0.14.0 brings polls, encrypted local archives, and themes that follow your desktop. It also reduces unnecessary background work and fixes everyday annoyances on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Make ZapFast feel at home on Omarchy. Choose Follow system and let the app use your desktop palette, including when you change themes. These offline demo previews show the same settings in dark and light Omarchy palettes.
screenrecording-2026-09-16_15-38-36.mp4
| Catppuccin | Catppuccin Latte |
|---|---|
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New
- Create and vote in polls. Use the checklist beside the attachment button to ask a question with single or multiple answers. Vote in the chat, change your selection, or click a selected answer to withdraw it. Earlier results are requested automatically from your phone. By @crmne.
- Make the app match your desktop. Choose Light, Dark, Follow system, or a local JSON palette. Catppuccin, Catppuccin Latte, Nord, Ristretto, and Tokyo Night are included. On Linux, Follow system follows Omarchy and reacts to theme changes without restarting. Ported by @crmne from the Spotifast theme work by @jdubba1 and @crmne.
- Keep the local message archive encrypted. Messages, contacts, and sticker metadata now use SQLCipher, with automatic unlocking through your OS keyring. Existing archives migrate automatically. Cached attachments remain ordinary files. By @crmne; thanks @HalanoSiblee for the report. (#4)
- Install verified updates from inside the app. Supported direct installations can download checksum-verified updates, then restart when you choose. A failed installation can restore the previous copy. Package-managed installations continue to use their package manager. Ported by @crmne from Spotifast's updater work by @coah80 and @crmne.
- See which chats have disappearing messages enabled. A timer badge appears beside the chat picture. Outgoing and forwarded messages honor the destination chat's timer. By @fgrehm and @crmne. (#7, #15)
- Get back to writing with a shortcut. Ctrl+L, or ⌘L on Mac, focuses the message input. The × on the left of the shortcut hints hides the bar; restore it in Settings. By @crmne.
- Install through your preferred package manager. Updated AUR packages, DEB/RPM packages for both Linux architectures, a Flatpak bundle, and a Homebrew cask accompany this release. On Mac:
brew install --cask crmne/tap/zapfast. By @crmne; thanks @olumolu for the Flatpak request. (#3)
Ask the group, then vote right in the conversation. All content below is synthetic demo data.
| Create a poll | Vote and see results |
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Fixed
- Idle windows do less unnecessary work. Offscreen animations and history synchronization no longer drive continuous repaints, and Linux theme changes use filesystem notifications. Recovery from repeated app-state conflicts has also improved. By @crmne; thanks @fuuumornin and @nojaf. (#5, #9)
- Windows loads inline images, profile pictures, and stickers correctly. Fixed the Windows file paths passed to the image loader. By @crmne; thanks @letruxux. (#17)
- Windows notifications come from ZapFast, with compact sender pictures. Notifications no longer identify PowerShell as their source or use the avatar as a large inline image. By @crmne; thanks @letruxux. (#19)
- macOS no longer asks where to find
use_default. Notifications use ZapFast's application identity without opening the application chooser. By @crmne. - Hebrew words keep their order in names and conversations. Improved message bodies, previews, and quoted replies, while preserving logical copied text. By @shinycake and @crmne; thanks @idanyashar. (#2, #14)
- Pinned chats keep their order as new messages arrive. Phone mute settings and pin changes survive history replay, and existing archives request a one-time settings refresh. Search ignores accents, and Escape dismisses the current action before closing the conversation. By @crmne; thanks @AlfElFriki. (#13)
- Local application directories are private on Unix. Existing directory permissions are repaired, and startup stops if the directories cannot be prepared safely. By @fgrehm and @crmne. (#11)
- Your own linked devices do not appear as someone typing. Direct and group chats now follow WhatsApp's behavior. By @crmne.
A few limits remain: earlier poll totals depend on history supplied by your phone, and complete historical results are not yet confirmed in every case. Connected-session CPU usage still needs confirmation from reporters, including @SeanPedersen in #20. Poll creation in disappearing-message chats remains unsupported, and Hebrew support is not yet a complete bidirectional-text implementation. The downloadable Flatpak bundle is available now; Flathub submission remains separate. Linux builds require glibc 2.39 or newer and a working Secret Service keyring for archive encryption.
Thanks
@fgrehm and @shinycake for their contributions; @jdubba1 and @coah80 for the Spotifast work reused here; and @HalanoSiblee, @fuuumornin, @nojaf, @AlfElFriki, @idanyashar, @letruxux, @olumolu, @SeanPedersen, and everyone who reported problems and helped test these changes.
Full changelog: v0.13.1...v0.14.0