Your files stay with you • Documents and videos you received are now kept on your iPhone, like photos. An old file opens even after the server has let go of it, with no download. Files that were already gone before this update cannot come back; ask for a resend. Presence • "Online" and "last seen" are no longer set by a call ringing on your phone, or by the moment after a missed call. Writing • A tap in the message box puts the cursor exactly where you tapped. Stories • The story viewer's header, reactions and reply box sit on a dark fade, so they read on any picture. Fixes • A contact name with a broken character no longer breaks the chat list; the first letter still shows. • Call set-up is steadier when a device link is taken down mid-way. • The app can tell you when a newer version is in the App Store.

This update fixes the floating video-call window introduced in 1.0.14. • On iPhone, the window kept showing the last frame once you switched to another app. It now keeps moving. • On Android, the window showed the other person but not you. Both of you are in it now, and in the in-app floating window too. • The chat list no longer fails for a contact whose name starts with an emoji. • Smaller fixes on the server side. Thank you for your reports — they are what made this update quick.

Ten languages • German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Simplified Chinese join English, Arabic, French, Spanish and Turkish. The app follows your phone's language, or pick any of them in Appearance → Language. Video calls • Leave the app during a video call and it keeps going in a floating window with both of you; tap it to come back. Inside OvateChat, minimise the call and the window floats over your chats. • The screen stays awake for the whole video call. • Group calls ride out a short network drop instead of ending. Messages and stories • A long message folds after twelve lines behind "Read more". • Stories can last 6, 12, 24 or 48 hours, or 3 days; a photo stays on screen for 8 seconds. • A newly linked device gets the stories posted around the time it joined. Channels • An invite link's "Open in OvateChat" button opens the app on the channel. • As the owner, tap a post's reactions to see who reacted. • A request you no longer want can be withdrawn, even after it was approved. • Sticker packs show whose stickers they are. Fixes • The unexpected "session expired" sign-outs are gone. • A half emoji no longer breaks a message, a second picker tap no longer errors, and a closed call link stays quiet.

A bar at the bottom • Chats, Stories, Calls, Channels and Friends, each with a badge for what is waiting. On the Mac the bar sits under the chat list. Calls • The Calls tab lists every call you made or took, newest first, with a Missed filter and a call-back button. Clear calls by kind (audio, video, group), outcome (missed, answered, the rest) and age. • A call rides out a short network drop ("Reconnecting…") instead of ending. • Group calls name the caller on the ring and on the call screen. Stories • The Stories tab shows your story and your friends' stories as a list: who has something new, what you have viewed, and whom you muted. Mute • A muted chat is quiet in every way: no sound, no notification and no badge, until you open the app. Your devices • Make any of your phones the primary device, without signing the others out. • Idle devices are revoked by their real use: on a computer, a window left open no longer counts as using it. • Linking a computer shows your recent chats at once; the rest follows in the background, and your avatar beats while it does. • A newly linked device gets the keys of the channels you follow. Mac • Drag the divider to resize the chat list, or click the chevron on it to fold the list to avatars and give the chat the room. • Enter sends; Shift+Enter starts a new line. • OvateChat for Windows is now on the Microsoft Store. Groups and messages • Search a chat's messages from contact details or group info. • Message info names who sent the message, under the group's name; a sticker in a group always shows its sender. • Leaving a group always completes, even if you go back right away. • Declining a call on one of your devices stops it ringing on your others. And many smaller fixes.

Stories • Share a photo, a video (up to 30 seconds) or a text on a colour with the friends you choose — all of them, all except some, or only some. A story lasts 6, 12 or 24 hours, then it is gone everywhere. • Your friends' stories appear as circles above your chat list. See who viewed yours (when they share read receipts), reply or react, and the reply lands in your chat with that person, quoting the story. • Stories are end-to-end encrypted like everything else. Channels • Follow public channels in the directory, or ask to open your own. Posts are end-to-end encrypted with a key only subscribers hold; react, forward, and get a notification for new posts, with Sound on or off per channel. Sounds • Settings → Sounds: choose the tone of a message and the tone of a group message from eight tones, or Silent; and choose whether calls ring. Stickers • Sticker packs published by OvateChat publishers: tap + in the sticker panel to add one. • The sticker maker has a "Whole picture" shape: keep the full photo, uncropped. A ready-made sticker keeps everything but its background. • Taking a sticker out of Favourites now asks first. Contacts • Give a contact your own name for them — their real name, say. It shows in your chats, lists, calls and notifications. Only you see it: it stays on your devices and is never sent to them or to anyone. Messages • Delete for everyone, in bulk, for both people in a one-to-one chat (within 30 days). • Voice notes: lift the phone to your ear to listen through the earpiece. • A newly linked phone learns each chat's disappearing-message timer. Calls • Group calls name the caller on the ring and on the call screen; answering from the lock screen opens the call. • A call for your second account no longer leaves a stale chat screen behind. Accounts • Switch accounts from the bar at the top of the chat list and see how many messages your other accounts have waiting. • Backup checks the password first, offers Replace, and shows when the last backup was made. And many smaller fixes.

Your chats • Fixes an empty chat list after an update. Your chats were never deleted: if you saw an empty list, close the app fully and open it again and everything is there. The app now opens your messages reliably after every update, and if it ever cannot, it tells you and offers Retry. • A message that could not be opened ("Unable to decrypt message") is now sent again by the other person's phone and appears in its place. Chat Backup • Restored photos, voice notes and stickers appear at once. • Signing in with your recovery phrase now restores your media too, with progress and a Retry. • Videos are now included in the backup, and the restore tells you how many items came back. Your other devices • Linking a second phone now brings over all your messages, photos and voice notes. Keep the old phone open while it sends them. • Chats you delete stay deleted on your other devices, until that person writes to you again.

Calls • Fixes a crash when answering a call before the microphone was allowed. This version matches Android 1.0.9, where incoming calls light up a locked phone again. On iPhone, calls already ring on the lock screen.

Replies • In a group, a reply names the member who wrote the quoted message, and your own name when you quote yourself. • A reply to a video shows the video's picture. Screenshot protection • A group is protected while every member keeps protection on; one member turning it off opens it for everyone in that group. • New accounts start with protection off; existing accounts keep it on. • People you only share a group with now learn your choice too. • Your choice follows you to every device signed in to your account. • You are told of screenshots taken on iPhone and on Android 14 and later, and of screen recordings on iPhone. Forwarding • After you pick a chat, the selection clears at once. • Forwarding several messages at a time alerts the other people once, not once per message. Note to Self • Videos kept in Note to Self stay available after an app update. Plus smaller fixes to requests, notifications and chat lists.

Big files • Send documents and files up to 1 GB, with a progress bar. • Videos go in full quality, however long. Screenshot protection • Chats are hidden from screenshots and screen recordings. • If someone captures a chat they are allowed to, the chat shows a quiet notice with the time. • Privacy → Screen security lets you choose whether others may capture your chats. Stickers • Favourites and recently sent stickers. • Long-press a sticker you receive to keep it. • Make your own sticker from a photo: cut out the subject, add an outline and text. It is made on your phone. Calls • Call waiting: a second call no longer interrupts the first. • Calls connect faster, and the speaker stays where you put it. Accounts • Switch an account off from the menu: it looks offline on all its devices until you switch it back on. And many fixes to notifications, last seen and missed-call times.