Updates

Even death stars have an exhaust vent.

v26.4.3006-devMay 1, 2026

Integrated AI pack ladder, constrain settings list growth, and an Appearance animation control with None, Light, and Detailed options, so app motion can be reduced or disabled across controlled fades, slides, layout transitions, shimmers, and theme changes

Features

Integrated AI pack ladder
An Appearance animation control with None, Light, and Detailed options, so app motion can be reduced or disabled across controlled fades, slides, layout transitions, shimmers, and theme changes
Give story cards the same shared feed layout transition as regular cards, so opening a story can animate from the primary list into the compact sidebar rail instead of snapping

Fixes

Run background social scraper windows fully hidden by default and restart cleanly if Tauri cannot rebuild a stalled main window, so Freed Desktop does not strand users on a black window.
Rebuild the main window through a hidden keepalive window during renderer recovery, so watchdog recovery no longer quits the app before the replacement window opens
Batch local AI model file writes and throttle progress updates during model pack installs to keep Settings responsive during large downloads
Keep Pause available while an AI model download is active
Feed card max width and desktop feed thumbnails so dense feeds stay readable restored
Scale the desktop Settings dialog with the viewport so tall settings lists remain usable on smaller displays
Social scrapes now measure Freed-owned WebKit memory, reclaim stale scraper windows and oversized network cache, and keep provider errors scoped to the right settings panel
Renderer recovery and model installs are now more stable
Main window reopen after renderer recovery restored
Expanded provider rows now draw wider highlights, shift social icons left, and keep unread and total counts pinned in place
Primary search suggestions now rank useful scopes, actions, and recent destinations more clearly
Channel avatar fallbacks are shared across feed cards, Friends, and map markers for more consistent identity cues
Cloud sync nudges now show a countdown before a delayed reminder becomes active
Background AI summarization now runs through one paced fetcher worker with randomized delay, capped backoff, and 60-second AI timeouts, so slow local models cannot stack overlapping work
Scope social provider error copy by provider, so Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and X setup states say what actually failed

Follow-ups

Renderer heartbeat telemetry now has a clearer recovery path for future black-window reports.
Freed Desktop now keeps the app alive while rebuilding a stalled main window, and large AI model pack downloads put less pressure on the interface
Motion preferences now have a synced default of Detailed, while None removes app-controlled animation for users who need a quiet interface
Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn scraping should keep moving for larger libraries unless Freed itself remains under unsafe memory pressure after cleanup
Source action menus and provider status surfaces now have tighter geometry coverage in the desktop E2E suite

v26.4.2904-devApril 30, 2026

Renderer recovery, semantic content enrichment, unified AI provider settings, and read-on-scroll fixes

Features

Semantic content enrichment
Unified AI provider settings

Fixes

Recover main window after renderer stalls
Polish reader sidebar and toolbar layout
Polish AI settings local pack
Prevent health persistence from freezing dev preview
Mark feed items read while scrolling
Provider health persistence no longer uses the Tauri store mutex path that could freeze Freed Desktop shortly after launch