What's New?

The long-awaited v1.9.0 is finally here! Although it's been a while from the last release, this release packs a punch and brings a ton of new functionality and bug fixes to the app!

Notes

• Reminder to not upgrade to macOS Ventura until further notice

Other Releases

• Check out the latest server release (v1.1.2 as of writing this): https://github.com/BlueBubblesApp/bluebubbles-server/releases
• Check out the BlueBubbles Web v1.9.0 release: https://bluebubbles.app/web
• Check out the BlueBubbles Desktop v1.9.0 release:
  • Available on the Microsoft Store
  • Linux & Standalone downloads are below (see Assets)

The Big Stuff

• Material You / Material 3 / Android 12 stretchy scroll theming support
• Conversation bubble notifications (Android 12 and up)
• Full REST API migration, which means better error handling, reliability, and overall UX!
  • This has also given us faster reactions (private API only)
• Chat peek (long press chat)
• Tons of nice bug fixes & improvements (replying via notification is fixed!)
• Migration to Flutter 3.0 - more performance improvements
• Desktop & Web
  • Better contacts support
  • Image paste
  • Better notifications
  • Better scrolling

The Nitty Gritty

New Features

• Material You theming
• Material 3 UI design
• Android 12's stretchy over-scroll indicator
• Conversation bubble notifications
• Sync iMessage group chat icons
• Download original attachment from server (heic, caf, etc) if converted by server
• Added toggle for sent / delivered / received indicators on chat list
• Added option to refresh contacts list manually
• Chat peek when chat long pressed
• Save initial sync log for later analysis
• Rewrite of initial sync code - at least twice as fast and more reliable!
• Added button to report bug (redirect to GitHub issues)
• Added filename and MIME type info to attachment metadata
• Marking as read on one BlueBubbles client now marks as read on all BlueBubbles clients (Private API only)
• Check for server updates on app start
• Desktop
  • Contact photo support
  • Image paste
  • Customizable notification actions
  • Contact photos and avatars in notifications
  • Allow text selection when in the message details popup (Web too)
  • Remember window size and position when relaunching app
  • Added new option to dramatically improve mouse wheel scrolling
  • Option to change mouse wheel scrolling multiplier
  • Ability to send location

Bug Fixes

• Fixed replying via notification not working
• Fixed message sending getting bricked if a sent message errors
• Fixed issues where enter to send would not work well with a physical keyboard on Android
• Fixed some issues with downloading videos
• Fixed migration error
• Fixed error when setting up share targets with null icon
• Fixed show/hide dividers option not showing for Samsung skin
• Fixed back button not present on Material and Samsung, and in new chat creator
• Fixed status bar icon brightness
• Fixed clear transcript dialog not popping after clicking confirm
• Fixed theme not updating on system theme (when switching dark -> light)
• Fixed failed to send & connection loss notifications not working on Android 12
• Fixed chat creation dialog on Big Sur+
• Fixed loading theme backups not working
• Fixed reaction sending to the wrong chat if the chat is switched quickly
• Fixed gray screen after changing chat name
• Fixed new chats not loading the name or icon after being created
• Fixed restart iMessage showing as in-progress indefinitely
• Fixed up/down arrow keys not moving through text in the text field
• Fixed IP addresses with http at the front being flagged as "invalid"
• Fixed total chat calculation on initial sync
• Fixed custom avatars not being hidden in redacted mode
• Fixed messages sent with subject text and only emojis as the main body not showing the subject text
• Fixed private API featured message not sending as private API when sent with an attachment
• Fixed group name change sometimes causing a chat to jump to the bottom of the entire list
• Fixed settings menus getting grayed out when spamming them (in tablet mode)
• Fixed gray screen when automatically opening the last used chat on Web
• Fixed group icon change events not showing correctly
• Fixed chats sometimes not loading on Web without a refresh
• Fixed networking and platform-specific related exceptions on Web
• Fixed minor UI bug in notification settings screen
• Desktop
  • Fixed redacted mode not hiding contact names
  • Fixed brick on desktop when server URL changes and new messages are fetched
  • Fixed laggy sliders
  • Contact photos update correctly when they are loaded

Improvements

• Full REST API transition
• Improved battery optimization logic
• Improved resolution of avatars in pinned chats, notifications, and share targets
• Improved initial sync code
• Improved Samsung skin coloring and scrolling on chat list
• Show confirmation when attachment is saved locally
• Ask for confirmation before overwriting file on Desktop
• Regenerate thumbnail when re-downloading attachment
• Reworked video preview tap actions
• Rounded corners of 3dot dropdown in iOS and Samsung skin
• Reworked message tail to match iMessage better
• Updated iOS emoji font to iOS 15.4
• Added hover highlight to conversation tiles
• Improved hit-box on reaction widgets
• Reaction widgets are now hidden on El Capitan servers
• Auto open keyboard settings apply when closing error popups
• Scroll chat window to the bottom when sending a message
• Add delay to recording a voice memo after sending a message (to prevent accidental activations)
• Changed URL preview overflow to show as much text as possible, rather than clipping with ellipsis
• Removed portrait mode restriction for tablets in the setup view
• Added support for physical keyboards on Android to cycle through the Discord-style emoji insertion with up/down arrow keys
• Added GitHub Sponsors link to Info page
• Removed attachment chunk size setting (not needed anymore)
• Added signed-in iCloud account to the server metadata
• Upgraded to Flutter 3.0
• Show more attachments per row in conversation details if space is available

Full Changelog: v1.8.0+27...v1.9.0+29

Links you may care about

• Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/6nrGRHT
• Support Us: https://bluebubbles.app/donate
• Sponsor Us: https://github.com/sponsors/BlueBubblesApp
• Use our Web App: https://bluebubbles.app/web
• Docs and Guides: https://docs.bluebubbles.app/
• Check out the Server: https://github.com/BlueBubblesApp/bluebubbles-server

Release Hashes

• app-prod-arm64-v8a-release.apk (MD5: 8de14b4ca671425e5b206c9e951d2148)
• app-prod-armeabi-v7a-release.apk (MD5: 5d822aae01d761e5f872f4b79d163ce4)
• bluebubbles_linux.zip (MD5: 28e18decdd0a5c3156ebf27b38c21369)
• bluebubbles_standalone.exe (MD5: d905236402cf2997b083d2e7e4e95362)