Changelog

Denframe Desktop 0.2.0-beta.1

Released

29 October 2026

Platforms

Mac · Apple Silicon

Tested

Automated installer checks (notarization, Gatekeeper, install, self-test, isolated startup) on macOS 26.5 (Apple silicon). Manual testing on a clean machine is pending.

Before upgrading

Back up before upgrading. Data from schema 13 or later is upgraded on start; a backup restores only into the build that wrote it.

Changes

• A calmer look for the app and the website: warm neutrals with a sage accent, flat surfaces instead of gradients, pill-shaped buttons and a honey-coloured focus ring.
• New type: Lora for headings and Nunito Sans for reading, bundled with the app so it looks the same offline. Dashboards on your screens keep their own fonts.
• The menu-bar icon shows the Denframe app icon, and macOS lists the background item as Denframe.
• Slow work no longer runs on the service's event loop, and saves from both editors go through one queue, so the app stays responsive while it writes.

Known issues

• The Apple TV receiver is not included in beta builds.
• Photos of 48 megapixels or more are refused; share a smaller copy.

Denframe Desktop 0.2.0-beta.0

Released

28 October 2026

Platforms

Mac · Apple Silicon

Tested

Automated installer checks (notarization, Gatekeeper, install, self-test, isolated startup) on macOS 26.5 (Apple silicon). Manual testing on a clean machine is pending.

Before upgrading

Back up before upgrading. Data from schema 13 or later is upgraded on start; a backup restores only into the build that wrote it.

Changes

• The Mac installer is signed by Nanner Tech LLC and notarized by Apple, so macOS opens it without the unverified-developer warning.
• Every request has a size cap, sign-in data and secrets are written durably, and handoff links are tied to the network the request really came from.
• The service does less work on every clock tick and polls providers only when a change can matter, so an idle household uses less CPU.

Known issues

• The Apple TV receiver is not included in beta builds.
• Photos of 48 megapixels or more are refused; share a smaller copy.

Denframe Desktop 0.1.0-pilot.21

Released

12 October 2026

Platforms

Mac · Apple Silicon, Windows · x64

Tested

Automated installer checks (install, self-test, isolated startup, uninstall) on a Windows Server 2025 x64 build machine and on macOS 26.5 (Apple silicon). Manual testing on clean machines is pending.

Before upgrading

Back up before upgrading. Data from schema 13 or later is upgraded on start; a backup restores only into the build that wrote it.

Changes

• Data from an older build is upgraded when Denframe starts, after a verified copy is kept in a pre-upgrade folder.
• Report a problem, in Local diagnostics and on an error page, saves a redacted diagnostics file and lists what it holds.
• Studio's toolbox shows each block kind's sources on its card, puts the kinds that are ready to use first, and keeps every card the same height.
• A one-row weather cell shows its glance, as the clock does.

Fixes

• A picture that will not load is drawn as its kind's pictogram, and picture lists are re-read before their thumbnail access runs out.

Known issues

• Unsigned installer: macOS warns before opening it, and Windows SmartScreen or Smart App Control may warn or block it.
• Photos of 48 megapixels or more are refused; share a smaller copy.

Denframe Desktop 0.1.0-pilot.20

Released

9 October 2026

Platforms

Mac · Apple Silicon

Tested

Automated installer checks on macOS 26.5 (Apple silicon). Manual clean-machine testing is pending.

Before upgrading

Opens pilot.19's data as it is (schema 24). pilot.17 and earlier still need the 21-to-24 upgrade scripts in docs/runbooks/schema-upgrades, or a fresh installation.

Changes

• Text over a background picture is printed in one ink chosen from the picture under it, and each block gets its own soft scrim in place of caption plates, with no boxes or grey borders over the picture.
• On an overlay dashboard such as Painting, blocks can be placed by hand in Studio; screens running an earlier version show them in a corner.
• The weather block names the place it is located for, which can be renamed, and prints its wear advice's heading, rain and wind lines where they fit.
• A picture's credit is a quiet label, and the shopping list says ticked items are kept for 30 days.

Fixes

• A background picture's rotation no longer restarts each time its access is renewed.
• Cast screens draw no backdrop blur, and TVs in Cast compatibility mode are no longer offered an activity's Play.

Known issues

• Unsigned installer: macOS warns before opening it.
• Photos of 48 megapixels or more are refused; share a smaller copy.

Denframe Desktop 0.1.0-pilot.19

Released

8 October 2026

Platforms

Mac · Apple Silicon

Tested

Automated installer checks on macOS 26.5 (Apple silicon). Manual clean-machine testing is pending.

Before upgrading

Does not open pilot.17's data: the database moved from schema 21 to 24 and there is no automatic upgrade. Back up and apply the 21-to-24 upgrade scripts in docs/runbooks/schema-upgrades, or start with a fresh installation. (pilot.18 was a candidate never offered for download; its changes are in this release.)

Changes

• The dashboard editor's panel is docked to the window's edge and never scrolls the page; it has two tabs, Dashboard (led by the Blocks outline) and the selected block's own, so a block's settings no longer crowd the dashboard's.
• Dashboard settings and About this dashboard open from the title's menu, colours are customized on a page of their own, and a setting with nothing to choose says its value and why instead of greying out.
• One Access page for everyone and everything that can reach Denframe: family devices, guests and photo phones, wall displays and shared tablets, with a Recent activity feed and one Add a device flow.
• A wall display pairs from its code, its room and a settings PIN, and has its own Display section on its screen page; display software updates moved to their own page under Screens.
• Dashboards can show their background picture through the blocks: a veil surface, blocks that stand out, caption plates over photos, and a featured picture whose subject the blocks step aside for.
• Studio and the management pages draw each choice as a picture over its words.
• Applying a library look keeps the dashboard's layout.
• Early Apple TV support: the hub can pair an Apple TV and render its frames (the tvOS app is not yet released).

Fixes

• A phone without https is stopped at Details with an explanation instead of a link that cannot open.

Known issues

• Unsigned installer: macOS warns before opening it.
• Photos of 48 megapixels or more are refused; share a smaller copy.

Denframe Desktop 0.1.0-pilot.17

Released

6 October 2026

Platforms

Mac · Apple Silicon

Tested

Automated installer checks on macOS 26.5 (Apple silicon). Manual clean-machine testing is pending.

Before upgrading

Installs over pilot.16 and keeps its data: the database stays at schema 21. From pilot.15 or earlier, see pilot.16's notes.

Changes

• Photos you add can be up to 25 megapixels, so ordinary 12 MP and 24 MP phone photos (JPEG and HEIC) are accepted from this computer, your phone and photo folders.

Fixes

• Large phone JPEGs are opened at the size Denframe keeps, using far less memory, and one photo is processed at a time.
• Thumbnails of very wide panoramas are no longer enlarged from too few pixels.

Known issues

• Unsigned installer: macOS warns before opening it.
• Photos of 48 megapixels or more are refused; share a smaller copy.

Denframe Desktop 0.1.0-pilot.16

Released

6 October 2026

Platforms

Mac · Apple Silicon

Tested

Automated installer checks on macOS 26.5 (Apple silicon). Manual clean-machine testing is pending.

Before upgrading

Does not open pilot.15's data: the database moved from schema 16 to 21 and there is no automatic upgrade. Back up and apply the 16-to-21 upgrade scripts in docs/runbooks/schema-upgrades, or start with a fresh installation.

Changes

• Art backgrounds: thirteen museum art collections, two built in (Calm landscapes is the default art) and eleven in the Denframe Library; a background now rotates through the whole collection.
• Your own photos as a background or picture: add them from this computer, from your phone on the home network by scanning a code, or by picking them in Google Photos (Denframe keeps copies on this hub).
• Albums show a cover, can pair two portrait photos side by side on a landscape screen, and HEIC photos are accepted.
• A family calendar wall: the household's calendars on one screen, edited as before in your calendar apps.
• Library activities play on a screen from their own page rather than being placed on a dashboard.
• The Dashboards page is a grid with sorting and filters, a row of what is on each screen now, and what was shown recently.
• The corner over a picture grows sideways into columns instead of shrinking its text.
• A block can show more than one source of its kind (Add another).

Fixes

• A picture block on a dashboard with a picture background is left out with a note saying why, instead of being drawn as a thin band.

Known issues

• Unsigned installer: macOS warns before opening it.
• Photos larger than the hub's picture limit, such as most 12-megapixel phone photos, are refused.

Android panel app 0.1.0-pilot.5

Released

6 October 2026

Platforms

Android 11 or later

Tested

Built and signed with the pilot.3 certificate; lint and unit tests pass. Hardware testing on panels is pending.

Before upgrading

An update to pilot.4: same package and signing certificate, so it installs over it and keeps its pairing.

Changes

• No changes to the app itself: rebuilt from the same source as macOS pilot.16. What a panel shows comes from its hub.

Known issues

• Self-signed APK: Android asks you to allow installation from this source.

Denframe Desktop 0.1.0-pilot.15

Released

3 October 2026

Platforms

Mac · Apple Silicon

Tested

Automated installer checks on macOS 26.5 (Apple silicon). Manual clean-machine testing is pending.

Before upgrading

Installs over pilot.14 and keeps its data: the database stays at schema 16.

Changes

• The dashboard editor has one panel: a block's settings open in place in its row, rather than replacing the dashboard's.
• The panel can be resized by its edge and folded to a rail of group icons (⌘\); a block picked while it is folded floats it over the picture.
• Smaller controls in the editor's panel with a mouse or trackpad; touch screens keep the full-size ones.
• Blocks can be dragged by a grip to reorder, and duplicated or moved with ⌘D and ⌥↑/↓.
• On a narrow window the panel is a sheet that rises from the bottom.
• A block's face is now called its Panel: Filled, Outline or None.
• A new transparent Denframe mark and favicons for light and dark.

Fixes

• Switching the clock off no longer brings the fallback clock back.
• AM/PM is sized with the clock's digits.
• Home controls fits a phone screen, its list scrolling inside it.

Known issues

• Unsigned installer: macOS warns before opening it.

Android panel app 0.1.0-pilot.4

Released

3 October 2026

Platforms

Android 11 or later

Tested

Built and signed with the pilot.3 certificate; lint passes. Hardware testing on panels is pending.

Before upgrading

An update to pilot.3: same package and signing certificate, so it installs over it and keeps its pairing.

Changes

• The notification and monochrome launcher icons use the new transparent Denframe mark.

Known issues

• Self-signed APK: Android asks you to allow installation from this source.

Android panel app 0.1.0-pilot.3

Released

30 September 2026

Platforms

Android 11 or later

Tested

Built and signed; lint and the 55 unit tests pass. Hardware testing on panels is pending.

Before upgrading

A new app, not an upgrade: its package and signing certificate differ from pilot.2 (com.mantel.panel), so it installs alongside it rather than over it. Pair the panel again, then uninstall the old Mantel app. A panel provisioned with the old app as device owner must be provisioned again, because Android allows only one device owner; that usually means a factory reset.

Changes

• The panel app is now Denframe Display, package com.denframe.panel, with the Denframe icon.
• Signed with a new Denframe release certificate.

Known issues

• Self-signed APK: Android asks you to allow installation from this source.

Denframe Desktop 0.1.0-pilot.14

Released

29 September 2026

Platforms

Mac · Apple Silicon

Tested

Automated installer checks on macOS 26.5 (Apple silicon). Manual clean-machine testing is pending.

Before upgrading

A clean start: this build keeps its data in ~/Library/Application Support/Denframe and does not read the Mantel folder earlier pilots used, which stays untouched. It uses database schema 16; there is no automatic upgrade from pilot.12 (schema 11).

Changes

• Mantel is now Denframe: the app, its icon, the website and the library carry the new name.
• The Headlines block was rebuilt: stories with their pictures, a checked publisher catalog, feeds found from a site's address, and up to four sources mixed in one block.
• The Library's signed releases were re-signed, and library files now use the .denframepack format.

Known issues

• Unsigned installer: macOS warns before opening it.
• Files exported from earlier pilots (.mantelpack) cannot be imported.

Denframe Desktop 0.1.0-pilot.12

Released

24 September 2026

Platforms

Mac · Apple Silicon

Tested

Automated installer checks on macOS 26.5 (Apple silicon). Manual clean-machine testing is pending.

Before upgrading

Uses database schema 11. It will not open data written by pilot.11 (schema 9), and there is no automatic upgrade: take a backup from pilot.11 first and keep that build with it. Schemas 10 and 11 only add tables and columns.

Changes

• Each dashboard opens in a full-window editor that draws the chosen screen at its real size.
• Blocks are dropped where they go on the picture; Delete is one undo away, and a block's source can be set up without leaving the editor.
• Pictures can fill the screen, with fit, focus and rounded corners, TV overscan margins, and a colour palette drawn from the picture.
• Dashboards are checked for readability from where you sit: text is sized for each screen's viewing distance, and screens can be calibrated.

Known issues

• Unsigned installer: macOS warns before opening it.

Denframe Desktop 0.1.0-pilot.11

Released

21 September 2026

Platforms

Mac · Apple Silicon

Tested

Automated installer checks on macOS 26.5 (Apple silicon).

Before upgrading

Starts the single-file database schema at version 9. Data and backups from pilot.10 or earlier cannot be opened or restored: take a fresh backup before upgrading and keep the old build with it.

Changes

• The Library was redesigned, with learning and fun packs alongside looks, blocks and layouts.
• One full-page flow creates a dashboard from every way in, with purposes named Glance, Gallery, Home and Now playing.
• Block properties, the source pages and the app's shared controls were reworked.
• A clean-up across the host and the app: pages load on demand and the dashboard renderer caches its work.

Known issues

• Unsigned installer: macOS warns before opening it.

Denframe Desktop 0.1.0-pilot.10

Released

17 September 2026

Platforms

Mac · Apple Silicon

Tested

Automated installer checks on macOS 26.5 (Apple silicon); the first release built and published from a maintainer's Mac.

Before upgrading

Back up before upgrading; a backup restores only into the build that wrote it.

Changes

• A redesigned dashboard editor: one panel that follows your selection, every preview a canvas, and a toolbox to add blocks.
• Grid layouts with portrait arrangements, per-block styles, and blocks that adapt their content to the space they have.
• Sign-in apps for calendars can be registered from the app.

Known issues

• Unsigned installer: macOS warns before opening it.

Denframe Desktop 0.1.0-pilot.9

Released

13 September 2026

Platforms

Mac · Apple Silicon

Tested

Installed and checked by hand on macOS 15.5 (Apple silicon), 13 September 2026.

Before upgrading

Back up before upgrading; a backup restores only into the build that wrote it.

Changes

• A preview-first dashboard editor, with the dashboard collection and the editor separated.
• Auto layouts that compose focal and paired dashboards and keep dense content readable, with reading preferences.
• First-run onboarding with screen presets and a compact preview.

Fixes

• Freshness is reported only for data a screen actually shows, and duplicate stale labels are gone.

Known issues

• Unsigned installer: macOS warns before opening it.

Denframe Desktop 0.1.0-pilot.8

Released

12 September 2026

Platforms

Windows · x64, Mac · Apple Silicon

Tested

Installed, launched, backed up and restored, and uninstalled by hand on Windows 11 x64 (13 September 2026). The macOS build had automated installer checks only.

Before upgrading

Back up before upgrading; a backup restores only into the build that wrote it.

Changes

• Learning and fun packs: install an activity pack with pictures, recorded sound and self-check quizzes, and use it on a dashboard.
• A verified pack catalog with downloads, and pack backups that restore with the rest of your data.

Known issues

• Unsigned installer: Windows SmartScreen or Smart App Control may warn or block it.
• Physical receiver checks for pack audio remain pending.

Android panel app 0.1.0-pilot.2

Released

10 September 2026

Platforms

Android 11 or later

Tested

Built and self-signed; hardware testing on panels is pending.

Before upgrading

Signed with the same certificate as pilot.1, so it installs over it.

Changes

• Rebuilt from a newer source revision; the panel app itself is unchanged since pilot.1.

Known issues

• Self-signed APK: Android asks you to allow installation from this source.