Release Notes

Rich Notes

• Notes now support images, tables, interactive checklists, and richer text formatting
• The notes toolbar includes font, size, line height, and spacing controls
• Table and checklist controls are easier to use in compact NotchPad layouts

NotchPad AI

• New Apple Intelligence note tools can rewrite, proofread, summarize, translate, generate titles, make tables, and organize notes on supported Macs
• AI results can be copied, inserted, regenerated, or applied back into your notes
• Free users get daily AI edits, while Pro removes NotchPad AI limits

Clipboard And Layout

• Clipboard History now shows richer previews for links, colors, files, images, and videos
• Clipboard items can be dragged into other apps more reliably, with better support for files and images
• New Max width and Full height options make NotchPad roomier when you need more workspace
• Notes search, Apple Notes switching, onboarding, and Pro upgrade screens have been polished

Ghost Privacy

• NotchPad can now hide its window from screen sharing and screen recordings
• Use Ghost Privacy for talking points during demos, investor pitches, client calls, tutorials, and teaching
• Private notes stay visible to you while staying out of the audience capture

Floating Mode

• Detach NotchPad from the notch and float it anywhere on screen
• Center the window for focused writing or presenting
• Snap NotchPad back to the notch when you are done

Clipboard And Snippets

• Clipboard History and Snippets rows now show visible copy buttons
• Rows now include a visible more button for secondary actions
• Clipboard History can now remember copied Finder file references

Pro And Onboarding

• Clipboard History and Snippets are now enforced consistently as Pro features across monitoring, creation, and reuse
• Onboarding now covers notes, Apple Notes, voice notes, Clipboard History, Snippets, Ghost Privacy, Floating mode, layouts, and Pro
• Voice note entry points are more consistently available across Notes, Clipboard, and Snippets

Energy Use

• Replaced continuous global mouse-move polling with event-driven hover tracking around the notch area
• Click monitors now run only while the NotchPad UI is open
• Reduced idle background work when NotchPad is closed or waiting near the notch

Notch Switcher

• Expanded the shared NotchPad / NotchLive hover area so the selector is easier to reveal
• Matched the hover trigger to the switcher panel footprint on both notched and non-notched screens
• Cleaned up switcher-only icons so the selector uses borderless app glyph artwork

Update Reliability

• Updated the Sparkle integration for more reliable update reminders
• The notch update button continues to open the standard Sparkle update flow and release notes

Switcher Hover

• The shared NotchPad / NotchLive selector now stays open while moving from the notch hover zone into the selector on notched Macs

Update Reminders

• Scheduled Sparkle checks now show the notch update button instead of interrupting with an automatic dialog in the background
• Clicking the update button still opens the normal Sparkle update flow and release notes

Update Reminder

• NotchPad now shows a visible update button near the notch when Sparkle finds an update
• The update action stays one click away instead of being hidden inside Settings
• What's New now opens for this maintenance release so users can see what changed

Sibling Apps

• Improved the NotchPad / NotchLive hover switcher when both apps are running
• Fixed the switcher overlapping the NotchPad panel after the panel opens

Voice Notes with NotchLive

• New microphone button opens NotchLive Notes for speech-to-text capture
• Send dictated notes from NotchLive directly back into NotchPad
• Existing NotchPad notes can continue in NotchLive, then update in place when sent back

Layout

• New Tall mode for users who want more vertical room
• Short and Tall now pair with Narrow and Wide, giving four comfortable widget sizes

Sibling Apps

• Improved NotchLive handoff so the apps feel like siblings instead of overlapping notch panels

Security

• License keys are now validated per-product — keys from other apps can no longer activate NotchPad

Freemium Model

• Notes are now free forever — no trial, no time limit
• Clipboard History & Snippets require Pro ($7.99 one-time)
• 15-day trial system completely removed
• Pro paywall overlay on Clipboard & Snippets tabs
• Price: $9.99 → $7.99

Apple Notes Integration (Two-Way Sync)

• "Apple Notes" sub-tab inside the Notes tab (My Notes | Apple Notes)
• Browse all Apple Notes with search — shows note name and folder
• Tap to open and edit — changes sync back to Apple Notes instantly
• Cached list for fast navigation, background refresh picks up new notes
• Text-only sync — images/attachments in Apple Notes are not imported

Changed

• Existing trial/expired users auto-migrate to free (gain permanent notes access)
• Existing paid users unaffected (stay active)
• Deactivating a license returns to free (not expired)
• New note button, Cmd+N, file drag & drop — all ungated
• Locked notes skip Apple Notes sync-back (preserves encryption)

Security & Licensing

• Hardened trial and license tamper detection
• Daily license revalidation for tighter security
• Improved deactivation reliability

Improvements

• License key field auto-focuses when entering a key

Drag & Drop File Import

Drop files, create notes instantly. Drag documents and code files directly onto NotchPad to turn them into notes. Supports 50+ file types including txt, markdown, RTF, Word docs, PDFs, and popular code formats like Swift, Python, JavaScript, and more.

Highlights

• Rich text preserved — Bold, italic, underline, and strikethrough carry over from RTF, Word, and PDF files
• Multi-file import — Drop several files at once and choose to create separate notes or combine them into one
• What's New screen — See what changed after each update, right inside the app

Improvements

• Improved expired banner — Clearer messaging when the trial ends, with a reassuring note that your data is safe and a more prominent purchase button

New Features

• Onboarding — A quick welcome tour for new users introducing Notes, Clipboard, and Snippets
• Settings redesign — Reorganized into Behavior and Appearance sections for a cleaner layout
• Wide mode — Choose between Compact and Wide layouts in Appearance settings
• Inline snippet editor — Creating and editing snippets now stays neatly within the widget

Bug Fixes & Improvements

• Bullet & numbered lists now use visible text markers (• and 1.) instead of invisible NSTextList formatting
• Undo support for formatting — Cmd+Z properly undoes bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, and list formatting
• Selection preservation — Selecting all text and applying formatting no longer resets the cursor
• Note editor scroll fix — Long notes no longer clip behind the bottom rounded corners
• Note editor scrollbar — Added thin overlay scrollbar to the note editor
• Hidden list scrollbars — Removed thick system scrollbars from Notes, Clipboard, and Snippets panels

Sparkle Auto-Update Fix

• Fixed update checker so the "Check" button now triggers Sparkle's native update dialog
• Enabled automatic background update checks — no more manual checking needed
• Existing users on v1.0.4 and earlier will need to download this version manually; all future updates will work via Sparkle

Inverse Border Radius

• Panel top corners now have concave/scoop curves that blend seamlessly with the notch

Plain-Text Paste

• Pasting from web, Slack, etc. into the note editor now strips external formatting and uses the editor's own style

UI Fixes

• Fixed button hit targets on "New Snippet" and "Save" buttons — the entire button surface is now clickable
• New snippets auto-scroll to the top of the list
• Added more horizontal padding so content doesn't sit too close to panel edges

Bug Fixes

• Fixed light theme rendering — Widget no longer appears broken when macOS is set to light appearance
• Fixed auto-update checker — The "Check for Updates" button now correctly detects and triggers available updates
• Fixed shortcut label — Menu bar now correctly shows "⌃⌃" instead of "Fn Fn"

Improvements

• Clipboard history — App names now truncate properly instead of overflowing
• Accessibility — Added VoiceOver labels to all settings toggles and controls
• Metadata — Updated copyright and removed legacy code

License Activation

• Purchase and activate directly from NotchPad via Polar
• One-time purchase unlocks all features on up to 3 Macs
• Activate, deactivate, and transfer licenses from Settings

Security Hardening

• Clock rollback detection prevents trial tampering
• Periodic license revalidation on app focus and hourly
• Forged license states are automatically rejected

Bug Fixes

• Deactivate button in Settings now works correctly

Sensitive Clipboard Protection

• Passwords and secrets copied from 1Password, Bitwarden, and Apple Passwords are now automatically detected and masked
• Right-click any clipboard item to manually mark it as sensitive
• Sensitive items are encrypted on disk (AES-256-GCM). Plain text never touches storage
• Tap to reveal with Touch ID, auto-masks after 30 seconds
• Re-copied sensitive items preserve concealed semantics for downstream apps

UI Improvements

• Clear All button moved to top bar for a cleaner layout
• Consistent bottom padding across Notes, Clipboard, and Snippets tabs
• Merge button repositioned with better spacing

Under the Hood

• Dual keychain fallback for more reliable encryption
• Self-healing repair for legacy clipboard records on launch
• Session-only fallback when encryption is temporarily unavailable

Auto-Updates

• Sparkle-powered automatic update checks. Never miss a new version

License Activation

• Polar-based license key activation with machine-level binding
• Secure license storage in Keychain

Keyboard Shortcut Fix

• Changed toggle shortcut from Fn Fn to ⌃⌃ (double-tap Control). Fn opens the emoji picker on newer Macs

Under the Hood

• Improved Keychain security for encryption key storage
• License key migration between storage backends

Initial Release

• Notes with rich text editing. Bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, and lists
• Lock notes with Touch ID (AES-256-GCM encryption)
• Clipboard history with source app tracking, search, star, and merge
• Reusable text snippets. Tap to copy
• AI prompt templates. Explain Code, Summarize, ELI5, Translate, and more