Release Notes

Your Notes, Beyond the Notch

• Open rich notes in a desktop workspace with tabs, side-by-side or stacked split editing, and Back and Forward navigation.
• Find pinned and recent notes above collapsible folders. Keep using the notch widget and attached stickies.

Take Your Notes with You

• Export password-protected backups containing rich notes, embedded images, folders and snippets, with optional clipboard history.
• Review backups before merging new items. Restore locked notes on another Mac with the backup password, and import RTF, RTFD and text documents.

Speak Directly into Your Notes

• Dictate into an editable note in the workspace or widget with on-device Apple speech recognition. No separate app is needed.
• Words appear while you speak and refine in place. A live waveform, timer and Stop control show microphone activity. Audio is not saved.
• Choose a language on first use or in Settings → Dictation. Language downloads show progress when Apple provides it.
• Included in the 14-day trial and NotchPad Pro. Supported on-device languages vary by Mac and macOS version.

Privacy on Every Surface

• Use the eye control to mask body content while keeping note titles visible. Authenticate to reveal it; your choice is remembered after restarting.
• Locked notes remain separately encrypted. Workspace notes authenticate when opened and stay unlocked until their final tab closes.
• Temporary Keychain failures preserve existing encryption keys; decryption never creates a replacement.
• Older clipboard images are encrypted safely. Sensitive exports require authentication, incoming note links ask before writing, and imports reject oversized or malformed content.

A More Consistent Interface

• Refined monochrome controls, Phosphor icons, compact layouts, and Paper, Beige, Charcoal and Midnight workspace themes.
• Search notes, settings and actions with Command–K; close the palette with Escape.

Try Every Feature for 14 Days

• Start an optional full-access trial without a card or automatic charge. Pro is $9.99 once for up to 3 Macs.
• Existing paid licenses retain Pro access. After an unpaid trial expires, saved content stays readable, copyable and exportable; the Welcome Note remains editable.

Small Workspace Fixes in 1.9.1

• New-note placeholders line up with the text caret in the workspace.
• A blue update button appears in the workspace header when a new version is available.
• Closing the workspace hides its Dock icon while the menu bar, clipboard capture, stickies and AI Connections keep running. Reopening the workspace restores the Dock icon; other open desktop windows, including the updater, retain it until they close.

Widget Stability in 1.9.2

• Fixed a layout issue that could cause NotchPad to quit when closing the docked widget after use.

Reliability and Protection in 1.9.3

• Further improvements to closing and rapidly reopening the widget, including interrupted animations.
• With automatic checks enabled, check for updates shortly after launch and periodically while running. The blue button stays available after postponing; downloads need confirmation.
• What’s New stays dismissed after Continue. Reopen it from Settings or Command-K.
• Improved Pro activation storage and recovery, protected clipboard handling and validation of media and expanded backups.
• Widget searches stay visible beside their actions, and the floating formatting toolbar has balanced spacing.

Your Notes, Beyond the Notch

• Open rich notes in a desktop workspace with tabs, side-by-side or stacked split editing, and Back and Forward navigation.
• Find pinned and recent notes above collapsible folders. Keep using the notch widget and attached stickies.

Take Your Notes with You

• Export password-protected backups containing rich notes, embedded images, folders and snippets, with optional clipboard history.
• Review backups before merging new items. Restore locked notes on another Mac with the backup password, and import RTF, RTFD and text documents.

Privacy on Every Surface

• Use the eye control to mask body content while keeping note titles visible. Authenticate to reveal it; your choice is remembered after restarting.
• Locked notes remain separately encrypted. Workspace notes authenticate when opened and stay unlocked until their final tab closes.
• Temporary Keychain failures preserve the existing encryption key. Decryption does not create a replacement key.
• Older clipboard images are encrypted safely. Sensitive exports require authentication, incoming note links ask before writing, and imports reject oversized or malformed content.

A More Consistent Interface

• Refined monochrome controls, Phosphor icons, compact layouts, and Paper, Beige, Charcoal and Midnight workspace themes.
• Search notes, settings and actions with Command–K; close the palette with Escape.

Try Every Feature for 14 Days

• Start an optional full-access trial without a card or automatic charge. Pro is $9.99 once for up to 3 Macs.
• Existing paid licenses retain Pro access. After an unpaid trial expires, saved content stays readable, copyable and exportable; the Welcome Note remains editable.

Small Workspace Fixes in 1.9.1

• New-note placeholders line up with the text caret in the workspace.
• A blue update button appears in the workspace header when a new version is available.
• Closing the workspace hides its Dock icon while the menu bar, clipboard capture, stickies and AI Connections keep running. Reopening the workspace restores the Dock icon; other open desktop windows, including the updater, retain it until they close.

Widget Stability in 1.9.2

• Fixed a layout issue that could cause NotchPad to quit when closing the docked widget after use.

Small Workspace Fixes in 1.9.1

• New-note placeholders line up with the text caret in the workspace.
• A blue update button appears in the workspace header when a new version is available.
• Closing the workspace hides its Dock icon while the menu bar, clipboard capture, stickies and AI Connections keep running. Reopening the workspace restores the Dock icon; other open desktop windows, including the updater, retain it until they close.

Your Notes, Beyond the Notch

• Open rich notes in a desktop workspace with tabs, side-by-side or stacked split editing, and Back and Forward navigation.
• Find pinned and recent notes above collapsible folders. Keep using the notch widget and attached stickies.

Take Your Notes with You

• Export password-protected backups containing rich notes, embedded images, folders and snippets, with optional clipboard history.
• Review backups before merging new items. Restore locked notes on another Mac with the backup password, and import RTF, RTFD and text documents.

Privacy on Every Surface

• Use the eye control to mask body content while keeping note titles visible. Authenticate to reveal it; your choice is remembered after restarting.
• Locked notes remain separately encrypted. Workspace notes authenticate when opened and stay unlocked until their final tab closes.
• Temporary Keychain failures preserve the existing encryption key. Decryption does not create a replacement key.
• Older clipboard images are encrypted safely. Sensitive exports require authentication, incoming note links ask before writing, and imports reject oversized or malformed content.

A More Consistent Interface

• Refined monochrome controls, Phosphor icons, compact layouts, and Paper, Beige, Charcoal and Midnight workspace themes.
• Search notes, settings and actions with Command–K; close the palette with Escape.

Try Every Feature for 14 Days

• Start an optional full-access trial without a card or automatic charge. Pro is $9.99 once for up to 3 Macs.
• Existing paid licenses retain Pro access. After an unpaid trial expires, saved content stays readable, copyable and exportable; the Welcome Note remains editable.

Your Notes, Beyond the Notch

• Open rich notes in a desktop workspace with tabs, side-by-side or stacked split editing, and Back and Forward navigation.
• Find pinned and recent notes above collapsible folders. Keep using the notch widget and attached stickies.

Take Your Notes with You

• Export password-protected backups containing rich notes, embedded images, folders and snippets, with optional clipboard history.
• Review backups before merging new items. Restore locked notes on another Mac with the backup password, and import RTF, RTFD and text documents.

Privacy on Every Surface

• Use the eye control to mask body content while keeping note titles visible. Authenticate to reveal it; your choice is remembered after restarting.
• Locked notes remain separately encrypted. Workspace notes authenticate when opened and stay unlocked until their final tab closes.
• Temporary Keychain failures preserve the existing encryption key. Decryption does not create a replacement key.
• Older clipboard images are encrypted safely. Sensitive exports require authentication, incoming note links ask before writing, and imports reject oversized or malformed content.

A More Consistent Interface

• Refined monochrome controls, Phosphor icons, compact layouts, and Paper, Beige, Charcoal and Midnight workspace themes.
• Search notes, settings and actions with Command–K; close the palette with Escape.

Try Every Feature for 14 Days

• Start an optional full-access trial without a card or automatic charge. Pro is $9.99 once for up to 3 Macs.
• Existing paid licenses retain Pro access. After an unpaid trial expires, saved content stays readable, copyable and exportable; the Welcome Note remains editable.

Stickies Return with Your Work

• Window attachments now save their position, size, color, stack order, and hidden state across NotchPad restarts.
• Reopening a uniquely identifiable document restores its sticky, even while the document’s app stays running.
• After a computer restart, saved window attachments return when their document can be uniquely identified. Windows without a stable document identifier or with ambiguous matches stay saved and can be reattached.

More Reliable Sticky Tracking

• Preserve attachments through sleep, screen locking, and session changes.
• Recover from temporary Accessibility failures without moving a sticky onto an unrelated window.
• Identify attached notes with a small sticky badge and show when an attachment is waiting for its original window.

An Updated Welcome Note

• Explain sticky placement, resizing, stacking, hiding, locking, and recovery.
• Walk through AI Connections setup, shared folders, and each app’s read and write permissions.
• Describe formatted AI notes and distinguish built-in local AI from connected apps that may use cloud services.

Connect Your AI Apps

• Set up Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, VS Code, or another MCP app from NotchPad’s AI Connections settings
• Choose shared folders and control read and write access for each connection
• Find and read shared notes, create notes and snippets, append content, and open notes in NotchPad

Formatted Notes from AI

• Create editable Markdown or rich-text notes with headings, font sizes, colors, highlights, tables, and interactive checklists
• Append formatted content while preserving existing text and styling
• Locked notes, Apple Notes links, clipboard history, and unshared content stay outside MCP access; moving, renaming, deleting, and replacing content are unavailable

Clearer Controls and Navigation

• Monochrome controls, settings cards, and clearer labels and footnotes improve visibility
• Search large folder lists in a compact picker and select shared folders in bulk
• Scroll fades show when more content is available; note switching and checkbox styling are more reliable

Sticky Notes Where You Work

• Show notes in one window, on a supported browser page or Figma file, or across an application’s windows
• Move and resize colorful stickies, stack them together, or arrange them freely
• Hide and show stickies with Control-Option-S, with an option to start hidden

Protected Contents

• Lock sticky contents and unlock using Touch ID or your Mac password
• Locking, unlocking, and saving preserve existing note data if encryption or decryption fails

Smoother Tab Switching

• Action menus now load only when opened, reducing unnecessary work when switching between Notes, Clipboard, and Snippets

Note Actions Within Reach

• Open note actions from the new three-dot button on every Notes row
• Right-click menus and existing item actions remain available across all three tabs

Reliable Selection Tools

• The quick-formatting panel now stays anchored to selected text and responds consistently to clicks
• The panel resets cleanly when NotchPad closes

Instant Case Conversion

• Convert selected text to sentence case, Title Case, UPPERCASE, lowercase, camelCase, or kebab-case without losing its formatting

Save Selections as Snippets

• Send selected text straight to Snippets from the quick tools, ready to reuse anywhere

Search Everything

• Press Command-K to search notes, clipboard history, snippets, and common actions from one fast command palette

A Welcome Note That Teaches NotchPad

• New users start with an editable welcome note that demonstrates NotchPad's core features in the product itself
• Existing users can open or restore it from Settings whenever they want

Faster Text Styling

• Selecting text now reveals compact quick-formatting tools beside the selection
• The expanded typography tray adapts across Compact, Standard, and Max widths
• Choose from themed palettes or apply an exact hex color

Intentional Notch Hover

• App Switcher and direct Open on Hover behavior can now be controlled independently
• When both are disabled, NotchPad no longer leaves an invisible hover trigger over the notch

Reliability

• Context menus are dismissed cleanly when NotchPad closes
• Typography values refresh immediately as formatting controls are adjusted

Settings That Fit

• Settings now open as a scrollable surface inside NotchPad, keeping every control reachable on smaller displays
• The gear button and Command-Comma both open the same in-panel Settings view

Cleaner Notes and First Run

• Folders now live in the All Notes menu with note counts and selection marks, leaving more room for the note list
• New installs start with the balanced Standard width and height
• The feature tour is simpler, and the app icon is properly sized for the Dock

Privacy and Pro

• Optional anonymous diagnostics help improve reliability and can be disabled in Settings
• Diagnostics never include notes, clipboard items, snippets, files, AI content, or license details
• NotchPad Pro is now a $9.99 one-time purchase with no subscription

Folders for Notes

• NotchPad now supports folders for notes, making large note libraries easier to browse without changing the original note content
• Users can switch between All Notes, Unfiled, and individual folders from the notes picker
• Folders can be created and organized manually, even when Apple Intelligence is not available

Organize with AI

• Apple Intelligence can suggest folders from note titles and short summaries
• Locked notes are skipped, and already filed notes are left alone
• Suggested folders and note assignments are reviewed before applying

Fixes and Enhancements

• Search fields now include a quick clear button
• Improved privacy and reliability around clipboard history, Apple Notes integration, local AI usage tracking, and license validation
• Added safety checks around note imports and folder assignment so existing notes remain intact

Maintenance

• Bug fixes and improvements for the current NotchPad build
• Hardened license validation so Pro access stays tied to trusted activation data

Update Reliability

• Improved the update dialog layering so Sparkle update prompts appear cleanly
• The official download page and app metadata now point to NotchPad 1.5.1

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