Release Notes
What's new in Spades Audio
v0.9.0-betaAugust 20, 2026
New
- A ten-band equaliser for every speaker, speaker group, and app. One curve plays at a time — app beats group, group beats speaker, no arguments.
- Eight presets, drag-and-flick curve editing, and a Bypass All switch for honest before-and-after listening.
Fixed
- A HomePod switched on after launch now shows up, instead of sulking unnoticed.
- Equalisers on AirPlay used to apply strictly in theory. They're audible now.
- Editing a curve mid-stream no longer stutters the music while it thinks.
- Light mode found its row grouping in Settings again.
Install
v0.8.3-betaAugust 15, 2026
Fixed
- Spades Audio no longer blocks shutdown or restart — your Mac is free to go.
- A HomePod no longer turns to mush when a Bluetooth speaker joins the route.
- Crackle after a busy moment now clears in milliseconds, not minutes.
- Bluetooth speakers no longer run ahead of the rest of the group.
- AirPlay speakers connect again after they change address.
Install
v0.8.2-betaAugust 14, 2026
Fixed
- Fixed the system mute politely skipping AirPlay speakers — a routed HomePod used to play right through it. Silence now means everyone.
Improved
- The Settings sidebar device cards are back in their dark style — the light-card look came, saw, and retired after one release.
Install
v0.8.1-betaAugust 13, 2026
Fixed
- Focus presets work again on macOS 26.5 — the system quietly stopped announcing Focus changes, so Spades Audio now checks for itself.
- Fixed a preset's muted apps un-muting themselves when you opened the panel — looking is no longer touching.
- Fixed switching speakers mid-preset undoing your mutes — mute now rides along with the route change.
- Fixed quitting with a Focus preset active and losing your original volumes on relaunch — the restore now waits for your apps to actually show up.
Improved
- Focus presets now kick in within a second of a Focus starting — and bow out within three when it ends.
Install
v0.8.0-betaJuly 30, 2026
New
- Redesigned Settings — a grouped sidebar, a unified Device Groups section, and a three-tab Preferences pane that finally knows where everything lives.
- Settings search — type a few letters and jump straight to any setting, app, device, or preset; the row you land on flashes so you can't miss it.
- Smarter update reminders — the update dialog appears once per version; after "Remind Me Later" a quiet badge, banner, and Settings dot carry the reminder without nagging, and "Skip" means total silence.
- Spades Audio now starts at login on first launch — set it up once, forget it exists (changeable in Preferences → General).
Fixed
- Fixed per-app EQ quietly resetting to flat after the audio engine restarted — your curves now survive.
- Fixed pinned apps unpinning themselves whenever the app they belonged to quit. Pins are forever now (or until you unpin them).
- Fixed Application Audio taking up to half a minute to open the first time while it fetched an icon for every installed app.
- Fixed the settings gear in the menu bar panel sometimes doing nothing — the window now actually comes to the front, even when another app has focus.
Improved
- Automatic update checks are now always on — the off switch retired (installing is still your call).
- Sharper German, Spanish, and Tamil translations across the redesigned Settings.
Install
v0.7.4-betaJuly 25, 2026
Fixed
- Fixed intermittent buzzing in Bluetooth headphones — your earbuds and macOS were fighting over the clock; we settled it.
- Fixed AirPods playing a beat ahead of other speakers — they brag about latency they don't have; we stopped believing them.
- Fixed per-app routing going silent after a license check hiccup.
- Fixed browser play/pause setup asking permission twice.
Improved
- Faster launch — heavy audio reads no longer block the app.
- The Automation permission dialog now explains both jobs: play/pause and volume sync.
- First-run setup recovers itself instead of stranding onboarding.
Install
v0.7.3-betaJuly 13, 2026
Fixed
- The Accessibility permission stopped inviting itself to launch — no more surprise dialog before you've asked for anything.
- "Turn on System Audio" now shows one dialog, once — not two back to back, and not again later on an unrelated click.
- A first-run edge case could trap the audio engine in a restart loop and strand onboarding at the first step — installation now survives it.
- Switching your default output device no longer knocks AirPlay routes silent.
- AirPlay speakers give up their few-millisecond head start in mixed groups.
Install
v0.7.2-betaJuly 4, 2026
v0.7.1-betaJuly 3, 2026
Fixed
- Upgraded from 0.6.x? Your AirPlay speakers are back — Spades finds them again on first launch.
- Routing one app to a HomePod and Apple TV at once no longer turns the audio to static. Each destination gets its own lane.
- EQ no longer goes permanently silent on Bluetooth or AirPlay devices at low sample rates.
- Onboarding asks for Screen Recording permission once. Not three times.
- The Accessibility step now waits for you to actually decide before moving on.
- Dismissing the Local Network banner while already granted no longer locks you out — the Permissions pane restores discovery.
Improved
- Onboarding ends with a proper "You're all set" card instead of a hard cut to the app.
- Support bundles now include audio engine logs — the half that was always missing from diagnostics.
Install
v0.7.0-betaJuly 1, 2026
New
- Redesigned onboarding: a guided card flow that auto-starts your trial and gets out of the way — now in five languages.
Fixed
- AirPlay routes on the first click now. No more tapping the HomePod two or three times, and no more audio leaking back out of the MacBook speakers.
- Buzzing and crackle on AirPlay output are gone — the resampler stopped shaving a sliver off every packet.
- Muting one speaker no longer mutes all the rest.
- Permissions stopped crying wolf: no red "missing permission" badge on launch when nothing's actually missing, and Local Network reads as granted when it is.
Improved
- Per-app microphone controls now appear only for apps that actually use the mic.
- An AirPlay device picked for per-app routing wears a clear "Routing" tag, distinct from your system default's green check.
Install
v0.6.3-betaJune 21, 2026
New
- Drag Spades' slider and the app's own slider follows along — Spotify, Music, Apple TV, VLC and the major browsers. No more clicking twice to convince the app, and no new permission prompt either.
Fixed
- Mixing two outputs for one app now stays in sync regardless of which one you tap first. Wired output anchors the clock; wireless stops drifting behind.
- Spotify's volume now responds even when you granted Automation from System Settings instead of Spades' onboarding flow.
Improved
- Application Audio opens fast on first click — the bundle scan no longer hitches the window.
Install
v0.6.2-betaJune 18, 2026
Fixed
- Bluetooth speakers no longer go silent after you power them off and back on. Spades re-routes the moment the device returns — no picker-fiddling required.
Improved
- The browser playback button now wears a slashed-play icon instead of a lightning bolt, so its job is obvious before you click it.
- The detail-pane row formerly known as "JavaScript Control" is now "Direct Browser Playback" — same permission, with copy that finally explains what it does to your Play/Pause keys.
Install
v0.6.1-betaJune 16, 2026
Fixed
- Spades no longer flashes "An unexpected audio error occurred" after a long sleep — the engine recovers itself, the banner stays out of your way.
- The engine's own background cleanup could quietly deadlock after enough hours of uptime. It doesn't anymore.
- When the banner does appear, it finally names the impact ("Per-app volume, mute, and routing are temporarily paused while audio reconnects") instead of waving at "unexpected".
Improved
- Settings-window error banner is now a single row — message, Retry, dismiss — instead of stacking Retry on a second line. (Menu-bar popover keeps the stacked layout.)
- Crashlytics symbolicates host crashes properly again, and every release now ships its dSYMs zipped alongside the DMG for retroactive uploads.
- Engine-error tiles split per failure class, so post-bounce stale-pid noise no longer blends with real failures users can act on.
Install
v0.6.0-betaJune 14, 2026
New
- Play, pause, and skip browser audio right from the menu bar. Spades now drives Chrome, Edge, Brave, Arc, and Safari — the tab making all that noise is one click from quiet.
- First time you reach for a browser's controls, a single Enable JavaScript tap hands Spades the keys — or hit Skip and the nudge bows out.
- The play/pause buttons now show each browser's real state the moment you open the panel — no more stale buttons insisting a paused tab is still going.
Install
v0.5.6-betaJune 9, 2026
v0.5.5-betaJune 8, 2026
Fixed
- Fixed the Local Network onboarding step freezing on Continue after you granted access on a quiet network. It takes yes for an answer now.
- Fixed app search pulling a disappearing act — search box and all — when nothing matched under Pinned & Running. It keeps its cool now and shows "No matching apps."
- Fixed denied-permission rows dumping you at the top of Privacy & Security on a cold launch. They land on the exact setting now.
- Fixed the privacy-consent screen forgetting you between launches and asking for consent all over again. It remembers now.
Install
v0.5.4-betaJune 7, 2026
v0.5.3-betaJune 6, 2026
Fixed
- If a missing permission kept Spades Audio from reaching its audio engine, you got told twice: an error banner with a "Reconnecting…" warning stacked on top. One problem, one banner now.
- Settings could show the Screen & System Audio Recording reminder twice — stacked, each with its own competing Fix button. Now it's one reminder, one Fix, zero déjà vu.
Install
v0.5.2-betaJune 6, 2026
Fixed
- Unplugging a device mid-song could leave your audio routing in a sulk only a force-quit would fix. It now notices, shrugs, and heals itself.
- Returning without a license? The privacy screen used to greet you in an infinite loop. You can now actually reach the trial — welcome back.
- The menu bar panel could crash while showing off its resize animation. It now snaps into place — less drama, zero crashes.
- The Retry button on the error banner used to be mostly decorative. It retries now.
Improved
- The audio engine restarts more gracefully — quick connection blips no longer set off false alarms.
Install
v0.5.1-betaJune 5, 2026
Fixed
- That green checkmark for Screen & System Audio Recording now shows up the moment you grant access — no more clicking twice to convince it.
Improved
- You're in control in Settings → Privacy — a clearer privacy lock, and optional permissions no longer nag you for access you didn't want.
Install
v0.5.0-betaJune 4, 2026
New
- Privacy controls. Choose whether to share anonymous usage analytics and crash + diagnostic reports — both are off by default. You're asked once during setup and can change either choice anytime in Settings → Privacy.
- Your data. Export a copy of, or delete, the privacy data Spades Audio keeps on your Mac — right from Settings → Privacy.
Fixed
- Fixed a hang that could occur while granting the Screen & System Audio Recording permission during setup.
- When Microphone or Local Network access is denied, Spades Audio now clearly flags that it's running in limited mode instead of failing silently.
Install
v0.4.11-betaJune 1, 2026
v0.4.10-betaMay 30, 2026
v0.4.9-betaMay 30, 2026
v0.4.8-betaMay 30, 2026
v0.4.6-betaMay 29, 2026
v0.4.5-betaMay 28, 2026
v0.4.4-betaMay 28, 2026
v0.4.3-betaMay 28, 2026
v0.4.2-betaMay 22, 2026