarts.
• [Desktop] Fixed Background Voice Test Cleanup: Closing onboarding no longer leaves the microphone test running in the background.
• [Desktop] Fixed Permission Prompt Edge Cases: Permission flows during onboarding are less likely to get stuck or show irrelevant prompts.

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🚀 New Features

• [Desktop] Guided Onboarding: First-time setup has been redesigned into a simpler step-by-step flow that helps you get started faster.
• [Desktop] Try Before You Finish Setup: You can now test live transcription during onboarding before completing setup, without saving any recordings or transcripts.
• [Desktop] Sign In or Continue Without an Account: You can now choose whether to sign in right away or start using the app without an account.
• [Desktop] Flexible Voice Engine Setup: Onboarding now lets you choose your transcription engine, language, and dictation hotkey, with in-place model downloads when needed.
• [Desktop] Goal-Based Setup: Setup now adapts to what you want to do, like meetings, dictation, or screen recordings, and only shows the most relevant steps.
• [Desktop] Contextual Follow-Up Prompts: Sign-in, permissions, calendar connection, and camera overlay prompts now appear only when they’re actually needed.
• [Desktop] Replay Setup Anytime: You can rerun onboarding later from Settings if you want to change or revisit your setup.
• [Desktop] Background Model Upgrades: The app can now quietly improve downloaded transcription models in the background, with visible progress and cancel support.
• [Desktop] Settings Search and Deep Links: You can now search for settings and jump directly to the exact option you need.
• [Desktop] Global Search Overlay: A new quick search lets you find recordings and snippets across titles, notes, and transcripts using ⌘K / Ctrl+K.
• [Desktop] Pause and Resume Recordings: Active recordings now support pause and resume without hiding the main recording controls.
• [Desktop] Calendar Disconnect Control: You can now fully disconnect calendar access from inside the app, which also disables calendar-based meeting detection until you reconnect.
• [Desktop] Screen Recording Transcript Controls: You can now choose whether screen recordings should generate transcripts automatically, and generate or regenerate them later from the recording details page.

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✨ Improvements & Enhancements

• [Desktop] More Reliable Onboarding Progress: Setup progress now saves more reliably, so it’s less likely to reset or reappear unexpectedly.
• [Desktop] Smoother Onboarding Experience: Onboarding now includes clearer wording, better visuals, preserved progress when going back, and more polished transitions.
• [Desktop] Smarter Permission Requests: The app now asks for permissions in a more logical order and only for features you actually plan to use.
• [Desktop] Better Meeting Setup Defaults: If you choose a meetings-focused setup, the app can automatically turn on meeting detection and auto-recording for you.
• [Desktop] More Resilient Model Downloads: Downloads are now better at resuming after interruptions, and engine changes happen more safely when the app is idle.
• [Desktop] Improved Dictation Responsiveness: Dictation now finishes faster after you stop speaking or release the hotkey, reducing the delay before text appears.
• [Desktop] More Reliable Hotkey Behavior on macOS: The dictation hotkey now recovers automatically if macOS temporarily disables it.
• [Desktop] Safer Cloud Fallback: If cloud transcription isn’t available because you’re not signed in or don’t have a workspace selected, the app now switches to an available on-device option and lets you know.
• [Desktop] Better Engine Recommendations: Onboarding now gives clearer guidance on which transcription engine is best for speed, English accuracy, or multilingual support.
• [Desktop] Improved Recording Uploads: Desktop uploads are now more reliable for larger files, with better progress reporting and stronger handling of processing delays or failures.
• [Desktop] Refreshed Sidebar and Navigation: The desktop sidebar has been redesigned with cleaner organization, nested folders, hover previews, quick actions, and better collapsed behavior.
• [Desktop] Better Search and Organization Tools: Search results and sidebar actions now make it easier to rename, move, favorite, or delete recordings.
• [Desktop] Reduced Loading Flicker: Several views now feel smoother by avoiding unnecessary loading flashes during fast transitions.
• [Desktop] More Reliable Language Handling: Your selected transcription language is now applied more consistently across live transcription and retranscription.
• [Desktop] Improved Summary Reliability: If one local summary engine fails, the app can now fall back to another available option automatically.
• [Desktop] Clearer Screen Recording Transcript Flow: Screen recordings now show clearer transcript status and make it easier to understand when transcript generation is available.
• [Desktop] Retain Audio for Later Transcripts: Screen recordings can now keep the audio needed to generate a transcript later, even if automatic transcription was turned off.
• [Desktop] Better Final Transcript Quality: After recording stops, the app now performs a final pass using the saved audio to improve transcript completeness and accuracy.
• [Desktop] Clearer Processing Status: The app now does a better job showing when audio or transcript processing is still finishing, including when a final transcript may be incomplete.
• [Desktop] More Dependable Meeting Detection Controls: Meeting detection settings now persist more reliably across restarts, and automatic meeting recording is better at avoiding false starts.
• [iOS] Clearer Plaud Setup Errors: When the Plaud SDK reports a permission, resource, or app-key problem, the app now surfaces it instead of showing “ready” when it isn’t.
• [iOS] More Reliable Plaud Device Scanning: Discovered Plaud devices now stay connectable across scans, and scanning stops before connecting for steadier Bluetooth connections.
• [iOS] Steadier Plaud Status: Scanning and connection state are now tracked separately, so routine device updates like battery and storage no longer interrupt an active scan.
• [iOS] Plaud Session Token Refresh: Plaud now refreshes its BuildBetter access token before it expires, avoiding mid-session failures during longer use.

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🐛 Bug Fixes

• [Desktop] Onboarding Replay Fixes: Restarting onboarding from Settings now properly resets setup state and gives clearer feedback if something goes wrong.
• [Desktop] Workspace Selection Fix: Signed-in setup now saves the correct workspace more reliably, preventing cloud transcription and upload issues.
• [Desktop] AI Setup Fixes: Setup now correctly enables summaries and dictation cleanup when you opt in and a supported AI option is available.
• [Desktop] Apple Speech Reliability Fixes: Live transcription with Apple Speech now recovers faster from stalls and audio errors, retries more effectively, and gives a clearer message if recovery fails.
• [Desktop] Faster Apple Speech Recovery: Stalled Apple Speech sessions now recover much sooner during active speech.
• [Desktop] Fewer False Transcription Restarts: Apple Speech is less likely to restart unnecessarily after long silence, helping avoid cut-off speech when you begin talking again.
• [Desktop] Onboarding Cleanup Fix: Closing onboarding no longer leaves the live voice test running in the background.
• [Desktop] Settings Save Error Feedback: If a setting fails to save, the app now shows a visible error instead of failing silently.
• [Desktop] Calendar Disconnect Fix: Disconnecting calendar access now fully stops calendar-based reading and meeting detection until you reconnect.
• [Desktop] Cloud Permission Messaging Fix: Authentication and permission problems during cloud transcription now show clearer, more accurate messages instead of generic connection failures.
• [Desktop] Recording Deletion Fixes: Deleting a recording now more reliably removes its media files, while also avoiding accidental deletion if the recording itself wasn’t successfully removed.
• [Desktop] Screen Recording Transcript Timing Fixes: Transcript generation for screen recordings now waits until audio processing is fully finished, avoiding incomplete or broken transcripts.
• [Desktop] Screen Recording Audio Retention Fixes: Saved screen recording audio now restores and updates correctly, so transcript generation remains available after reloads.
• [Desktop] Local AI Reliability Fixes: Local summary and generation tools are now less likely to hang, timeout, or mishandle prompts and file paths.
• [Desktop] Crash Recovery Improvements: If a desktop window crashes unexpectedly, the app now shows a recovery screen with a reload option instead of leaving you with a blank window.
• [Desktop] Favorites and Sidebar Refresh Fixes: Changes like favoriting, renaming, or deleting recordings now update more reliably across the app.
• [Desktop] Layout Overflow Fixes: Very long calendar event titles no longer push important controls off screen.
• [Desktop] Audio Retention Fixes: Recordings set to discard audio now do so more reliably, while recordings meant to keep audio retain it correctly for transcript processing.
• [Desktop] Recording Shutdown Fixes: Stopping a recording is now more reliable, with fewer cases where shutdown or final processing could hang or start too early.
• [Desktop] BuildBetter Reconnect Fixes: Unexpected cloud transcription disconnects are now detected more reliably, with better recovery and clearer warnings.
• [iOS] Plaud Wi-Fi Imports Work on Long Recordings: Wi-Fi transfers now connect to the correct device hotspot and no longer fail on longer recordings due to a fixed overall time limit; a transfer only fails if it genuinely stalls.
• [iOS] Plaud Recording List Reliability: The device recording list no longer comes back empty when the device responds slowly or sends results in multiple parts.
• [iOS] Accurate Plaud Connection State: Successful app-key verification and in-progress unpairing are no longer misreported as errors.
• [iOS] More Stable Plaud Transfers: Transfer progress and completion are now handled consistently, preventing duplicate or out-of-order import results.

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🚀 New Features

• [iOS] Plaud Recorder Support on iPhone: You can now connect a Plaud device in the iOS app to manage recordings, browse files, and import audio directly into your BuildBetter recordings library.
• [iOS] Faster Plaud Imports with Wi‑Fi: Plaud recordings can now be transferred over Wi‑Fi for quicker imports, alongside the standard import option.
• [Desktop] Easier AI Transcription Setup: AI transcription settings have been redesigned with clearer provider cards and built-in setup flows for on-device transcription, BuildBetter cloud, and your own API key providers.
• [Desktop] Meeting Detection Toggle: You can now turn meeting detection on or off with a setting that stays saved, and the app will respect that choice across desktop setup and settings.
• [Desktop] Notion Beta Enabled by Default: If you haven’t opted out, the new Notion experience is now turned on automatically so it’s available right away.

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✨ Improvements & Enhancements

• [Desktop] More Accurate Auto-Recording: Automatic recording now waits for stronger meeting signals before starting, helping avoid unwanted recordings.
• [Desktop] Safer Auto-Stop Behavior: The app is better at stopping the correct recording and is less likely to interrupt recordings you started manually.
• [Desktop] More Reliable Live Transcription: Live transcription now stays more responsive during slowdowns by prioritizing recent speech and reducing lag from backed-up audio.
• [Desktop] Better End-of-Recording Responsiveness: Transcription wraps up faster after a recording ends while still allowing a short moment for final transcript updates to arrive.
• [Desktop] Improved Notion Settings Reliability: Notion settings now refresh more reliably, support more connection formats, and offer clearer recovery options if settings fail to load.
• [iOS] Refreshed iPhone App Navigation: The Recordings, Settings, and Upcoming screens now have a more polished native look with updated headers and settings styling.
• [iOS] Better Plaud Setup Experience: Plaud setup is now simpler, with automatic workspace selection when possible, clearer status messages, and better guidance when sign-in or workspace selection is required.
• [iOS] Cleaner Plaud Device Management: Disabling or resetting Plaud now clears connection state more cleanly, reducing stale status messages and confusing scan states.
• [iOS] Clearer Plaud Recording Details: Imported Plaud recordings are now labeled as coming from a Plaud device, and their timestamps are more accurate for sorting.
• [Desktop] Clearer Language Diagnostics: Feedback and Slack summaries now show transcription language details more clearly, including selected and detected language when available, plus guidance that auto-detect may be less reliable for short or noisy audio.
• [Desktop] More Reliable Window Style Updates: Desktop window style changes now apply more consistently across the app, including smoother updates after onboarding or when switching between notch and floating modes.

​

🐛 Bug Fixes

• [Desktop] Meeting Detection Fully Respects Off State: Fixed an issue where meeting detection could continue running even after being turned off.
• [Desktop] Active Meeting Status Clears Correctly: Stopping or disabling meeting detection no longer leaves the app incorrectly showing an active meeting.
• [Desktop] Improved Cloud Transcription Recovery: Fixed issues where stalled live transcription streams could stop updating, replay old audio, or show duplicate and out-of-order transcript text after reconnecting.
• [Desktop] BuildBetter Transcription Startup No Longer Hangs: Fixed a problem where live transcription could get stuck at startup. The app now times out gracefully and shows a clear error so you can retry or switch providers.
• [Desktop] Desktop Local AI Models Work More Reliably: Fixed packaged desktop builds so bundled local AI features no longer depend on missing machine-specific files.
• [Desktop] macOS Native Components Load Correctly: Fixed macOS app packaging issues that could prevent important native components from loading properly.
• [iOS] Plaud Bluetooth Fallback Works Again: Fixed Plaud connection so it can still connect through Bluetooth when a device token isn’t available.
• [iOS] Plaud Setup Handles Workspace Changes Properly: Fixed Plaud initialization and status refresh issues when switching BuildBetter workspaces.
• [iOS] Plaud Connection Errors Are Clearer: Fixed Plaud setup so connection attempts won’t continue before initialization is complete, with clearer error messages when setup is missing required information.
• [iOS] BuildBetter Transcription on iPhone Is More Reliable: Fixed iOS issues where BuildBetter transcription could fail during startup or miss transcript updates because of backend message format differences.
• [iOS] Chat Sheet No Longer Overlaps Controls on Mobile: Fixed the mobile chat view so it appears above floating controls and avoids layout overlap.
• [Desktop] Notch and Floating Bar Layout Issues Fixed: Fixed desktop UI issues where the recorder could show the wrong layout after onboarding or when switching between notch and floating modes.

​

🚀 New Features

• [Desktop] OpenAI Speech-to-Text: Use OpenAI for live transcription and for retranscribing saved recordings, with model selection.
• [Desktop] Video Meeting Recording Controls: Settings include controls for video + audio or audio-only capture, plus clearer availability and setup status.
• [iOS] OpenAI Speech-to-Text: OpenAI live transcription and retranscription on iPhone, with model selection.
• [iOS] On-Device Transcription on iPhone: Parakeet on-device transcription with live + post-recording modes and built-in model download/management.
• [Shared] Cloud Model Picker: Choose between cloud AI model options for supported providers directly in Settings without re-entering your API key.
• [Shared] Retranscription Progress Indicator: Live progress updates while regenerating a transcript.
• [Shared] AI Quality Indicator: Chat and summary screens show an AI quality badge with model details and a shortcut to Settings.

​

✨ Improvements

• [Desktop] Clearer Video Meeting Recording Language: Simpler, friendlier wording in settings and status messages.
• [Shared] Better Transcription Setup Guidance: Setup screens better show when OpenAI or Parakeet is ready and what’s missing.
• [Desktop] Easier Parakeet Setup: Clearer model status, download progress, upgrade prompts, supported-model guidance.
• [Shared] Smarter Summary Progress Feedback: Clearer progress and completion states while summaries generate.
• [Desktop] Improved Audio Device Handling: Default mics/speakers marked clearly; system device changes followed reliably during recording.
• [Desktop] More Reliable Dictation Behavior: Dictation waits briefly for trailing speech before stopping, preserving last words.
• [Desktop] Improved macOS Permission Flow: Screen recording and camera permission messaging is clearer and refreshes reliably after grant/deny.
• [Desktop] Better macOS Update Guidance: Warns when the app runs from a location where automatic updates won’t work (e.g., outside Applications).
• [iOS/Android] Smoother Mobile Startup and Navigation: More reliable mobile startup, clearer loading/error states, more responsive onboarding and recording.
• [iOS] Faster Mobile Recording Response: Mobile recording feels quicker and less likely to stall on start/stop.
• [iOS] More Reliable Saved Recordings: iPhone recordings preserved more safely, reducing accidental loss from temporary storage.
• [Desktop] Improved Local AI Output Formatting: Local AI responses preserve spacing and formatting (lists, indentation) more accurately.
• [Desktop] Clearer Local AI Error Messages: Local AI requests that are too large get clearer fix guidance.
• [Desktop] Better Long Transcript Progress Updates: Step-by-step progress on long retranscriptions instead of appearing stuck.
• [Desktop] Improved Transcript Panel Layout: Transcript controls behave better on small desktop window sizes.
• [Shared] Updated Transcription Quality Ratings: Clearer 7-level scale for comparing privacy and accuracy tradeoffs between providers.

​

🐛 Bug Fixes

• [Shared] More Reliable Final Transcript Capture: Stopping a recording or dictation is less likely to cut off the last few spoken words.
• [Shared] Better Recovery from Cloud Transcription Disconnects: Cloud transcription recovers more reliably from connection issues and preserves more transcript content.
• [Shared] Fixed Empty Summary Results: Failed summary generation now reports the problem instead of finishing silently with nothing saved.
• [iOS] Fixed White Screen and Startup Crashes: Mobile startup more stable; fixed blank screens, init failures, render crashes.
• [iOS] Fixed Recording State Issues: App stays in sync with actual recording state more reliably during slow starts or failed stops.
• [iOS] Fixed Loss of Recordings: Existing iPhone recordings moved into durable storage more reliably.
• [iOS] Fixed Parakeet Final Transcript Loss: Stopping a Parakeet recording flushes remaining audio more safely so final speech isn’t lost.
• [Desktop] Fixed Parakeet Retranscription for Saved Recordings: Regenerating transcripts now works correctly for Parakeet recordings, including long ones that previously could fail or crash.
• [Desktop] Fixed Speaker Labels in Retranscription: Retranscribed recordings with speaker detection keep more of the transcript and apply speaker labels more accurately during fast speaker switches.
• [Desktop] Fixed macOS Camera Permission Issues: Webcam overlay and camera access on macOS request and report permissions more reliably.
• [Desktop] Fixed Auto-Update Problems on macOS: App avoids install attempts from unsupported locations and shows clearer guidance instead of failing silently.
• [Shared] Fixed Authentication Refresh Glitches: Intermittent sign-in failures from overlapping refresh attempts are less likely.
• [Desktop] Fixed Local AI Hangs and Broken Characters: Local AI generation more stable; less likely to freeze or produce malformed text.
• [Desktop] Fixed Missing Transcript Panel Controls: Close and copy buttons in the transcript view remain visible more reliably.
• [Desktop] Fixed Popovers Near Screen Edges: Quality and settings popovers display correctly on small or narrow windows.
• [Desktop] Fixed Floating Bar After Switching from Notch: Switching window style from notch to floating no longer leaves the bar clipped — geometry resets fully without an app restart.
• [Desktop] Fixed Notch After Onboarding: Finishing onboarding with the notch style no longer shows a squashed, upside-down floating bar — the main window switches to the notch UI correctly.
• [Desktop] Fixed BuildBetter Transcription Hang: A stalled credits check or WebSocket handshake no longer blocks live transcription forever — the app gives up after 45 seconds with a clear “session start timed out” error.
• [Desktop] Fixed Notarization for Bundled Frameworks: Release builds with the video meeting recording SDK now sign every nested binary individually with a secure timestamp, so Apple notarization no longer rejects inner GStreamer dylibs.

​

🚀 New Features

• [Desktop] Retranscription Progress Updates: Live status updates in the transcript pane — loading audio, uploading, transcribing, saving.
• [Desktop] Cloud Model Picker: Choose between available cloud AI models in Settings → AI without re-entering API keys.
• [Shared] AI Quality Indicators: Chat, summaries, and transcripts show clearer quality and provider details — which model or transcription engine was used and what to expect.
• [iOS] Expanded iOS AI Options: Choose on-device AI, BuildBetter, or your own OpenAI / Anthropic / Groq keys for summaries and chat on iPhone/iPad.
• [iOS] iOS API Key Management: Add, review, and remove supported AI API keys directly in Settings with secure storage.
• [iOS] BuildBetter Transcription on iOS: iOS supports BuildBetter as a transcription option, including live transcription and cloud retranscription.
• [Shared] Back-to-Back Recording Preferences: Choose how overlapping meetings are handled — prompt, auto-split, or keep as one.
• [Desktop] Recording Split, Merge, and Archive Actions: Supported recordings include user-facing options to split, merge, or archive from Recording Detail.
• [Desktop] Archived Recordings: Archive instead of delete; hidden from the main list, restorable later.
• [Desktop] Clear Chat: Recording chat threads can be cleared from the chat header.
• [Desktop] macOS Meeting Notifications: Notified when a new meeting starts while another recording is in progress.
• [Desktop] Speaker Identification Banner: Transcripts show a clearer in-app prompt when speaker identification is off, with a one-click enable.
• [Desktop] Setup Wizard Feedback Button: Send feedback directly from the setup flow.
• [Shared] Post-Call Rating Controls: Disable rating prompts from Settings or pick “Don’t ask me again” in the rating dialog.
• [Desktop] macOS Screen Recording: Record a full display or single window on macOS, with optional mic audio, system audio, and webcam overlay.
• [Desktop] Screen Recording Setup Window: Dedicated setup for sources, audio options, and camera placement.
• [Desktop] Screen Recording Library: Screen recordings have their own library view, separate from audio.
• [Desktop] Goal-Based Onboarding: Onboarding adapts to whether you want meeting recording, voice capture, and/or screen recording.

​

✨ Improvements

• [Desktop] Clearer Retranscription Warnings: Regenerate-transcript dialog explains speaker-identification tradeoffs.
• [Desktop] Better Speaker Paragraphs: Retranscribed transcripts grouped into cleaner speaker paragraphs.
• [Desktop] More Accurate Speaker Assignment: Better labeling around short interjections and overlapping speech.
• [Desktop] Improved Long Recording Handling: Long retranscriptions process more smoothly with better progress updates and fewer backend limits.
• [Desktop] Faster Parakeet on Apple Silicon: Local Parakeet retranscription uses Apple hardware acceleration when available.
• [Desktop] More Responsive Transcript Panel: Controls stay visible at narrower window sizes.
• [Shared] Updated Model Names and Defaults: Names, descriptions, and defaults refreshed to reflect current options and quality.
• [Desktop] Smoother Settings Experience: AI model lists load smoothly and preserve existing API key details when you switch models.
• [Desktop] Better Transcript Quality Details: Transcript status shows which provider, model, and speaker-labeling method were used, with safe fallbacks for older recordings.
• [iOS] Streaming AI Responses on iOS: Cloud AI responses stream live for more responsive chat.
• [Shared] Better BuildBetter Reliability: BuildBetter transcription more resilient to temporary disconnects; recovers automatically in more cases.
• [Shared] Credit Exhaustion Alerts: Clearer warnings when BuildBetter credits run out, with a quick path to switch settings.
• [Shared] Automatic BuildBetter Defaults: Eligible workspace users get BuildBetter selected automatically for transcription and snippet cleaning, preserving manual choices.
• [iOS/Android] Improved Mobile Experience: Classic and Retro themes, theme switcher, better playback controls, mobile retranscription, configurable mic sample rate.
• [Desktop] Smarter Recording Actions: Split/merge/archive include clearer confirmations and hide when they don’t apply.
• [Desktop] Shorter “Catch Me Up” Recaps: Concise three-bullet summary.
• [Shared] Improved Onboarding Messaging: Setup explains AI quality, speed, download size, permissions, and speaker-identification tradeoffs more clearly.
• [Desktop] Visible Diarization Download Size: Speaker identification download size shown upfront during setup.
• [Shared] Less Disruptive Rating Prompts: Post-call rating prompts appear after recording review, not immediately at end.
• [iOS] Refreshed iOS Onboarding: Cleaner, more native look with clearer setup steps.
• [iOS/Android] Classic Theme by Default: New mobile installs start with the Classic theme.
• [Desktop] Better Screen Recording Workflow: More consistent behavior from setup through final processing; completed videos used reliably for playback, upload, sharing.
• [Desktop] Screen Recordings Get Post-Processing: Same titles and summaries treatment as audio recordings when transcripts are available.
• [Desktop] Improved Folder Management: Clearer folder handling with a visible main Recordings folder, better filtering, and rename/move support.
• [Desktop] More Reliable Dashboard Navigation: Opening directly to areas like Recordings works more consistently.

​

🐛 Bug Fixes

• [Desktop] Full Transcript Preservation: Retranscription with speaker identification no longer drops text from short segments.
• [Desktop] Safer Diarization Fallbacks: If speaker identification fails, the app keeps the full transcript instead of returning partial.
• [Desktop] Fixed Speaker Label Collapsing: Retranscribed conversations no longer collapse into a single “Speaker 0” block when speaker separation is available.
• [Desktop] Parakeet Retranscription Restored: Parakeet recordings can be retranscribed correctly again.
• [Desktop] Long Parakeet Crash Fix: Long local Parakeet retranscriptions no longer crash the desktop app.
• [Desktop] Transcript Controls Visible Again: Close and Copy buttons in the transcript panel no longer disappear at medium window sizes.
• [Desktop] Quality Popover Positioning: Popovers stay readable instead of being clipped at window edges.
• [Desktop] Older Recording Metadata Fallbacks: Older recordings without saved provider details show safer fallback info instead of misleading labels.
• [iOS] iOS Theme Onboarding Fix: Onboarding always uses the intended appearance, even if a different theme was previously saved.
• [iOS] Version Display Fix: Version and build info correctly match the current release.
• [Shared] BuildBetter Speaker Numbering Fix: Retranscribed speakers now start at Speaker 1 for consistency.
• [Desktop] Settings Shortcut Fix: “Open Settings” from credit warnings works more reliably, even from the recorder window.
• [iOS/Android] Mobile Reliability Fixes: Better onboarding layout on modern iPhones, more reliable feedback submission, improved long-recording stability, better transcript finalization on end.
• [Shared] BuildBetter Login Fallback: Selecting BuildBetter without the required login or workspace falls back safely instead of failing silently.
• [Desktop] Auto-Split Timing Fix: Back-to-back meeting auto-splitting happens at the correct time.
• [Desktop] Invalid Split/Merge Protection: Unsupported split/merge actions blocked safely to prevent broken results.
• [Shared] Token Refresh Reliability: Authentication refreshes more reliably before expiry, reducing intermittent failures.
• [Desktop] BuildBetter Retranscription Fix: Saved recordings use BuildBetter correctly for retranscription instead of falling back to the wrong backend.
• [Shared] BuildBetter Transcript Fidelity: Retranscriptions better preserve speaker labels, timing, and confidence.
• [iOS] Calendar Loading Feedback on iOS: “Show calendars” setting gives clearer loading, retry, and empty-state feedback.
• [Shared] Deepgram Language Fixes: Selected languages and auto-detect work correctly across live and retranscription, improving multilingual accuracy.
• [Desktop] Faster “No Transcript Found” Feedback: Recordings that never produce a transcript surface the result sooner.
• [Desktop] Improved Screen Recording Stability: Crashes, preview issues, shutdown reliability, and recording state sync fixed on macOS.
• [Desktop] Smoother Live Cursor Preview: Mouse cursor smoother during live screen recording previews.
• [Desktop] Camera Overlay Position Fix: Webcam overlays stay correctly positioned in the recorded video.
• [Desktop] Long Screen Recording Upload Fix: Screen recordings with webcam overlay less likely to miss auto-upload after long export times.
• [Shared] Key Persistence Fixes: Sign-in tokens and saved cloud API keys recover more reliably when secure storage is flaky.
• [Desktop] Folder Operation Recovery: Folder moves, renames, and creation behave more reliably if something fails partway through.

​

🚀 New Features

• [Desktop] Screen Recording on macOS: Record full screen or a single window, with optional mic audio, system audio, and webcam overlay.
• [Desktop] Screen Recording Setup Window: Choose what to record, preview sources live, adjust audio options, and position your camera overlay before you start.
• [Desktop] Dedicated Screen Library: Screen recordings have their own Screen section.
• [Desktop] Live Camera Preview: Floating live camera preview during capture when recording with webcam.
• [Desktop] Goal-Based Onboarding: Setup adapts to your goals — meetings, talk-to-text snippets, or screen recording.
• [Desktop] Recording Folders: Create folders, set a default folder, and move recordings between folders.
• [Desktop] Groq AI Provider Support: Groq available as a cloud AI option for chat, summaries, dictation cleanup, and transcription.
• [Desktop] Dictation Finalize Mode: Pick whether dictation pastes raw transcript immediately or waits for a cleaned-up final version.
• [Desktop] Meeting Note Prompt: Prompt to start taking notes when a meeting starts.
• [Desktop] Meeting Trigger Details: Recordings show why they started (meeting auto-start, dictation trigger).
• [Desktop] Mirror Camera Option: Mirror the webcam overlay in screen recordings.
• [iOS] Classic and Retro themes: iOS theme options with a new theme switcher in Settings.
• [iOS] Dedicated playback controls: Scrub, skip, and playback-speed controls on iOS.
• [iOS] Retranscription on iOS: Existing recordings can be retranscribed from the mobile app.
• [iOS] Configurable mic sample rate: Pick the sample rate used when recording on iOS.

​

✨ Improvements

• [Desktop] Smarter Screen Recording Processing: Auto titles and summaries when usable audio is available.
• [Desktop] Better Screen Recording Playback: Detail pages prioritize the finished video, support inline playback, and still expose the raw camera clip.
• [Desktop] Improved Screen Recording Flow: Starting and stopping returns you to the right screen more consistently.
• [Desktop] More Reliable Dashboard Navigation: Opening directly to tabs like Recordings is more dependable.
• [Shared] Clearer Onboarding: Refreshed across desktop and iOS — clearer wording, better permission guidance, cleaner layouts, step-by-step progress indicator.
• [Desktop] Simpler Permission Requests: Permission prompts explain required vs. optional, especially for microphone, calendar, camera, and screen recording.
• [Desktop] Hosted Workflow Setup Improvements: BuildBetter workspace setup loads earlier and remembers your selected workspace.
• [Desktop] Improved Dictation Speed and Reliability: Finalization faster, more consistent, and better at preserving cleaned text, source app, and tone history.
• [Desktop] Richer Transcript Formatting: Better preservation of speaker labels, punctuation, timing, confidence, and other metadata.
• [Desktop] More Reliable Transcript Saving: Live transcripts continuously saved during recording, improving summary accuracy.
• [Desktop] Better Summary Accuracy: Auto-summaries use the most complete transcript available.
• [Desktop] Improved “Catch Me Up”: Catch-up summaries focus on the last five minutes and return three short bullets.
• [Desktop] Faster AI Settings Refresh: Changing cloud AI API keys refreshes available models quickly and reliably.
• [Desktop] Improved Feedback Reporting: Feedback and post-call reports include better diagnostics for faster resolution.
• [Desktop] Window Style Preference Persistence: Desktop window style restores reliably between launches.
• [Desktop] Smoother Desktop Startup: More stable startup, fewer visual glitches, more consistent window behavior.
• [Desktop] Better Audio Stability During Calls: Microphone and system audio handling on macOS more stable during device changes.
• [Desktop] Improved Meeting Detection: Fewer false triggers from background activity; more accurate start/stop detection.
• [Desktop] Streamlined Recordings Experience: Recent recordings and navigation more consistent.
• [Desktop] Safer Storage Management: Settings clearer about where recordings save; storage usage reporting more accurate.
• [iOS] Cleaner iOS Default Theme: New iOS installs default to Classic.
• [iOS] Major mobile UI overhaul: Redesigned recording, playback, and settings.
• [iOS] Settings rewrite: Refreshed layout with clearer sections, better copy, new controls.
• [iOS] Recording detail polish: Inline playback, upgraded transcript viewing, easier sharing.
• [iOS] Updated on-device intelligence library: Better accuracy and stability.
• [iOS] Richer transcript view: Better handling of speaker labels, punctuation, and long-running sessions.

​

🐛 Bug Fixes

• [Desktop] Faster “No Transcript Found” Handling: Recordings that never receive a transcript fail sooner.
• [Desktop] More Reliable Screen Recording Startup: Fixed cases where screen recording appeared stuck, failed to start, or prompted for the wrong permissions.
• [Desktop] Improved Screen Recording Stability: Crashes, corrupted previews, startup failures, unreliable stopping/finalization all fixed.
• [Desktop] Camera Overlay Positioning Fixed: Webcam picture-in-picture overlay on macOS stays in place.
• [Desktop] Smoother Cursor Capture: Mouse movement smoother in macOS screen recordings.
• [Desktop] More Reliable Camera Overlay Recording: Fixed cases where the live camera preview or final exported video could miss the camera feed.
• [Desktop] Correct Camera Overlay Layering: Camera overlay properly appears on top of the screen recording.
• [Desktop] Better Long Recording Finalization: Long screen recordings with camera overlay less likely to fail upload or finish processing late.
• [Desktop] System Audio Permission Fix: Turning off Include system audio properly skips capture and avoids unnecessary prompts.
• [Desktop] Unsupported Device Handling: Devices/macOS versions that don’t support screen recording are identified correctly.
• [Desktop] Screen Tab Folder View Fix: Screen recordings remain visible when browsing within a folder.
• [Desktop] Recording Routing Fixes: Fixed cases where recording windows or shortcuts opened the wrong screen.
• [Desktop] Summary Refresh Fixes: Auto-summaries appear reliably in recording details without manual refresh.
• [Desktop] Transcript Save/Load Fixes: Fixed missing, misplaced, incomplete, or wrongly attached transcripts.
• [Desktop] Live Transcript Reliability: Fixed cases where live recordings could end with empty transcripts despite captured speech.
• [Desktop] Apple Speech Stability Fixes: On-device transcription recovers better if it stalls during recording.
• [Desktop] Sign-In and API Key Persistence: Tokens and saved API keys recover reliably when macOS Keychain is flaky.
• [Desktop] Window Dragging Restored: Dashboard title bar can be dragged again without interfering with buttons, links, or search.
• [Desktop] Window Style Preference Fix: Window style no longer unexpectedly switches after upgrading.
• [Desktop] Folder Safety Improvements: Invalid folder names/IDs blocked; folder moves safer mid-save.
• [Desktop] Reduced False Meeting Starts: Webex background activity less likely to trigger accidental prompts.
• [iOS] iOS Onboarding Layout Fixes: Spacing and safe-area issues fixed on iPhones with notches or home indicators.
• [iOS] More reliable feedback submission: iOS feedback batched and submitted more reliably.
• [iOS] Mobile capture memory fix: Memory allocation bug in the mobile capture layer fixed.
• [iOS] Live transcript finalization on iOS: iOS live transcripts preserve captured text more reliably on end.
• [Desktop] Dictation Cleanup Fix: Finalized dictation no longer includes internal system messages in pasted text.

​

🚀 New Features

• [Desktop] Recording folders in the sidebar: Create folders from the sidebar, with a visible Recordings folder for everything in the main library, default-folder selection, and folder filtering.
• [Desktop] Notion export beta: Connect Recorder to Notion, choose a default destination, push notes/summaries/transcripts from Recording Detail.
• [Desktop] Groq cloud support: Groq as a cloud provider for AI chat, summarization, snippet cleanup, live transcription, and retranscription.
• [Desktop] Meeting-aware recording flow: Auto-started recordings link to the current calendar event; upcoming meetings open their linked recordings; Recorder can prompt for a fresh recording when meetings overlap.
• [Desktop] Meeting relink controls: Recording Detail can suggest nearby meetings and lets you relink/unlink mis-matched ones.
• [Desktop] Take-notes meeting prompt: Native prompt when a detected meeting starts.
• [Desktop] Limited onboarding mode: Setup continues in reduced-capability mode when permissions or models are still missing.
• [Desktop] Custom snippet cleaner instructions: Give the dictation cleaner extra guidance for your style.
• [Desktop] Flexible storage controls: Choose recording location, set default folders, optionally compress finished local audio.

​

✨ Improvements

• [Desktop] Folder management now lives where you use it: Folder creation pulled out of Settings and into the sidebar.
• [Desktop] Better folder settings: Rename, change save location, optionally move existing recordings.
• [Desktop] Faster move-to-folder flow: Show in Finder and Move to folder combined into one menu.
• [Desktop] Better folder filtering and counts: Browse and search custom folders or main Recordings more reliably.
• [Desktop] More flexible Notion defaults: Remember preferred connection, parent page, and exported sections.
• [Desktop] Clearer integrations labeling: BuildBetter and Notion connections live under Integrations.
• [Desktop] Richer playback controls: Scrub, skip back/forward, playback speed changes.
• [Desktop] Smarter transcript recovery: AI chat and transcript actions fall back gracefully when transcript files are missing.
• [Desktop] More reliable uploads and feedback flows: Common media types preserved cleanly; feedback dialogs remember your email.
• [Desktop] Clearer AI assistant readiness: Explains why AI chat is unavailable and points you to the right setup step.
• [Desktop] More flexible BuildBetter environment routing: Desktop auth, uploads, and integrations behave consistently across prod, staging, and local environments.
• [Desktop] Better recording provenance details: Developer Mode shows why a recording or snippet was created.
• [Desktop] More control over meeting prompts: Manage take-notes pop-up from Calendar settings; preview in Developer Mode.
• [Desktop] Clearer update guidance: Update failures from disk-image or translocated paths explained.
• [Desktop] Clearer transcription language guidance: Setup flags English-only Whisper model mismatches and suggests multilingual alternatives.
• [Desktop] Faster AI settings refresh after key changes: Saving/removing a cloud API key refreshes model availability immediately.
• [Desktop] Better summary automation organization: Auto-title and auto-summary controls alongside summary templates.
• [Desktop] Clearer snippet browsing: Long snippet titles and previews wrap cleanly.
• [Desktop] Cleaner dictation output: Cleanup preserves your wording, removes repeated passages, adds natural paragraph breaks.
• [Desktop] Smoother live transcript updates: Long recordings stream transcript updates with less lag and UI churn.
• [Shared] More focused catch-up summaries: Catch-me-up returns three short bullets based on the last five minutes.
• [Desktop] More resilient dictation overlays: Dictation Bar stays compact until speech arrives; Notch recovers reliably if cleanup or stop events delay.
• [Desktop] Clearer auto-paste guidance: Errors explain disk-image, translocated path, or local dev build issues.
• [Desktop] More helpful empty states: Home can start a recording directly when your library is empty.
• [Desktop] More reliable macOS packaging: Cleaner updater archives and more reliable DMGs on newer macOS.
• [Desktop] Safer updater artifacts: Versioned updater bundles reduce cache collisions between releases.
• [Shared] Consistent app naming across releases: macOS keeps BuildBetter.ai Recorder, iOS keeps BB Recorder.

​

🐛 Bug Fixes

• [Desktop] Cleaner recording shutdown timing: Waits for final audio and transcript output before announcing stop.
• [Desktop] Safer folder moves and renames: Rolls back safely if a file move fails partway through.
• [Desktop] More reliable folder creation: Folder creation, library counts, and default-folder handling more consistent.
• [Desktop] More reliable Notion environment handling: Notion export follows the BuildBetter environment of your sign-in.
• [Desktop] Fewer updater install failures: Update archives strip problematic macOS metadata files.
• [Desktop] More robust build environment checks: Local build scripts catch missing Xcode toolchain earlier.
• [Desktop] Safer transcription language validation: Unsupported codes rejected earlier with clearer errors.
• [Desktop] Fewer accidental dictation hotkey triggers: Fn, Globe, and other modifier hotkeys less likely to start/stop dictation unexpectedly.
• [Desktop] Fewer false-positive meeting auto-starts: Webex background activity less likely to mimic an active meeting.
• [Desktop] Safer recording state transitions: Guards against duplicate starts; keeps more trailing transcript text before finalizing.
• [Desktop] Better recovery when capture ends unexpectedly: Stops and cleans up reliably if audio sources disconnect or transcript streams stall.
• [Desktop] More reliable floating window behavior: Manually opened windows stay visible until dismissed.

​

🚀 New Features

• Snippets mode for dictation: Capture quick dictation clips, then browse and copy them from the Snippets view.
• New Dictation Bar and notch controls: Faster start/stop with dedicated dictation surfaces.
• Dictation & Snippets settings page: Configure hotkeys, auto-paste, always-visible bar, and snippet display preferences in one place.
• Template-based auto-summarize defaults: Choose built-in or custom templates as the default auto-summary format.
• Snippet cleaner provider/model selection: Pick how cleanup runs before paste — local models, Apple Foundation, OpenAI, Anthropic, BuildBetter, or Ollama. Includes GPT-5 Nano.
• Parakeet transcription option: New transcription engine with guided model management.
• BuildBetter cloud support: Use BuildBetter-hosted AI for transcription and chat when signed in.
• Enhanced Notes tab: Dedicated enhanced-notes view in recording detail.
• Built-in diagnostics export: Generate diagnostics and open logs from settings.

​

✨ Improvements

• More reliable meeting auto-detection: Better signal handling for start/stop.
• Smoother dictation hotkey behavior: More consistent hold, tap, and double-tap flows.
• Cleaner transcript finalization: Dictation waits more intelligently for trailing words before cleanup and paste.
• Faster dictation stop-to-paste flow: Reduced stop tail and settle windows in Notch and Dictation Bar modes.
• More stable notch transcript layout: Less resize jitter and visual flicker while dictating.
• Clearer setup guidance: AI setup and settings explain readiness, permissions, and model choices.
• Consistent templates across settings and recordings: Same catalog powers template settings, default summary, and recording summaries.
• Better update visibility: Install/restart actions and update state clearer.
• Faster recovery under load: Transcription streams handle temporary queue pressure better.

​

🐛 Bug Fixes

• Reduced repeated macOS permission prompts: Accessibility prompts less repetitive.
• Action items render correctly as lists: Bulleted action items format as expected.
• Safer stop handling: Stopping when nothing is recording no longer causes confusing states.
• Cleaner cleanup fallback behavior: Dictation cleanup rejects meta/model chatter and falls back to cleaned raw text.
• No duplicate dictation surfaces in notch mode: Prevents overlapping dictation UI.
• Clearer sign-in/environment errors: Auth errors easier to read when environment settings don’t match.
• Meeting auto-start defaults tuned for reliability: Existing installs use more reliable defaults.
• Safe fallback when deleting a default template: Switches safely to Quick Summary if a default template is removed.
• Launch-at-login toggle stability: Setting persists correctly.
• No stale restart prompts: Restart/update prompts don’t appear when already up to date.
• Calendar deselect-all now sticks: Empty selections preserved.
• Auto-stop no longer ends manual recordings/snippets: Auto-stop applies only where expected.

​

🚀 New Features

• Comprehensive Transcription Readiness Check: New get_transcription_readiness command shows exactly what’s working and what needs setup — checks macOS Speech Recognition (availability + permission), Whisper (installed + active model), and Deepgram (API key). Returns a clear isReady boolean with specific actionNeeded guidance.
• Parakeet Transcription Backend (feature-gated): NVIDIA Parakeet TDT 0.6B via sherpa-onnx — no Python dependency, ~1.93% word error rate, single-model caching (~3 GB per model).
• Download Progress Bars: Model downloads in onboarding show real progress bars with percentage.

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✨ Improvements

• Transcription Status Cards: AI Settings and Setup Wizard show clear status cards — green for ready, amber for needs-setup, gray for unavailable.
• Enhanced Debug Panel: “Check Permissions” tests all 6 TCC permissions (Microphone, Screen Recording, Accessibility, Automation/AppleEvents, Calendar, Speech Recognition) and shows transcription readiness.
• Reset Permissions Updated: Resets all 6 TCC permissions including Calendar, AppleEvents, SpeechRecognition.
• Prominent Backend Logging: Clear ======== banner logs when transcription starts showing which backend is in use.

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🐛 Bug Fixes

• Fixed Apple Speech duplicate transcriptions: Switched from string prefix matching (lastEmittedText) to segment-based tracking (lastEmittedSegmentCount) — only new segments emitted.
• Fixed memory leak / infinite tick logs: WebSocket transcription server loop now exits properly via explicit None handling in tokio::select!.
• Fixed CSS @keyframes nesting: Resolved CSS compilation warnings in classic theme.

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🔧 Technical

• New TranscriptionReadiness and TranscriptionOptionStatus types in commands/apple_intelligence.rs.
• Segment-based transcription tracking in AppleIntelligence.swift.
• Proper tokio::select! None handling pattern in transcription/server.rs.
• Parakeet module with sherpa-rs TransducerRecognizer integration.

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🚀 New Features

• Ollama Integration: Local Ollama models for AI Assistant and Summarization. Auto-detects server at localhost:11434, lists all available Ollama models in AI engine dropdowns, available in the onboarding wizard, streaming generation with fallback support.
• Custom Whisper Model Import: Import your own .bin Whisper models. Copy to app folder or reference external paths. Imported models appear in the dropdown with “(Custom)” badge. GGML files validated before import.
• NotchBar External Monitor Support: NotchBar always stays centered on the MacBook’s built-in display. Screen observer monitors display configuration changes, uses CGDisplay.is_builtin(), auto-repositions when external monitors connect/disconnect.
• Speaker Diarization (WIP): Infrastructure for speaker identification in transcripts.

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✨ Improvements

• Model Download Validation: Whisper downloads use a temp .download file first, validate file size, auto-detect and re-download corrupted/incomplete files.
• Better Transcription Error Messages: Errors include file size for debugging; warns if file is suspiciously small; instructs to delete and re-download.
• Distil-Whisper Model Priority: Distil models checked first in discovery (ggml-distil-small.en.bin, ggml-medium-32-2.en.bin, ggml-distil-large-v3.bin).
• Apple Intelligence Detection: Clearer messaging — macOS version detection (consumer 15.1+ vs Foundation Models API 26+), “How to verify” expandable guide, “Open System Settings” button.
• Upload Button Auth Check: Shows “Login to Upload” when not authenticated; toast directs to Settings.
• Auth Environment Validation: Clear error when staging/production are mismatched: “You are logged into staging but trying to use production”.
• Live Changelog Updates: In-app changelog fetches from server; always up to date regardless of installed app version; falls back to embedded version when offline.

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🐛 Bug Fixes

• Auto-stop now works when meeting ends: Calendar mode requires activity signals (mic/camera/network) for high confidence — when you leave a meeting, signals stop, confidence drops to 0.20, and auto-stop triggers. Confidence scales by participation: Calendar + mic + camera = 0.99, Calendar only (no signals) = 0.20.
• Calendar selection now syncs: Toggles emit events; UpcomingView updates immediately without restart.
• Fixed app crash on startup: Screen observer uses correct async runtime (tauri::async_runtime::spawn).
• Whisper model not found: Model discovery includes all model types with detailed search-path logging.
• Retro NotchBar stop button overlap: Removed LED indicator and adjusted position.

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🚀 New Features

• Custom Whisper Model Import: Import your own .bin Whisper models. Copy to app folder or reference external paths. Imported models appear in the dropdown with “(Custom)” badge.
• Ollama Integration: Ollama models for AI Assistant and Summarization. Auto-detects at localhost:11434, lists available models in dropdowns, available in onboarding wizard, streaming with fallback.

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🐛 Bug Fixes

• Fix Apple Intelligence not detected on macOS 26 (dylib bundled in Frameworks/ but code looked in Resources/).
• Fix Whisper model import file picker not opening (AppleScript command fix).
• Fix microphone staying active after recording ends on macOS (CPAL stream explicitly paused before drop).
• Fix Whisper transcript overwriting single line instead of growing (is_final: false → true).
• Fix stop button not responding on recordings page (isStopping state reset in finally block).
• Fix “Show Recorder” tray menu not bringing window to front on macOS (added activateIgnoringOtherApps).

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✨ Improvements

• Apple Intelligence Detection: macOS version detection between consumer features (15.1+) and Foundation Models API (26+); “How to verify Apple Intelligence” expandable guide; “Open System Settings” button; improved error messaging when API unavailable.

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🚀 New Features

• Hide Dock Icon: New “Menu Bar Only” mode hides the app from Dock and Cmd+Tab — accessible only via the system tray (macOS).
• Retranscribe Recordings: Re-transcribe existing recordings using any backend (Whisper, Deepgram, Apple Speech).
• Calendar Selection: Choose which calendars appear in Upcoming Meetings with checkboxes.
• [iOS] In-App Feedback: Submit feedback with star ratings directly from the mobile app.

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🐛 Bug Fixes

• Fix calendar permission dialog not appearing on macOS 14+ (requestFullAccessToEventsWithCompletion:).
• Fix “Invalid Date” display in calendar events (serde camelCase serialization).
• Fix calendar settings button navigating to the wrong tab.
• Fix delete recording button not responding to clicks.

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✨ Improvements

• Calendar Settings shows selected calendar count and supports select/deselect all.
• System tray menu includes “Toggle Dock Icon” option.
• Added Checkbox UI component for better form controls.

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📱 Mobile App

• New in-app feedback form with star rating and Slack/API submission.
• Retranscribe recordings via RefreshCw button on detail screen.
• CollapsibleBottomBar styling improvements.
• Recordings and Settings screen refinements.

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🚀 New Features

• Theme system with Classic and Retro styles.
• Templates tab in Settings with custom summary templates.
• Changelog UI with version history and provider logos.
• Deepgram cloud transcription enhancements.

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🐛 Bug Fixes

• Fix theme switching — remove global retro styles from index.css.
• Fix speaker diarization display; add dev mode option for rating popup.
• Fix Deepgram interim transcript handling and consolidate transcript views.
• Fix system audio banner not clearing when audio detected.
• Fix NotchBar expand/move issues on button clicks.
• Fix Deepgram duplicate transcriptions by mixing audio before sending.
• Remove broken latency tracking from live transcription.

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✨ Improvements

• Desktop components theme-aware with CSS variables.
• Reload LLM and transcription backends when live recording starts.
• Simplify NotchBar by removing expand/quick-actions view.
• Color-code transcript bubbles by speaker.
• Redesign templates UI and add template grid to summary view.

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🚀 New Features

• Theme selection (Classic / Retro) added to the onboarding wizard.
• Classic theme: clean modern look with purple accents.
• Retro theme: terminal-inspired with amber/green and VT323 font.

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🐛 Bug Fixes

• Fix NotchBar buttons staying in active state after click.
• Fix default theme now correctly set to Classic.
• Fix gray-on-gray text in template section badges.
• Fix onboarding showing retro despite Classic being selected.
• Fix CSS @import order warnings for Google Fonts.

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✨ Improvements

• Streamlined onboarding (removed skip button).
• Theme-aware components using CSS variables.
• Centralized theme defaults to classic.

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🚀 New Features

• Apple Speech improvements with better transcription quality.
• Copy transcript to clipboard functionality.
• LLM token cleanup for better context management.

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✨ Improvements

• Reload transcription backend when settings change.
• Better speaker color coding in transcripts.

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🚀 New Features

• Auto-Titles: AI automatically generates descriptive titles from transcripts.
• Markdown Notes: Edit/preview toggle with full GitHub Flavored Markdown support.
• Cloud API Keys (BYOK): Bring your own keys for OpenAI, Anthropic, and Deepgram.
• Custom Summary Templates: Create reusable meeting note formats.
• NotchBar shows all 4 quick actions in expanded view.

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🔧 Technical

• Cloud passthrough commands for OpenAI / Anthropic / Deepgram.
• LLM router supports multiple backends.
• Cleaned up unused legacy components.
• Template storage via plugin-store.

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✨ Improvements

• Prominent Refresh button on AI Engines settings.
• Toast notifications for model refresh.
• Auto-fallback to Apple Intelligence when active model deleted.
• Refresh button for Apple Intelligence status.
• Apple Intelligence default in onboarding when available.
• Apple Intelligence setup prompt added to the onboarding wizard.
• Apple Intelligence setup guide in AI Settings.

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🐛 Bug Fixes

• Fix release build hang issue.

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🔧 Technical

• Bump version and update Apple Intelligence dylib.

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🚀 New Features

• AI Engines System: Separate configuration for different AI providers.
• LLM Router: Intelligent routing between local and cloud AI models.
• Advanced Summarization UI: Dropdown menu for summary options.

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🔧 Backend

• Catch-me-up feature (summarize last N minutes).
• Progressive summarization for long transcripts (map-reduce style).
• Enhance notes with transcript context.
• Transcript context limit increased from 8K to 30K chars.

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🚀 New Features

• All 4 quick actions visible in NotchBar expanded view.

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🔧 Technical

• Update Apple Intelligence dylib with improvements.