What changed in each release of the Grilled Cheese app, newest first.

Version numbers are dates. 2026.08.16-1 is the first build published on 16 August 2026; a -2 would be the second that day. The app shows the version it is running at the bottom of the navigation drawer, so you can tell which of these you have.

Features that are built but still switched off are not listed here. A release note appears when the feature is on for everyone, and the User Guide chapter appears at the same time.

2026.09.07-1

7 September 2026

Tablets and desktops get a layout of their own. Search gains a live tail that follows a query as posts are made, recent searches you can return to, and a Posts-first order.

A layout for tablets and desktops

On a tablet or a desktop the app is now a set of columns you arrange yourself, reached through a single navigation rail you can collapse. Alongside a timeline, a column can be the composer kept open beside your reading, your drafts and scheduled posts, trending hashtags, or a search. Each home column carries its own feed filter, so two of them can show different things at once.

A search can run live: leave it open and posts matching it arrive as they are made. Free sessions run for five minutes and Premium sessions are not capped, and when a session ends the Live control resets so you can start another. Arrivals slide in at the top, and the chrome around the results folds away while a session is running.

Posts is now the first tab and the one search opens on. Searching the conversation is what a search box is usually for; finding an account is the occasional errand.

Recent searches appear as chips under the box. Remove one, or clear the lot. A hashtag opens the same results surface a search does, and can be followed live in the same way. Results lead with recent posts. Trending leads Explore, with who to follow settled below it.

Photos and video

Photos and video are captured on one screen instead of two. A video can run to thirty seconds, or two minutes with Premium.

A description can be edited on a photo you have already posted, without deleting it and posting it again. If you would rather never post without one, require alt text can be turned on for an identity.

Languages

The app’s own language can be set per identity, separately from the device’s. You can also choose which content languages you want to see, and the composer’s language list narrows to the ones you picked.

The feed

The everything feed fills its own gaps as you scroll, so a fast timeline stops leaving holes behind. Pulling to refresh reconciles against the live timeline rather than a stored copy. Photo posts carry the same byline, linkified caption and tap-to-expand as every other card.

Profiles

A profile from another network opens immediately with its shape drawn in, instead of a blank screen while it resolves. Followers and following lists work for Bluesky accounts.

Follows

Following several accounts at once raises one notification rather than one per account.

Premium

You are told when Premium access is granted and when it ends. A reminder about a complimentary subscription says that access ends, rather than saying it will renew.

Fixes

  • Videos from Bluesky appeared as a broken image. They now show their poster frame with a play badge on it.

  • A reply carried in from another network shows the post it replied to.

  • Content labels from the moderation service work again. The connection they arrive over had been failing since 30 August.

  • The macOS app builds and runs again.

  • On iPhone, a camera or photo permission you had denied could be reported as granted.

  • The app no longer refuses upside-down portrait on iPhone.

  • A Premium purchase the app store rejects says which problem it was.

  • When encrypted chat cannot start, the app says so instead of showing a generic error.

2026.09.01-1

1 September 2026

Search now covers the whole network. This release also adds a wizard for moving a Bluesky account here, read receipts in messages, drafts in the composer, and a lot of accessibility work.

Search

Post search works now. It searches posts made here and posts from the rest of the network. Results are ranked by how well they match, with posts in your language first. Nearby shows geotagged posts from people close to you.

Move your Bluesky account here

A wizard moves a Bluesky account to Grilled Cheese in three steps, and it is easier to find from signup. There is also a forgot password flow now.

Messages

Direct messages from other networks now show up as plain text conversations. Read receipts are a setting that works both ways: you can see theirs only while they can see yours, and you can turn it off. The chat composer says sent when a message is sent instead of spinning, and the sent state survives a reconnect.

Composing

Leaving the composer with work in it asks if you want to save a draft, discard it, or keep writing. Videos can be given a description and captions, and both play back with the video. If a photo already has a description saved in it, the app offers that text so you do not have to retype it. Avatar and banner alt text can be seen and edited. A scheduled post time you confirmed stays confirmed. The composer holds a post to the limits of the networks it will go out to, so it does not get cut off somewhere else. HEIC photos are converted on your device when you pick them, so they upload and display everywhere.

Accessibility

Post images that have a description show an ALT badge. The post action row is labeled for screen readers, and decorative images are skipped. A screen reader reaches the app’s own controls before the endless feed. Accessibility preferences now follow your account instead of the device. Autoplay and looping media follow one motion setting. Captions on a video survive the background upload.

The feed

A repost on a profile feed says who reposted it. A pinned post shows a Pinned indicator. Replies that match your hidden words collapse to a single row naming the word, and can be expanded. The heart and the bubble remember what you already did. Images take up exactly the space they will need, so the feed does not shift while they load. Bylines show up right away.

Notifications

Reactions to the same post arrive as one grouped notification, with the reactors' avatars and "and N others", instead of one notification per person.

Media

The focus viewer loads full resolution when you ask for it, instead of deciding for you on mobile data. Media marked sensitive is covered everywhere it can appear, and covered media is hidden from screen readers.

The age gate asks for an age band instead of a yes or no at 18. If an app store provides an age signal, the app honors it. When the terms change, you are asked to agree again, and signup records the exact terms you were shown. The account lock setting names each network it affects, and the visibility picker says what a lock does and does not do.

Reliability

The app checks its own connection before calling a request failed, so a dead spot is reported as a connection problem. Responses are compressed, which makes the app lighter on mobile data. German, Spanish, French, and Portuguese translations are caught up with English.

Fixes

  • The dark theme setting works again. It could fail to apply and quietly revert.

  • A share QR code stays on screen while it is being scanned, and a QR code that no longer works says so, in every language the app supports.

  • The theme editor warns you when the colors you picked are hard to read, before you save the theme.

  • Pixelfed accounts show a network mark instead of nothing.

  • Community Standards opens on the documentation site, themed to match the app.

  • About has a Release notes row that opens this page.

  • A long handle no longer breaks the settings row it sits in.

2026.08.16-1

16 August 2026

The largest release so far: notifications, lists, custom domain handles, and a new way to read the feed.

Notifications

Push notifications arrive on Android. A notification that lands while you are using the app is shown in the app rather than dropped, tapping one opens the post, follow, or conversation it is about, and the icon badge counts what you have not read yet. Choose which kinds you want under Settings > Notifications.

Lists

Build a list of accounts and read it as its own timeline. Create and name a list, add and remove members, and add someone to a list straight from their profile. Lists are yours alone; being on one is not something the account is told about.

Custom domain handles

If you own a domain, you can use it as your handle, so @you.example.com replaces @you.grilledcheese.app. Settings > Handle walks through it and shows the two records you can publish to prove the domain is yours, either of which is enough. Handles now render as the whole hostname everywhere they appear, which is how ATProto handles are written.

Note
Verification is done by the server the moment you submit, so the records have to be published first.

A new feed

The everything feed can now be read full-bleed, with media running edge to edge. Toggle it under Settings > Appearance. Quoted posts are indented so a quote is legible as a quote at that width.

Photos in the feed appear as a rail you can page through in place. Pulling up on a photo opens the post’s comments under it without leaving the picture.

In landscape on a phone, posts lay out in two panes and media is height-capped so a photo cannot push the text off the screen.

Profiles

Tapping an avatar in a timeline opens a preview of that profile as a sheet, warmed so it appears immediately. Dragging the sheet up morphs it into the full profile rather than replacing it.

Markup

Highlight text on a post and share it as an image themed to match the app. The first swatch reverses the card’s text and ground, the palette is brighter, and a marked-up image can be saved to your device without posting it.

Composing

Alt text has a button, a reminder, and somewhere to write it. You can declare the language a post is written in, which is what other servers use to filter and translate. The action row scrolls, so no control is unreachable on a small screen.

Reading

Bookmark a page from inside the in-app browser and the post that carried the link is what gets bookmarked. The browser opens plain http:// pages instead of refusing them. Who to follow shuffles each time you look, rather than showing the same accounts until they are followed.

Paywalled posts can be hidden with a toggle, and reported as paywalled.

Reliability

Reads that fail are retried with visible progress before anything is declared broken: the feed, notifications, bookmarks, and profiles. A profile that never loads degrades in place and stays navigable instead of becoming an error screen.

Fixes

  • Shared links to posts that came from another network no longer 404. The post id is now encoded correctly in the link.

  • Posting a video no longer double-submits when the button is tapped twice, and the composer opens while the video is still being prepared.

  • About, Help, and the policy documents open the documentation site, themed to match the app you were just looking at.

2026.08.07-1

9 August 2026

Photos in the feed

Photos appear as a rail you can page through without opening the post. Tapping one opens a detail viewer that animates from the tile you tapped, and pulling up reveals the post underneath.

Fixes

  • Tapping a post in a thread renders it immediately instead of waiting for the rest of the thread to load.

  • An author with no display name is named by their handle rather than "Unknown author".

  • The photo picker no longer runs out of memory and closes the app on large libraries.

  • A gateway error is reported as a connection problem, which is what it is, instead of a red failure on the screen.

2026.08.06-1

6 August 2026

The first Grilled Cheese build published for testing.