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Changelog

Every release, in the open.

v1.6.02026-07-27
  • Message reactions: long-press a message and pick an emoji (❤️ 😆 😮 😢 😠 👍). Works in 1:1 and groups; tap the same emoji again to remove it. End-to-end encrypted like everything else.
  • Reply to a message: swipe a message to the right (or long-press → Reply) to quote it; the quoted message shows above your reply. 1:1 for now — group replies come next.
  • Notifications now arrive with the app fully closed: the wake-up push woke the process but the background drain didn't run, so messages and their notification only showed when you reopened the app. Fixed — the app decrypts, delivers and notifies while still closed, and the delivered receipt (✓✓) reaches the sender without the recipient opening the app.
  • Mixed decentralized setups no longer swallow messages: if a contact turned Reticulum off while you still had it on, messages and read-receipts could vanish into a gateway they no longer read. Now replies go back on the transport a message arrived on, and an unconfirmed send falls back to the relay automatically.
  • No wire-format change: update on top of 1.5.x, keep your identity and conversations, no QR re-scan.
v1.5.22026-07-17
  • Security hardening after an independent audit of the app, relay and website. No wire-format change: update on top of 1.5.1, keep your identity and conversations, no QR re-scan.
  • Contact bundle signatures are now mandatory: a session is refused if the full-bundle signature (binding every prekey, including the post-quantum Kyber key, to the identity) is missing or tampered with. Every current build already signs it — this only shuts the door on manipulated bundles.
  • Incoming media is capped on the receiving side, so a malicious contact can no longer fill your disk or memory by announcing an absurd file or streaming oversized chunks.
  • The relay throttles connection and registration floods per IP, and the website now ships strict security headers (Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, nosniff, Referrer-Policy, Permissions-Policy).
v1.5.12026-07-15
  • Nearby Bluetooth now recovers on its own after airplane mode or toggling Bluetooth off and on. Before, cycling the radio left the mesh silent and the phone invisible until you reopened the app (one direction stuck at a single check). It restarts itself as soon as Bluetooth is back.
  • Reticulum (experimental) now receives messages with the app closed: background polling moved to a native thread, so it keeps running even with no screen open. Previously a Reticulum message only arrived once you reopened Blink. Still opt-in and off by default.
  • No wire-format change: update on top of 1.5.0, keep your identity and conversations, no QR re-scan.
v1.5.02026-07-12
  • Nearby Bluetooth: when your contact is a few metres away, the message goes straight to their phone — no internet, no relay, no server at all. Still end-to-end encrypted; Bluetooth is just another pipe for the same sealed envelope. Tested on two phones in airplane mode: text, photos and voice notes all arrive.
  • It is NOT a mesh network, and we won't market it as one. Messages don't hop through other people's phones — your contact has to be in Bluetooth range of you personally. It's a shortcut when you're in the same room, not a censorship-resistant network.
  • It keeps working with the app closed: a background service (with a permanent notification) holds the radio open so messages reach you without opening Blink. You can turn that off — then Bluetooth only runs while the app is open, and it costs you nothing in your pocket.
  • Honest about the radio trail: while Bluetooth is on, your phone advertises a stable identifier. It doesn't reveal your identity and exposes no message content, but someone physically near you with a scanner could notice the same phone passing by. The transport is off by default; see SECURITY.md.
  • Reticulum transport (experimental): route through a Reticulum gateway instead of our relay.
  • Notifications no longer show message content. By default it just says “New encrypted message”, so nothing lands on your lock screen. Turn on the preview in Settings if you want it.
  • Photos and voice notes are far lighter (WebP, mono 32 kbps) — a photo sent over Bluetooth went from ~300KB to ~65KB. Message order is preserved when a queue drains, voice playback works again, and the chat list no longer jumps when you send.
  • Bluetooth needs v1.5.0 on both phones, and after a reboot it only starts once you open the app. 1:1 chats are unchanged: install over your current version, keep your identity and conversations.
v1.4.02026-07-07
  • Group chats, end-to-end encrypted — with the exact same encryption as your 1:1 chats. There's no new, unaudited group key: each group message is encrypted individually (libsignal) for every member.
  • Create a group, add members from your contacts, send text and photos. Each message shows who sent it; the ✓✓ appears once every member has confirmed delivery.
  • Group admin: the creator adds and removes members. Anyone can leave; the others are notified and your history stays on your device.
  • Honest about metadata: a group message is N separate 1:1 sends through the blind relay. The relay never sees the content, but it does see how many envelopes you send — i.e. how big the group is, not what you write.
  • Everyone in a group needs v1.4.0+. The group format is new; a friend on an older version can't take part (the message shows up wrong for them). Small groups only (up to 16) — this is fan-out, not MLS.
  • 1:1 chats are unchanged: install over your current version, keep your identity and conversations. Only groups require everyone to be on v1.4.0+.
v1.2.22026-07-04
  • Calmer notifications: with the app closed you get one „New encrypted message” notification, not a stack — however many messages or senders arrive. The sound alerts once, not on a loop, and the content is all there when you open.
  • Photos are smaller and location-safe: images are resized before sending (a few MB → ~200 KB) and re-encoded, which strips all EXIF metadata, including GPS. A large photo no longer blocks texts sent right after it.
  • Delete a conversation on both sides — honestly labelled cooperative, not guaranteed (a contact with a backup, screenshot or modified client can still keep it).
  • New Android onboarding step to keep notifications working with the app closed (autostart / no battery limits) on phones that aggressively kill background apps.
  • Voice/video calls are hidden for now — they return after testing on real devices.
  • No re-pair needed: install over your current version and keep your identity and conversations.
v1.2.12026-06-28
  • Fix: right after updating, the app sometimes needed a manual restart before messages would send or arrive. It now requests its login challenge actively and self-heals the connection within seconds — no restart needed.
  • No re-pair needed if you're already on v1.2.0 (same identity format).
v1.2.02026-06-27
  • Security hardening release. The relay now authenticates every device: nobody can claim your identity to read your queue, overwrite your keys, or deregister you.
  • Your identity is now cryptographically bound to your keys (DID = hash of your keys), so a malicious relay can't substitute keys to man-in-the-middle a first contact.
  • Real one-time prekeys: each new contact gets a fresh key from a pool the relay hands out one at a time. Also fixes a case where a second person couldn't start a chat with you.
  • Replay protection and fewer false „re-pair” prompts.
  • ⚠️ Breaking: new identity format — after updating, re-add your contacts via QR. Everyone you chat with must be on v1.2.0+.
v1.1.52026-06-24
  • Reliable delivery: messages queued while you were offline are no longer lost. The relay now keeps each message until your device confirms it decrypted and stored it.
  • Fixes the case where notifications arrived but messages didn't show up, and where unread counts didn't match the messages.
  • Note: full benefit requires both you and the people you chat with to be on v1.1.5+.
v1.1.42026-06-23
  • App version is now shown at the bottom of Settings — tap it to open the releases page.
v1.1.32026-06-23
  • First public baseline release of Blink.
  • End-to-end encryption: X3DH + PQXDH (post-quantum) key agreement, Double Ratchet messaging, ChaCha20-Poly1305, Ed25519/Curve25519 — over a Cloudflare WSS relay with sealed sender.
  • On-device DID:key identity, safety numbers, app lock and per-conversation passwords, read-and-burn timers, screenshot blocker (FLAG_SECURE).
  • Text, photos, video, files, voice notes and round video circles; message edit/delete; five themes.
  • In-app update banner: Blink tells you when a newer version is on GitHub; one tap to update over the top, identity and chats preserved.
  • Reliable receipts: delivery/read confirmations retry when a reply session wasn't ready, and message resend covers a recipient offline for several minutes.