mac app releases · solstone

the solstone app for mac 2.0.40

october 19, 2026

Added

with the latest journal app on this mac, setup now continues through both apps before opening your journal in the browser. you can turn on the microphone, then screen and computer sound, with a live check before continuing.

Changed

pairing links now open the pairing form with the link filled in. you choose when to connect.

Fixed

macOS no longer warns that solstone tried to access data from other apps each time solstone starts. before, solstone tried to make folders for Chrome and Edge even if you had never opened them, and macOS blocked it.

the solstone app for mac 2.0.37

october 18, 2026

Added

choose a keyboard shortcut in settings to pause and resume from any app.
a screen that stops coming through now shows a warning in the menu.
microphone settings now help you check access and connections when no microphone is available.

Changed

in settings, the permissions tab now shows whether screen and microphone intake is on, paused or off, with a small level that moves while microphone intake is on. you can pause everything from there, and each permission names where to find it in System Settings. before, a granted permission only said "all good".

Fixed

if you switch on screen recording for solstone in System Settings and choose "Later", the permissions tab now notices and offers to restart solstone. before, it kept saying "waiting for permission in system settings..." until you reopened solstone yourself. while it waits, it also offers to open System Settings or reopen solstone.
if you use more than one screen and one of them can't start, the others now keep going into your journal. before, one screen that couldn't start stopped them all.

the solstone app for mac 2.0.36

october 17, 2026

Changed

when you pair, the solstone app now tells your journal this is a mac, so what this mac adds is kept under "macos". before, a newly paired mac's additions were kept under "device". a mac you've already paired keeps the name it has.

the solstone app for mac 2.0.35

october 16, 2026

Fixed

security fix: app updates now check each download address before connecting. before, a redirected update download could contact another website and reveal that you were checking for updates.
you can now remove a microphone that isn't connected from the microphone list in settings, instead of a connected one. before, removing a connected microphone didn't stick: it came back the next time settings opened, at its default setting. if a microphone you removed connects again, it's added back at its default setting.
the menu bar and settings no longer show a red error about a past segment. before, the error could stay for as long as you were paused, and "try again" did nothing while paused.
"last added to your journal" in settings now updates when a page from the solstone extension reaches your journal, too. before, it updated only for the solstone app on this mac.
if your mac couldn't turn "start at login" on or off, or couldn't save a change you made, settings now says so, and the menu bar no longer shows it as a red error. before, the error took over the intake status in the menu bar and settings, its "try again" button couldn't help, and the message about saving suggested restarting solstone, which wouldn't have saved it.

the solstone app for mac 2.0.34

october 14, 2026

Added

the solstone app on your mac now steps aside while Netflix, Disney+ and other supported streaming video is on screen, so that video no longer goes black: screen, system audio and microphone intake pause together and resume on their own. a short note of the service and window title goes into your journal.

the solstone app for mac 2.0.33

october 13, 2026

Added

the solstone extension now works in Safari on this mac, with Safari 18.4 or later. it comes with the solstone app: to turn it on, check solstone under extensions in Safari's settings, or press the "open Safari settings" button under sources in the solstone app's settings, which also says whether it's on. it takes in nothing from private windows, even if you let Safari run it there.

Fixed

the solstone extension now keeps its connection to the solstone app. before, it could lose it, and nothing new from that browser went into your journal for up to a minute.

the solstone app for mac 2.0.30

october 10, 2026

Fixed

if your journal runs on this mac, settings now finds it and asks you to confirm your journal's mark. before, on some macs, after you moved to a new mac or pressed disconnect, settings showed a journal on another device at an address like 127.0.0.1:50020, and re-link asked for a pairing link from a journal at that address, where no journal was.

the solstone app for mac 2.0.29

october 9, 2026

Fixed

re-linking the solstone app to the journal on this mac now asks you to confirm your journal's mark, then what's waiting goes into your journal. before, if the app had tried to link by itself at startup and couldn't, a re-link could finish without asking, and nothing went into your journal until the app restarted.
when re-link can't link to the journal on this mac, settings now says why, such as your journal not responding or this mac not being able to read its saved connection. before, each of these read "couldn't connect to your journal. try again.", and a mac that was already linked said nothing.
when this mac is set up for a journal somewhere else, re-link now says it needs a pairing link from that journal, instead of only showing the place to paste one.
copy diagnostics now reads everything again when you press it, with the time it was read, and includes how your recent linking attempts ended. before, it copied what the panel showed when you opened it.
when the solstone app on your mac moves back to your local network from the relay or a vpn, it now keeps the new local connection. before, it could drop that connection a moment after moving, cutting off anything on its way to your journal, and connect again.
the solstone app now saves your journal's current addresses each time it connects, so once it has connected after your journal's address changes, it keeps using the new one without pairing again. this needs your journal to be up to date too. a journal on this mac is unaffected.

the solstone app for mac 2.0.28

october 8, 2026

Fixed

the question about replacing a device is now skipped when your journal lists no other paired device. it still appears when another device is listed.

the solstone app for mac 2.0.27

october 7, 2026

Added

after you pair the solstone app with your journal and confirm its mark, the solstone app asks "is this replacing one of your devices?" you can keep both, or choose the device this mac replaces. the device you choose loses access to your journal.

Changed

a bluetooth headset no longer sounds worse just because the solstone app is open: its microphone goes into your journal while another app, such as a call app, is using it, or always if you choose. each headset still set to always switches to this the first time this version sees it connected; you can change any headset in settings.
there's no longer a limit of four microphones going into your journal.

Fixed

pausing now stops audio from going into your journal right away. before, a little more audio could go in while the segment finished.
turning a microphone off in settings now stops its audio from going into your journal right away, and turning one on no longer needs you to restart the solstone app. before, a microphone you turned off kept going in until you turned off all audio.
audio no longer goes missing where one segment ends and the next begins. before, about a tenth of a second could be lost at each change, and the next segment started with silence in its place.
when your mac's audio system restarts, system audio intake resumes within seconds. before, it could stop for more than a minute while the solstone app still looked fine.
when a microphone disconnects and comes back, its audio intake now resumes on its own. if a microphone or system audio keeps failing to restart, the solstone app keeps trying instead of waiting for you to pause and resume, and the menu names what isn't coming through.
unplugging a microphone, turning one off, or having none connected no longer shows "audio may be incomplete for this segment."
if you use an audio device that combines several inputs, the solstone app now opens normally. before, it quit as it opened.
if the solstone app quits unexpectedly, audio up to about a second before the quit is kept. before, that segment's audio couldn't be read, or was cut off where its screen frames ended.
after a gap in audio, the sound that follows now stays at the time it happened. before, it could be placed earlier.
holding the solstone menu open no longer stalls audio and screen intake.
on a slow network, like a café's wifi, connecting to your journal through the relay now gets enough time to finish. before, the solstone app could give up a moment before it would have connected.
quitting the solstone app while it's asking you to confirm your journal's mark now quits it. before, intake stopped but the solstone app stayed open, and logging out or restarting your mac could be refused.

the solstone app for mac 2.0.26

october 6, 2026

Fixed

a pause now lasts until you resume it, or until the time you picked runs out, even if the solstone app quits or your mac restarts. before, any restart ended the pause.

the solstone app for mac 2.0.25

october 5, 2026

Changed

internal updates. how you use the solstone app on your mac is unchanged.

the solstone app for mac 2.0.24

october 4, 2026

Changed

status no longer names your journal by its address. status, the journal window, and journal settings show the mark's two words once you have confirmed it, and "your journal" before that.

Fixed

when this mac has lost its journal link, including after moving to a new mac, status and journal settings now say it isn't linked and point you to re-link. before, status said it was connecting while nothing reached your journal.
if you open the journal app after the solstone app, journal settings now find your journal when you come back to them. before, they kept offering to create one until you reopened settings.

the solstone app for mac 2.0.23

october 3, 2026

Added

"about solstone" now shows the versions of the solstone app on your mac and of your journal, and the system each one runs on, in a short block with a copy button, so you can paste it when you ask for help. settings shows the same block, and a problem report includes it.

Changed

updates settings now show your paired journal's version and help you open its app on this mac or find update instructions. solstone and your journal update separately.
update actions name the app that restarts, and settings explain when automatic checks are off.

Fixed

if the extra private-window check is on and its Accessibility access check fails, it now joins the menu-bar attention badge, even with Settings closed. its Settings action opens the option. its notice clears when reads work again or you turn the option off.
a microphone or system audio track is no longer removed when no speech is found in it, so quiet speech the check missed stays in your journal. with "silence music in system audio" on, speech right next to music is no longer silenced along with it.
when a microphone disconnects and comes back, or system audio recovers after an interruption, the audio from before the interruption is kept, and the audio after it keeps going into your journal.
update controls now refresh when the updater finishes a session. the last-check time refreshes even when another check finds the same result.
when your journal is slow but the connection still works, the solstone app on your mac no longer reconnects over and over. it reconnects when the connection is actually lost.
a large upload over a slow connection no longer stops after ten minutes.
when a segment can't be sent because it's too large for your journal or its files can't be read, the menu now says so and status shows how many segments are kept on this mac. before, it looked like your journal couldn't be reached.

the solstone app for mac 2.0.22

october 2, 2026

Added

the private-browsing setting can also keep private windows in Safari, Chrome, Edge and Brave, set to English, out of your journal. it is off unless you turn it on, and turning it on is the only time the solstone app on your mac asks for Accessibility access (called Device Control and Data Access on macOS 27). the app uses that access only to read the window titles these browsers give to accessibility tools, and to check that the access works; those titles stay on your mac.

Fixed

when a new segment started, every five minutes, its first frame could include windows you keep out of your journal: windows of excluded apps, windows matching a title pattern, and Firefox private windows. a new window in an app you were already using could also show for a few seconds before it was kept out. now excluded apps and Firefox private windows are kept out from the first frame, and a window matching a title pattern within about a second. those frames may already be in your journal.
you can press Escape to leave the journal mark question unanswered.
with VoiceOver on, settings and the journal window no longer read out hidden labels meant for automated testing between the real controls.
while a pairing waits for you to confirm your journal's mark, the status and journal pages in settings say so, and the menu-bar icon shows that something needs you. before, they said the connection to your journal wasn't ready.
the solstone app on your mac now keeps its connection to your journal through short network stalls. a pause of a few seconds on wi-fi, a vpn or the relay used to make it reconnect several times in a row, and anything on its way to your journal at that moment had to start over.
changing networks, or a vpn starting up, no longer interrupts a connection to your journal that still works.
when you pair this mac again while the journal it was paired with can't be reached, the new pairing now takes effect right away. before, it could keep trying the old one until the app was restarted.
the menu no longer shows "offline (saved locally)" while something on its way to your journal starts over on a connection that works.
when the solstone app on your mac has fallen back to the relay or a vpn, it now tries to reach your journal over your local network again within ten minutes, or right away when your mac changes networks, and moves back if it can. anything already on its way to your journal gets up to two minutes to finish on the old connection, then starts over on the new one.

the solstone app for mac 2.0.21

october 1, 2026

Changed

when this mac disconnects or pairs again, and it can reach your journal, it asks the journal to drop this mac's old entry from the devices list. this mac now asks you before it switches to another journal.

Fixed

this is a security fix: after you pair with a journal, nothing from this mac goes into it until you confirm it's your journal: confirm its mark, or choose "continue anyway" when the mark can't be checked. before, what was waiting on this mac could start going to the journal as soon as pairing finished, even to a journal you then said wasn't yours. if you close settings before you answer, the menu says "confirm your journal's mark" while this mac can reach your journal, and choosing that asks again. if this mac was already paired before this update, you won't be asked.
if a moment changes on its way into your journal, the changed files stay on this mac for another attempt.
after you change time zones, each new moment goes into your journal under the time zone your mac is set to when that moment starts. a moment already underway keeps the time zone it started in.
when the clocks go back an hour, moments from the repeated hour now reach your journal. before, some of them could stay on this mac.
right after you switch journals, the mark you're asked to confirm is now always the new journal's. before, it could briefly show the previous journal's mark.

the solstone app for mac 2.0.20

september 30, 2026

Fixed

changing your language or calendar settings no longer puts moments under the wrong date.
an unfinished moment is kept if a new one would use the same folder.

the solstone app for mac 2.0.19

september 29, 2026

Added

the solstone app on your mac now has a setting, "keep confirmed segments for debugging". when it is on, segments your journal has confirmed are moved to a separate folder on this mac instead of being removed, and they build up until you delete them yourself.

the solstone app for mac 2.0.18

september 28, 2026

Changed

"check my setup" no longer shows a "command line tools" row. for the command line, open the journal app and choose "open admin terminal" from its journal menu.

Fixed

the "automatic updates" checkboxes and the "how often" menu in "updates" now show your change as soon as you make it. before, the boxes kept showing the old setting even though your change was saved, and each further click changed the setting again. if you clicked either box, check how each one is set now.

the solstone app for mac 2.0.17

september 26, 2026

Fixed

reaching your journal at a public address now works when your mac is on a network that only uses IPv6. before, the solstone app couldn't reach your journal there.

the solstone app for mac 2.0.16

september 25, 2026

Added

if your mac can't reach your journal, the solstone app now shows which addresses it tried. settings also shows your journal's addresses and how the app reached it.

Changed

the private-browsing setting now names the one browser whose private windows showed private mode in the title this setting reads on the mac: Firefox 156, set to English. Safari 27, Chrome 154, Edge 153 and Brave 153 don't show it there, and other browsers are not matched, so private windows in those reach your journal. the match uses English wording, so Firefox set to another language may not match. private windows you opened in Safari, Chrome, Edge, Brave or another browser, or in Firefox set to another language, may already be in your journal. to keep every window of a browser out of your journal, add that browser to the excluded apps in privacy settings.
the solstone app now removes a segment from this mac as soon as your journal confirms it has it, or that you removed it from your journal. that includes audio the app had marked as unreadable, which never went into your journal. the setting for how long to keep segments is gone. anything an earlier version kept, and the folders it left behind, goes on the first sync after this update, once your journal has confirmed it.

Fixed

the private-browsing setting no longer keeps an ordinary window out of your journal just because its page title contains "private" in Safari, "incognito" in Chrome or "private browsing" in Firefox, as in a page about private equity. those windows were kept out even though they were not private.

the solstone app for mac 2.0.15

september 24, 2026

Fixed

a correction to the 2.0.14 notes about the security fix: they said only the solstone app can use its connection to your journal, and that went further than the fix does. before 2.0.14, other apps and web pages on this mac could reach your journal through that connection, with the same access you have. since 2.0.14, that connection only opens for requests carrying a key the solstone app makes each time it starts. if something in your journal, such as an image, points at another program running on this mac, the solstone app can still pass that key to that program, which could then use it to reach your journal.

the solstone app for mac 2.0.14

september 23, 2026

Fixed

this is a security fix. other apps and web pages on this mac could reach your journal through the solstone app's connection to it. now only the solstone app can use that connection.
pairing no longer waits about a minute on an address where your journal can't be reached before it tries the next one. it moves on after a few seconds.

the solstone app for mac 2.0.13

september 20, 2026

Changed

pairing this mac directly with your journal now works at a public address, not only one on your own network. the link still proves it's your journal, and this mac still checks that before trusting anything.
the private-browsing setting no longer says it detects private windows in Safari, Chrome and Firefox. no browser has been confirmed to show private mode in its title on the mac, so the setting now says a private window may reach your journal, and that it can keep out an ordinary window whose title has words like private or incognito. this release corrects what the setting claims, not what it does: private windows may already be in your journal, and can still reach it. to keep every window of a browser out of your journal, add that browser to the excluded apps.

Fixed

pairing and sync failure messages no longer say that reaching your journal directly needs the same wi-fi, a vpn, or a paid service.
the menu bar's settings row now keeps showing that your paired journal can't be reached when it is offline, instead of going back to just "settings…".
if a large upload still failed, this resolves it. the solstone app on your mac dropped the whole connection to your journal partway through, not just that upload, and started the upload over.

the solstone app for mac 2.0.12

september 18, 2026

Changed

when your journal is on the same mac, "open journal" now opens it in your browser. the built-in window is still used for your journal on another device.

Fixed

the journal window now says what's wrong and what you can do about it, instead of "isn't connected yet". and it keeps the page on screen while its connection to your journal comes back, instead of going blank.
pairing confirmation no longer completes on its own when your journal's mark can't be checked in time; you can choose to continue anyway or cancel pairing.
adding a device to your journal now shows your journal's mark the whole time you're pairing, next to the qr code, so you can compare it with what the new device shows.
before your journal has a mark of its own, settings and the add-a-device window now show the placeholder mark instead of empty space.
before your journal has a mark of its own, settings' found-an-existing-journal step now shows the placeholder mark instead of empty space.
VoiceOver now reads your journal's mark as one thing (its two colors, then its two words) during pairing and in settings, instead of reading the icons and words separately.
the menu bar no longer says "set up your journal" when your journal is paired but can't be reached for a moment. it says it's connecting, or that it can't reach your journal right now.

the solstone app for mac 2.0.10

september 17, 2026

Changed

the exclude list now lets you pick which currently open apps to keep out of your journal, so the saved name matches what the app calls itself while running. typing a name is still available as a fallback, but only takes effect on an exact match against the name the app reports while running.

Fixed

clicking macos's own Stop Sharing control used to leave screen intake in the solstone app running anyway, which could block protected video (like the Apple TV app) from playing. the solstone app on your mac now honors Stop Sharing, and screen intake stays stopped until you start it again.

the solstone app for mac 2.0.9

september 16, 2026

Fixed

when audio in a segment could not be read, the whole segment used to be lost. its screen frames now still go into your journal, with a note that the audio was lost.
uploading a large segment no longer drops the connection to your journal partway through. it now keeps going as long as the upload is still going into your journal.
one segment that keeps failing to upload no longer holds up everything behind it. the solstone app on your mac now moves on after three tries, then tries that segment again later, instead of waiting up to half an hour on it.
when your journal cannot read one day, the status now says so and names the day, instead of reporting that your journal can't be reached.
when part of what you shared could not be read, the solstone app on your mac used to say everything had reached your journal, but now it keeps trying.
when freeing space, details accompanying your media stay in place, along with audio that has not reached your journal.

the solstone app for mac 2.0.8

september 14, 2026

Changed

when a request to your journal ends early, diagnostics in settings help now show whether the connection was already full or your journal ended the request. both used to look like the network dropping.

the solstone app for mac 2.0.7

september 13, 2026

added

read recent logs from settings help, then save a copy.

changed

microphone and screen with system audio now run independently, and what you share through either goes into your journal. their switches live under inputs in settings and apply right away; when a switch is on, solstone starts that source as soon as you grant permission.
when nothing is going into your journal, the menu bar and settings now say whether both sources are off, a permission is still to grant, or a source failed to start. when a setting can resolve the issue, the status links straight to it.

fixed

a recent update left both sources turned off, so nothing new was going into your journal, and settings still reported that your setup was ready. this release restores both sources once on affected installs. if only one source was off, it stays off.
anything you shared while a sync was already in progress used to wait for the next sync to reach your journal. solstone now sends it to your journal as soon as the sync in progress finishes.
after solstone had been running a while, it could lose its connection to your journal and report that "the network connection was lost" even though both apps were on the same mac. this release fixes that same-mac connection failure.

the solstone app for mac 2.0.6

september 12, 2026

Added

settings now has a "report a problem" button that opens support with your app version, macos version, and recent diagnostic details.

Changed

you can choose microphone, screen, both, or neither. each source needs only its own permission, and the menu shows which sources are running.
settings keeps your paired journal visible, with separate connection and sync status, an "open journal" button, and short explanations when something can't be added to your journal.

Fixed

fixed a case where opening your journal in the solstone app stayed on the loading screen.
on audio interfaces with more than two inputs, microphones beyond the first input are no longer missing from your journal. all inputs are mixed together. contributed by David Van Duzer.
retry in settings now starts a fresh attempt when the connection to your journal is stuck. the app also continues recovering if a replacement connection fails.
settings no longer asks you to paste a pairing link after it has already paired with a journal on the same mac.
quitting the solstone app now finishes closing it instead of leaving the process running. it also stays closed if shutdown is interrupted partway through.

the solstone app for mac 2.0.0

september 10, 2026

Added

settings now shows when something was last added to your journal and whether the journal version is current or last known. it also includes diagnostics you can copy when you need help.

Changed

the app is now called the solstone app, with a new icon and a menu bar mark that makes its current state easier to tell at a glance.
permission prompts now explain that what you share from your screen, microphone, calls, and media lands in your journal.
chat notifications and their setting have been removed. notifications about app updates still work as before.

Fixed

after pairing, the solstone app no longer keeps trying stale connection details when the way it reaches your journal changes. settings also returns to journal discovery when a saved journal location is no longer valid.
iPhone and iPad microphones now stay off until you turn them on, even when your Mac reports their connection differently. the first input from a multichannel audio interface is no longer mistaken for silence.

the solstone app for mac 1.4.16

august 2, 2026

Changed

sol now reaches your journal on your own mac over your private network, the same way it reaches it on any other computer. if your journal was set up before this version, sol moves it over on its own the first time it connects after launch, and there is no pairing to redo.
your own mac is no longer listed as another device. when your journal lives on the same mac as sol, sol shows it as home.

Fixed

pairing your journal on your own mac no longer reports success before sol has actually switched over to it. if the switch does not go through, sol says so instead of showing a journal it is not using yet.

the solstone app for mac 1.4.12

july 31, 2026

Changed

if sol can't reach a journal at an address you entered by hand, the message now says just that and asks you to check the journal is running and reachable. it used to send you to Local Network permission in System Settings, which was often the wrong place to look.

Fixed

pairing another Mac to your journal now works. some journals hand out a pairing link that connects directly over your local network instead of through the relay, and sol used to turn those down without trying.
clicking a link while viewing your journal in sol no longer leaves "opening your journal…" sitting on top of a page that had already loaded.

the solstone app for mac 1.4.11

july 29, 2026

Fixed

your private link now recognizes when a connection has quietly gone dead, even though it still looks connected, and reconnects instead of hanging. reported by Dave Smith.

the solstone app for mac 1.4.10

july 28, 2026

Added

the menu bar icon now shows an attention badge when an update is ready or an update check didn't go through, and settings marks a permission that still needs your ok the same way. one badge covers everything that needs your attention, and the menu names it without repeating itself.
sol now tells you once, quietly and without a sound, when a new version is available. it won't announce that same version again, and clicking the notification opens the updates tab in settings.

Changed

sol now downloads updates in the background by default, so a new version is ready when you decide to install it. installing is still your call. if you turned background downloads off, they stay off. the setting lives in settings under updates.

Fixed

the permissions screen reads your real microphone setting instead of saying it couldn't check. a microphone sol has never asked about now offers to ask, and one that is off or restricted says which. reported by Dave Smith.
a microphone you have already allowed no longer makes "check my setup" report that some setup checks are unavailable. reported by Dave Smith.
change your microphone setting while sol is running and the menu bar icon and the permissions screen now agree about it, instead of one saying allowed while the other still asks for it.

the solstone app for mac 1.4.9

july 26, 2026

Added

opening your journal from sol's menu or a notification now shows it in a window inside sol instead of your browser. the window uses your current journal connection and shows when it is waiting, loading, ready, or needs a retry.

Fixed

clicking a notification while your journal is unavailable now opens the journal window and waits for the connection instead of doing nothing.
connection errors that might be temporary no longer make sol forget your journal pairing.

the solstone app for mac 1.4.8

july 24, 2026

Fixed

your private link reconnects after your mac locks, sleeps, wakes, or comes back from a network blackhole. reported by Dave Smith.
your private link now prefers the direct home-network path before trying the relay. reported by Dave Smith.
your private link can still reach your journal when a VPN is up and the home-network address only works through it. reported by Dave Smith.
sol now picks back up on its own after your mac sleeps and wakes. before, it could stay paused until you restarted it.

the solstone app for mac 1.4.7

july 16, 2026

Added

"create your journal on this mac" now gets the journal app for you in-app, over the same signed and verified path sol already uses for journal migration, then connects once your journal is ready.
if a journal from an earlier install is found on this mac, sol names it and offers to install the journal app to bring it back online, adopting it in place at its original location.
when sol is on but no journal is set up yet, the menu bar icon shows an attention badge so first-run setup is easy to spot.
settings has a new "check my setup" panel: it reports, in plain language, whether sol, the journal app, your journal link, permissions, and the command-line tools are each in place, with a fix action where one exists — one screenshot now tells support the whole story.

Fixed

sol now finds its way back to your journal on its own after your network changes, like moving between Wi-Fi and ethernet or a VPN going up or down. previously sol's private-link connection could look connected while nothing new actually reached your journal, and only restarting sol would fix it. sol was still taking in your day alongside you the whole time, so this was easy to miss.
after re-checking your journal link, sol keeps its ongoing health check running; before, that check could stop for good, so a private link that quietly went unhealthy might not be noticed or recover until sol was restarted.
when sol runs from anywhere outside Applications, it now says so honestly and offers to move itself there, so macOS can remember its screen recording permission.
sol now notices when your journal already holds part of your day and stops sending it again. before, sol could quietly keep re-sending things your journal had already received, using bandwidth and energy it did not need to. nothing was lost, and sol still keeps its own copy until your journal confirms it has one.

the solstone app for mac 1.4.6

july 11, 2026

Changed

sol's journal handoff can now be validated against the exact upcoming journal build before release, using the same signed acquisition and trust path as production.

the solstone app for mac 1.4.5

july 6, 2026

Fixed

the "your journal" panel now shows connected as soon as your journal answers sol's regular check-ins — previously it waited for the first finished recording to upload, which could take several minutes (or indefinitely on a locked screen) while everything was healthy.

the solstone app for mac 1.4.4

july 6, 2026

Fixed

the "your journal" panel now reads connection health from real heartbeats when your journal is linked directly (on this mac or by address) — it previously watched the private-link tunnel, which never applies to a direct link, so the panel could say "connecting…" forever while everything was healthy.

the solstone app for mac 1.4.3

july 5, 2026

Fixed

during the migration handoff, sol no longer gives up when the journal app is still starting up — it now waits patiently while your journal gets ready, instead of stopping at the first unanswered check.

the solstone app for mac 1.4.2

july 5, 2026

Fixed

the migration handoff now allows the journal app the time it needs to prepare its runtime on first launch (the previous two-minute wait could give up while a slower mac was still setting up — a retry always recovered, but now it completes in one pass).

the solstone app for mac 1.4.1

july 5, 2026

Fixed

the migration banner's start button is reachable by assistive technologies again (the banner container was hiding its controls from the accessibility tree).

the solstone app for mac 1.4.0

july 5, 2026

Changed

sol is now just the app for this device. the journal — the memory sol keeps — has its own app, with its own updates.
if sol was keeping your journal on this mac, a guided handoff sets up the journal app and hands your journal to it. nothing moves: same journal, same permissions, same pairing. segments are kept on this mac until your journal is back.
settings show "your journal" — which journal this sol keeps to, its mark, and the connection — in place of the old service tab.
on first run, sol looks before it asks: a journal on this mac links in one guided step, ending with your journal's mark.

Removed

sol no longer carries the journal runtime in the bundle — the download shrinks from about 450 MB to a few MB.

the solstone app for mac 1.3.31

july 5, 2026

Changed

the app's wording is refreshed throughout. the menu bar app is now sol, the memory it keeps is your journal, and sol's status reads as plain on / off / paused. permission and setup prompts, and the status spoken aloud for accessibility, are reworded to match.
updated the bundled solstone journal to 0.6.24 →

Fixed

if solstone runs into trouble taking things in or syncing, it now shows that instead of quietly staying on, and a day counts as synced only once its uploads have finished. when solstone can't confirm it's observing along with you, it now says so plainly.
if you remove a microphone partway through, the audio it already took in still reaches your journal, where before that mic's audio could be left out. when solstone can't finish putting together a stretch of what it took in, it now shows you a banner instead of failing quietly.
when solstone's live connection to your journal drops, it now notices within a couple of seconds and reconnects. previously it could look connected for up to a minute and a half before recovering.
chat now reconnects on its own if its live connection goes stale, instead of getting stuck and going quiet.

the solstone app for mac 1.3.30

july 3, 2026

Changed

your pairing to your journal now carries over across app updates without a keychain prompt. previously, each update could ask for keychain permission again before solstone could reach your saved pairing.
while an update downloads in the background, solstone now shows real progress, instead of a screen that could look stuck.

updated the bundled solstone journal to 0.6.22 →

Fixed

an update downloading in the background no longer stops solstone from observing along with you. previously it could go quiet until you reopened the app; now it keeps observing through the download and only pauses as the update installs.
solstone now quits promptly. previously, if it was finishing saving the latest stretch of what it observed with you, closing the app could take up to half a minute.
if solstone can't read your saved pairing when it starts, it now shows a clear error and a retry button. previously that could leave it looking like it was simply not paired, with no sign that anything had gone wrong.

Removed

the sol-mac command-line tool is no longer part of solstone. pairing, connecting to your journal, and setup checks now all live in the app itself, in settings and the menu.

the solstone app for mac 1.3.29

july 2, 2026

Changed

updated the bundled solstone journal to 0.6.21 →

the solstone app for mac 1.3.28

july 1, 2026

Changed

updated the bundled solstone journal to 0.6.19 →

the solstone app for mac 1.3.27

june 30, 2026

Added

after you pair this Mac to your journal, it now shows your journal's mark, a small two-word, two-icon identity, and asks you to confirm it matches the one your journal shows before this Mac connects. if it doesn't match, this Mac disconnects right away and keeps nothing.

Changed

pairing this Mac to your journal when the two aren't on the same network is now more reliable. it works through a one-time pairing window your journal opens, and if you start a pairing link before your journal has opened that window, this Mac now tells you the pairing window is closed instead of failing without a reason.
disconnecting this Mac from your journal is now a quiet, separate action with a short inline confirm, rather than a prominent button.

updated the bundled solstone journal to 0.6.18 →

the solstone app for mac 1.3.26

june 29, 2026

Added

this Mac can now reach your journal even when the two aren't on the same network. pair this Mac to your journal once with a pairing link, and from then on it sends what it observes to your journal over a relay sol pbc operates while you're away, and directly over your local network when you're home. it stays off until you pair this way, so nothing changes unless you set it up. the connection row shows whether this Mac is paired and whether it's connected right now, so a saved pairing never looks like a live connection.
this Mac also sends your journal a small health note alongside its regular check-in, so you can tell at a glance that it's running and keeping up. the note is diagnostics only, its name, version, how long it's been running, and whether it's caught up. none of what it observes with you, no screen or audio, is included.

updated the bundled solstone journal to 0.6.17 →

the solstone app for mac 1.3.25

june 28, 2026

Changed

updated the bundled solstone journal to 0.6.16 →

the solstone app for mac 1.3.24

june 27, 2026

Changed

updated the bundled solstone journal to 0.6.15 →

Fixed

changing or unplugging an audio device while solstone was paused could freeze the app, and the only way out was a force quit. that's resolved, along with a rarer case where solstone could quit unexpectedly around a device change or when it stopped.
solstone now stops cleanly when your screen locks or your Mac goes to sleep. previously, in some narrow timing cases, it could stay active for a brief moment after the screen locked instead of pausing. that timing gap is closed.

the solstone app for mac 1.3.23

june 26, 2026

Changed

the app icon is now the unified sol wordmark, the single mark sol pbc uses across every platform. it sits on the same cream squircle in your Dock.
updated the bundled solstone journal to 0.6.14 →

the solstone app for mac 1.3.22

june 25, 2026

Changed

solstone's icon now sits naturally among the other apps in your Dock, with the same mark. nothing else about the icon changed.
updated the bundled solstone journal to 0.6.13 →

Fixed

the health check in Settings could report "setup needed" on a healthy install before it had actually run. it now reads the same path the rest of the app uses, so a healthy install reads as healthy.
a blank entry could appear in the menubar menu. it's gone, with no change to what the menu does.

the solstone app for mac 1.3.21

june 24, 2026

Changed

updated the bundled solstone journal to 0.6.12 →

the solstone app for mac 1.3.20

june 23, 2026

Changed

the "check for updates" controls in Settings now reflect what's actually possible: they're available when a check could do something, and they step back when one is already running, a download is staged and waiting, or your update settings aren't ready. the "last checked" line also reads as a live clock, saying "just now" for the first minute. nothing about how updates install changed, just how honestly the pane reads.
updated the bundled solstone journal to 0.6.11 →

Fixed

after a solstone update, on-device screen analysis (how sol makes sense of what's on your screen, right on your Mac) could stop working until the next restart. it now keeps running cleanly across updates.

the solstone app for mac 1.3.19

june 22, 2026

Changed

some wording is clearer and more consistent across the app and the sol command line: "device" in place of "machine," a tidier line for the journal on this Mac, and clearer help text for the private network command. nothing about how solstone works changed, just how it reads.
updated the bundled solstone journal to 0.6.10 →

Fixed

if you had an update download in the background, settings and the menu could still say "up to date" even though the new version was already downloaded and staged, ready to install when you quit. those now honestly reflect a downloaded-and-staged update, so what you see matches what's actually waiting.

the solstone app for mac 1.3.18

june 20, 2026

Changed

the menubar status now tells you the honest truth about whether what you're observing is reaching your journal right now. before, the sun icon could look full even when observing was paused, local-only, or stopped. now a full sun means your journal is receiving, a half sun means it isn't, and there's a clear starting state and an error state. the status text in Settings and the Help legend match this too, and the tray status now sits cleanly next to its pause and resume control.
Help and Settings → Status now show the solstone app version on its own, so it's no longer mixed up with your journal's version.
updated the bundled solstone journal to 0.6.9 →

Fixed

quitting, restarting, and updating solstone are now clean and reliable, including right after an update has been prepared. a normal quit is also no longer mistaken for a crash, so solstone won't relaunch itself when you meant to close it.

the solstone app for mac 1.3.17

june 19, 2026

Changed

updated the bundled solstone journal to 0.6.8 →

the solstone app for mac 1.3.16

june 18, 2026

Added

solstone now restarts on its own if it ever stops unexpectedly, so observing keeps going without you having to reopen it. the "start at login" toggle also governs this, so turning it on covers both launching at login and restarting after an unexpected stop.

Changed

updated the bundled solstone journal to 0.6.7 →
some iphone continuity microphones (wired and wireless) and aggregate audio devices are no longer observed by default, so fewer microphones are on out of the box. you can turn any of them back on in Settings whenever you like.
first-time setup now shows a "verifying macOS security integrity" step and is more reliable. it waits for your journal to be fully ready before connecting, and retries a slow first connection instead of failing.

Fixed

solstone no longer hangs on startup when an iphone continuity microphone is connected.
solstone no longer quits when your Mac goes to sleep or locks while audio is being taken in. if it ever happened, just that moment's audio is set aside and observing keeps running.
solstone no longer quits when you unplug or replug a display, or when a monitor sleeps or wakes. some Macs ran into this on a display change; this resolves it.
if every display disconnects, or a monitor sleeps while your Mac stays awake, observing now resumes on its own once a display comes back. before, it could stay stopped until you reopened solstone, even overnight.
after your Mac sleeps and wakes or locks and unlocks, observing now reliably resumes. some sessions could get stuck paused and stay that way until a manual restart; this resolves it.
the journal card in Settings no longer stays on "upgrade in progress" after a routine update finishes. it now reflects your journal's real running state.
old bundled journal versions are now cleaned up after an update, instead of leaving hundreds of megabytes behind on disk.

the solstone app for mac 1.3.15

june 15, 2026

Changed

updated the bundled solstone journal to 0.6.4 →
Settings now reads more clearly for bundled and self-managed journals, with lifecycle controls tucked under troubleshooting and a last-activity line for the bundled journal.
chat notifications now use the journal's current callosum connection path, with the observer key still sent in the authorization header.

Fixed

the Updates tab no longer gets stuck on checking when an automatic check is already running in the background.

the solstone app for mac 1.3.14

june 12, 2026

Added

you can now stop and start the journal yourself from Settings, so observing pauses and resumes when you choose.

Changed

updated the bundled solstone journal to 0.5.4 →
the journal now runs as part of solstone itself instead of a separate background process. quitting solstone now stops the journal too, and the menu, doctor, and Settings show its real status as it changes.
when an app update is ready, the journal stops cleanly before the new version takes over, so an update never leaves it half-applied.

Fixed

the "notify me when sol starts a chat" setting and your system notification permission are now separate, so the setting reflects what you chose rather than the permission state. notifications are on by default.

the solstone app for mac 1.3.13

june 6, 2026

Changed

updated the bundled solstone journal to 0.5.2 →

Fixed

when an update is available, the Updates tab now reliably offers the download, even if the latest check hasn't come back yet. choosing it re-checks and starts the install for you.

the solstone app for mac 1.3.12

june 5, 2026

Changed

updated the bundled solstone journal to 0.5.1 →

Fixed

if an app update starts while solstone is active, the current segment is finished before the installer takes over, so the update does not leave it midstream.

the solstone app for mac 1.3.11

june 3, 2026

Fixed

the menu and Settings now use the same journal status, so a healthy journal is not shown as stopped in one place and synced in another.
if the bundled journal needs attention, the menu opens Settings instead of trying to restart from the dropdown. restart now lives in the journal settings pane, where the status reason is visible.
the app now says journal throughout the menu, Settings, install status, and accessibility labels. the old technical wording is gone.

the solstone app for mac 1.3.10

june 3, 2026

Changed

the journal settings stay fully visible and usable in every installer state. if you manage your own journal, you can still see bundled install and failure status while another mode is selected, and switching journal modes no longer cancels an install that's already running.
app updates and installs no longer get in each other's way. while solstone is installing, automatic update checks hold off so the two don't collide, but you can still check for updates yourself anytime; if an update is waiting, it picks up once the install finishes.

Fixed

during a fresh install or an app-run upgrade, solstone now waits for your journal to be fully ready before connecting your observers, so setup no longer moves ahead before the journal can accept them. if an upgrade does hit a snag after the new version is already in place, the status card now reflects what actually happened and points you to the right next step instead of restarting the whole upgrade.

the solstone app for mac 1.3.9

june 2, 2026

Changed

updated the bundled solstone journal to 0.4.10 →
when you stop or pause solstone, or your Mac sleeps or locks, and the last segment's audio can't be read yet, solstone now keeps that segment and tells you, instead of finishing it with screen only. nothing is quietly set aside.

Fixed

if a segment finished with its screen but without its audio, even though good audio was sitting on your Mac, that's resolved. a timing issue could finish the segment that was in progress right then before its audio had finished saving; the way solstone finishes and recovers segments was reworked so the in-progress segment is never finished early and its audio is kept with it. this goes deeper than the 1.3.8 reconciliation, closing the same gap at its source. everything stays on your machine, as always.
for a journal you manage yourself, including one you run from source, the bundled journal now stays up to date through upgrades. some self-managed setups had the journal fall a release behind because the app didn't recognize its own shortcut; it does now.

the solstone app for mac 1.3.8

june 2, 2026

Changed

updated the bundled solstone journal to 0.4.9 →
upgrades now stage and verify the new bundled journal before switching the app over. if staging fails, your current install keeps running instead of being torn down first.
settings now recognizes journals you manage yourself, including one you run from source. it shows their version without trying to reinstall them or move them to the default journal.

Fixed

upgrades run by the app keep using the journal path already configured on your Mac, so a journal outside the default folder stays connected through the upgrade.
segments no longer finish without audio when valid audio files are still on disk. solstone reconciles those files before the segment is marked complete.
install and upgrade failure cards now put the summary first, keep retry nearby, and leave the details available for support.

the solstone app for mac 1.3.7

june 1, 2026

Fixed

upgrading over an older install no longer stops because the sol or journal shortcut in your shell points somewhere stale. setup now repairs the shortcuts it owns and keeps going.
sol's background thinking can ask your journal for identity, routines, health, and talent context again. those approved journal tools were being turned away before sol could use them; now they work without widening what sol is allowed to run.
fresh installs now set up the bundled journal cleanly.
upgrades can continue when launchd reports a transient service-start error after the bundled journal has actually started and become healthy.

the solstone app for mac 1.3.6

may 31, 2026

Added

you can now re-run sol's thinking on any day right from the page. "process now" picks up where it left off; "redo from scratch" starts the day over.

Changed

the on-device option is now a single "Local (on-device)" choice, and on your Mac it runs entirely on your machine, including sol's thinking. nothing leaves your machine, with no cloud fallback.
your journal now tells you plainly whether it's caught up. the stats and health pages show an honest "is my journal caught up?" answer, plus a "days that need a hand" list for any day sol can't finish on its own, like one with corrupted media or a step that keeps failing. catch-up runs on its own in the background and never leaves older days behind.

Fixed

your journal no longer shows finished work as still pending. days that hit an earlier error but later completed were being counted as outstanding, so the backlog looked larger than it was. the count now reflects what's actually still incomplete.

the solstone app for mac 1.3.5

may 30, 2026

Added

you can now reach your journal from your phone or laptop even when they're away from your home machine. a single connections page shows how you connect, your network access, and your paired devices. pair a new one with a fresh code, give each device a name, and remove any device with one tap.
the local model that runs entirely on your machine can now take in images as well as text. nothing new leaves your machine.

Changed

the local model now stays ready in the background instead of starting on demand, so sol doesn't wait on it; fresh installs start it reliably the first time, and downloading a model shows real progress.
update status is now a first-class signal. the Updates row in Settings and the menu flag when an update is waiting or a check didn't go through, and clear once you're current.

Fixed

the health panel in Settings now shows each individual check, so you can see exactly which permission or service needs attention. if you saw a single "doctor failed" warning on 1.3.4, you'll now see the specific check instead, with the rest still passing.
your journal now shows when a moment has been transcribed but not yet thought through, instead of looking finished, and catches those moments up on its own.

the solstone app for mac 1.3.4

may 28, 2026

Changed

the bundled solstone is updated.

Fixed

your segment audio now stays with its segment. on 1.3.3, if a recording finished in a way solstone couldn't fully process, the segment could reach your journal with its screen but without its audio, even when a good recording was sitting on your machine. now those recordings are kept safe on disk and the segment is marked for another pass instead of going up incomplete.
the upgrade-failed notice no longer lingers once you're current. if an earlier upgrade ran into trouble, the notice could stay up after the problem was resolved, and an outdated install could stop retrying the upgrade on launch. solstone now re-runs the upgrade when it's behind and clears the notice once you're on the latest.

the solstone app for mac 1.3.3

may 27, 2026

Added

a new newsletters page in the sidebar. read the facet newsletters sol writes for you from their own surface, with copy and PDF download.

Changed

the bundled solstone is updated. the activity participation tab now renders as a structured list, with attendees and mentioned grouped separately, per-entry provenance, and a "less certain" tag on lower-confidence entries. previously it rendered as a raw JSON block.
the chat surface gets a small refresh: sol's thinking summary now appears alongside the response when the AI provider returns one, a liveness placeholder shows while sol is working, errors offer a retry, and labels for what sol is doing read in plain language.

Fixed

the weekly reflection page now fills in. on busier journals, sol was stopping before it got to the writing, so the page rendered empty. that's resolved.
a name that only appeared in a transcript, without other corroboration, no longer surfaces as a meeting attendee on the activity participation tab. it shows up under "mentioned" instead.
some of sol's background work running through google could fail silently on the default configuration. a request-budget calculation was landing one over the supported maximum, rejecting every call; the calculation is corrected.
sidebar labels for apps like "transcripts," "activities," and "settings" no longer truncate when the sidebar is expanded.

the solstone app for mac 1.3.1

may 25, 2026

Fixed

per-display segment videos now contain that display's actual pixels. earlier builds always wrote the primary display's pixels into every per-display file, so anyone running solstone on a multi-display Mac was recording the wrong screen until now.

the solstone app for mac 1.3.0

may 22, 2026

Added

you can now run sol's on-screen analysis entirely on your own Apple Silicon Mac. choose the on-device option in settings, and the part of sol that makes sense of what's on your screen runs locally, with nothing about those frames going to a cloud provider. it's opt-in, vision-only for now, and needs a Mac with at least 16 GB of memory. a one-time model download happens the first time you turn it on.
the menu bar now tells you when sol's background pipeline has stopped and lets you restart it in place. if the pipeline goes quiet, you'll see "pipeline stopped" with a click-to-restart action, so you can recover without leaving the app.
you can now power sol with your Anthropic or OpenAI account without installing anything separately. enable the provider in settings and paste your key, and solstone installs what it needs on its own.

Changed

the timeline view is rebuilt. it fits any window width, shows where each entry came from with a link to that day, and refreshes in place as new days roll up.
long todo lists load faster. solstone now shows a focused first screen with a "show more" control, instead of rendering the entire list up front.
pairing a phone is more reliable, and the paused state in the menu now reads "paused - 8 min left" so you can see at a glance when sol resumes.

Fixed

videos and audio in your journal that wouldn't play now play correctly, with a clearer message on the rare file that still can't.
when transcription hit a dense stretch of speech it could fail outright; it now recovers on its own, and segments that did fail are surfaced instead of disappearing silently.
pages occasionally got stuck loading on a cold start, and the paused and error menu-bar icons had lost their sun in 1.2.1. both are resolved, alongside internal stability improvements.

the solstone app for mac 1.2.1

may 18, 2026

Changed

the bundled solstone is updated. results are more consistent across AI providers, and your provider-tier defaults move to each provider's current model. nothing about how you use solstone changes.

Fixed

a name from your own contacts could be written into your journal as if it had appeared on your screen, when sol had little else to go on for a frame. that no longer happens.
on a rare frame, sol could write a long run of repeated text into your journal. that output is now bounded before it's saved, and normal entries are unaffected.
when sol fell back to its backup AI provider for a screen or document, the image wasn't reaching the provider, so the journal entry was a guess instead of grounded in what was on screen. the image now reaches every provider.
updating solstone on a Mac that already had it installed could fail partway through. some upgrades over an existing install hit this — this resolves it, and updating now completes cleanly.

the solstone app for mac 1.2.0

may 18, 2026

Added

a plain-language data-flow page now ships with solstone. it lays out what's sent to your AI provider for each task, what stays on your machine, and the Article 8 covenant for what is never sent. linked from setup, the install guide, and the readme.
first-run setup now walks through how to power sol: a hosted key to start, your own provider account (a developer key, not a consumer chat plan), and where local-only is headed.

Changed

installing solstone now happens inside settings → journal, not a separate window. pick the bundled solstone or connect to your own, see each step as it runs with a details view, and a single badge points you to whatever still needs attention. when it finishes, an "open journal dashboard" button opens it on your terms instead of a browser opening on its own.
the menubar and settings wording now follows one model: your observers experience your day along with you, and everything goes to your journal, where sol keeps it. clearer language for what each part does. nothing about how solstone works changed.
bundled solstone updated. fresh setup is clearer, the starting nav rail comes ready instead of blank, timezones resolve correctly on Macs, and help points to support.solstone.app.

the solstone app for mac 1.1.3

may 14, 2026

Added

Failure card now surfaces a show-details disclosure with the captured subprocess log (uv stderr, sol setup rendered transcript, or observer-create output) — monospaced, selectable, copyable. Diagnosing a failed install no longer requires Console.app.

Changed

Bundled solstone backend pinned to 0.3.2, which makes sol doctor PATH-independent. Fresh-Mac installs no longer need a launchctl-PATH workaround.
uv tool install now passes --refresh so freshly published solstone versions install reliably from the first attempt (no stale PyPI index cache).

Fixed

Subprocess environment inheritance: Foundation.Process.environment = nil did not deliver the .app's PATH to subprocesses in practice. The installer now passes ProcessInfo.processInfo.environment explicitly. This was the root cause of npx_on_path / journal_sync / port_5015_free doctor failures in earlier installer builds.

the solstone app for mac 1.1.2

may 5, 2026

Added

Updates tab anchored with current version + last-checked line, and surfaces auto-update preferences.
Polished DMG window layout via create-dmg (brand background, window bounds, icon positions).

Changed

Settings switched from TabView to NavigationSplitView for a native-feeling sidebar.
Menu-bar icons now ship as vector PDF templates — crisp at any density.
SettingsView seeds its selected tab from init for snapshot stability; snapshot frame widened.

Fixed

Menu-bar icons load from the nested SwiftPM Resources/ subdirectory.
UpdatesTabView no longer shows a duplicate transient block while checking.