Changelog

v9.2 — Housekeeping · July 2026 · current build

Minor improvements and fixes.

v9 — Every World Finds Its Voice · July 2026

• A new Ethereal sound. The signature soft-rain wash that plays over every world has been remade — a warm, steady rain with real depth to it, looping seamlessly for as long as you care to listen.
• Worlds you can hear. Sound used to be the same gentle notes everywhere; now each world speaks for itself, timed to the exact moment you see it happen. Balloons pop in a burst of confetti. Thunder cracks with the bolt. Fireworks whistle up and boom precisely as the shell bursts. Bubbles plop, frost crackles as it grows, shooting stars streak past, jellyfish pulse with a deep-water thrum, candles light and snuff under your finger, lanterns lift with a breath of flame, ink blooms darkly, the lava lamp glorps as the wax turns over, and charging the sun earns you a shockwave to match.
• Played, not looped. Touch sounds pitch with where and what you touch — pop a big balloon and it lands deeper than a small one; tap high on the pool and the drop rings higher. Several takes of every sound rotate so nothing ever feels stamped out.
• Quieter where it counts. Worlds no longer hum in the background — sound happens when something happens. The one exception is Rain, where the glass now carries a soft rain patter, because a silent rainstorm just felt wrong.

v8.1 — Cast + Livelier Worlds · July 2026

• Cast from your phone. A cast button now lives on the home screen: pick your Google TV and the world leaps to the big screen — the TV runs its own Ethereal app natively, so it's every bit as smooth as playing it there. Switch worlds, drive the clock, even change the TV's sound, all from the couch. Disconnect whenever you like; the TV keeps glowing.
• A livelier deep sea. Jellyfish now opens with five residents instead of three, each dealt its own colour from the full Ethereal spectrum — gold included — so no two launches look alike. Turning the phone sideways now carries the whole school with it.
• Proper soap bubbles. The Bubbles column now mixes fine shells with genuinely big, lazy bubbles — up to three times the old size — with brighter rims and a bigger burst when you pop one.
• Real rain. Rain is denser, and drops now land anywhere on the glass with a soft plip — middle, low, wherever — cling for a beat, then run down, just like a real window.
• Little things. The Fireworks card in the gallery finally looks like the world it opens; new installs start with the gentle Ethereal rain-wash soundscape by default.

v8 — Worlds on the Big Screen · July 2026

• Ethereal comes to Google TV. The same app now installs on Android TV and Google TV — a remote-first gallery of living worlds for the biggest screen in the house, with the clock riding along wherever you place it: centre, either side, any corner, or wandering. Pure black by default, made for OLED.
• Six new worlds. The collection grows to twenty-nine: Balloons — a festival of drifting balloons; Bubbles — pop them or blow a stream; Rain — night glass, bokeh and running drops; Candles — a quiet row of living flames; River — paper lanterns adrift on dark water; Lanterns — sky lanterns climbing into the stars. Rain, Candles, River and Lanterns are nightstand-ready, bringing the bedside collection to eighteen.
• Made for TV, honestly. Only worlds that live and move on their own appear on the TV — twenty-two of them, marked with a TV badge in the gallery on the home page. The seven touch-painting worlds stay on your phone, where your fingers are.
• One unlock, every screen. Ethereal Pro bought on your phone unlocks the same worlds on your TV automatically — same Google account, nothing to buy twice. There's no purchase flow on the TV at all.

v7.4 — Star River · July 2026

• Nebula, reborn. The stardust field is now a river of stars — silky luminous ribbons streaming beneath slow nebula clouds, with the same swirling vortex under your finger. It's also far lighter on your device, so older phones and tablets glide where they used to stutter.
• New world: Lava. A neon lava lamp — big blobs of wax warm over the bulb, glow from deep blue through violet to magenta as they heat, rise, cool at the crown and sink to melt again. Hold a finger to the glass to warm the wax beneath it. Nightstand-ready, naturally. (Phosphor retires to make room.)
• Smart performance. Ethereal now senses when a device is struggling and quietly thins the busiest worlds until they glide — then restores full detail when there's headroom. Nobody has to find a setting.
• A gentler first row. The gallery now opens with Ripples and Solar ahead of Nebula, and your saved bedside world now survives any future reshuffling of the collection.
• Truly dim nights. The nightstand dimmer now lowers the real screen backlight too — a genuine battery saving on LCD screens, not just a darker picture.
• Clearer purchases. Buying or restoring Ethereal Pro now confirms itself — success, cancelled, or nothing-to-restore — instead of finishing silently.
• Bloom's card blooms. The gallery card now plays Bloom's real life cycle — a mandala unfolds, turns, and melts away.

v7.3 — Reef · July 2026

• New world: Reef. Schools of neon fish cruise a twilight lagoon in layered lanes while bubbles climb toward the light. Tap to startle the school; hold still and the fish gather to your finger — keep holding and a tiny one hatches. Nightstand-ready, so the reef can swim beside your clock all night.
• Bloom is now free. The mandala world joins the free seven; Mercury retires to make room for the reef.
• Orbit, steady all night. Fixed a slow drift that could pull every orbiting light into the centre over a long nightstand session.
• Nebula on big screens. The stardust now scales with your screen, so tablets get a full, dense field instead of thin wisps — and rotating your phone no longer bunches the motes to one side (Fireflies too).
• Lighter on the battery. The glow renderer now reuses its light gradients instead of rebuilding them hundreds of times a frame — every world benefits, especially overnight.

v7.2 — True Black · July 2026

• Pure black, at your option. A new Display setting swaps every world's deep-blue backdrop for true black — on OLED screens the pixels simply switch off, for the deepest possible blacks and even less power. Nightstand mode always sleeps on pure black, whatever the setting.
• The REAL in ETHEREAL. Our wordmark now carries its weight where it matters — you'll see it on the home screen and across our store art.
• Unlock everything with Ethereal Pro ($4.99, one-time) through Google Play.

v7.1 — Light Sleeper · July 2026

• Kind to your battery. Nightstand mode now renders at a gentle night-time pace, worlds hold a steady frame rate on fast screens instead of racing them, and the sound engine goes fully quiet when there's nothing to play. An overnight bedside session sips noticeably less power.
• Landscape fixes. Starfall, Starlines and Harp now fill the whole screen after you rotate — no more stars (or strings) huddling on the left side.
• Unlock everything with Ethereal Pro ($4.99, one-time) through Google Play.

v7.0 — Nightstand · July 2026

• Your phone, a bedside clock. New Nightstand mode turns any plugged-in (or retired) phone into a living clock: an elegant time display floating over a moving world. Enter it from the new Nightstand card on the home screen — it remembers the world you last used — or with the ☾ button inside any nightstand-ready world.
• Made for the dark. Dim the whole scene with a two-finger drag or the bedside slider. The clock tints itself to each world, breathes gently, and drifts (or, in Wander mode, fades to a new spot each minute) — designed for screen burn-in protection. The screen stays awake while you charge, and the app tells you honestly when you're running on battery.
• Twelve worlds keep the night. Nebula, Ripples and Solar free — plus Aurora, Fireflies, Jellyfish, Starfall, Orbs, Orbit, Tempest, Ferro and Fireworks with Pro. Fireworks even stages its own lazy show while you sleep.
• Sound at your fingertips. A quick sound toggle (world voices · rain · off) now lives right on every world and on the nightstand toolbar — no trip to settings.
• The jellies found their rhythm. Jellyfish now endlessly pulse their way up from the deep, slip off the top, and rise again — and a long press hatches up to five new jellies in all colours and sizes.
• Unlock everything with Ethereal Pro ($4.99, one-time) through Google Play.

v6.0 — Lucky Lights · July 2026

• Three brand-new worlds. Aurora — curtains of northern light you can bend with a drag, or gather with a held finger. Fireflies — a blinking meadow swarm that circles your fingertip like a lantern. Jellyfish — bioluminescent jellies that pulse through marine snow, reach for your touch, and hatch something small if you hold on.
• Seven worlds now free. The free tier grows from three to seven: Nebula, Ripples, Solar, Starlines, Trails, Mercury and Frost — twenty-three worlds in all.
• Solar reborn. A living solar system: a breathing sun with flare arcs, five planets each with their own character (one carries a moon, one a tilted ring), an asteroid belt that scatters, and a comet that swings by. Hold the sun to charge a flare, then let go.
• Never silent. World sound mode now rests on a barely-there ambient chord unique to each world — the light keeps humming even when your hands are still. Gentle haptics are now on by default, and a one-time welcome note points the way.
• Living gallery. Every world's preview card now moves, and each matches what's inside. A refreshed app icon too — with Android 13 themed-icon support.
• Unlock everything with Ethereal Pro ($4.99, one-time) through Google Play.

v5.2 — Clear Light · July 2026

• Full-screen, future-proof. Refined the edge-to-edge display for the latest Android — the same immersive, borderless canvas, now built entirely on Android’s current display APIs.
• No new worlds this time — still twenty: three free, unlock the rest with Ethereal Pro ($4.99, one-time) through Google Play.

v5.1 — Steady Light · July 2026

• Under-the-hood hardening. Privacy and reliability improvements — including stronger safeguards so your Ethereal Pro unlock stays yours.
• No new worlds this time — still twenty: three free, unlock the rest with Ethereal Pro ($4.99, one-time) through Google Play.

v5.0 — Edge of Light · July 2026

• Edge to edge. Worlds now flow into every corner of the screen — the status and navigation bars melt away for a truly full-screen canvas.
• Beautiful on every device. Full support for tablets, foldables and landscape, with the gallery reflowing to fit any screen.
• Ready for the latest Android. Rebuilt for Android 15 and 16 compatibility — smoother, more polished, and future-proof.
• Little touches. A quick link to our website right from Settings, and a more responsive gallery.

v4.2 — Wide Awake · July 2026

• Stay awake. The screen now stays lit the whole time a world is open — no more dimming mid-session.
• Pro, getting ready. Updated to Google Play’s latest billing under the hood, readying Ethereal Pro for launch.

v4.1 — New Worlds & Rain · June 2026

• Two worlds reworked. Starfall (was Aurora) — touch the sky and send stars streaking down; and Solar (was Murmuration) — a sun and its planets you can pull from orbit and watch spring back.
• Plasma, recoloured. A deeper ultraviolet / nebula palette with a slow, living swirl.
• A new ambient sound. The optional “Ethereal” sound is now a soft rain that washes over every world, with gentle water-droplet touches.
• Tidier names. Constellation is now Starlines; Kaleidoscope is now Kaleido.
• Still twenty worlds — three free; unlock the rest with Ethereal Pro ($4.99, one-time) through Google Play.

v4.0 — Sound & Motion · June 2026

• Sound, at last. Every world now has its own voice — fully synthesised, no downloads — that answers your touch.
• Settings. A new panel (the gear on the home screen) to choose your sound, toggle haptics, and switch on gravity.
• Haptics. An optional gentle tap as you play.
• Tilt gravity. Turn it on and tip your phone — loose elements in worlds like Fireworks, Mercury and Orbs drift and fall the way you lean.
• Three worlds are free; unlock all twenty with Ethereal Pro ($4.99, one-time) through Google Play.

v3.1 — Twenty Worlds · June 2026

• Ten brand-new worlds: Murmuration, Tempest, Plasma, Orbit, Harp, Frost, Ink, Phosphor, Mercury and Ferro — doubling the collection to twenty.
• A new app icon.
• Three worlds are free; unlock all twenty with Ethereal Pro ($4.99, one-time) through Google Play.

v2.1 — Initial release · June 2026

• The first ten worlds: Nebula, Aurora, Ripples, Bloom, Constellation, Trails, Fireworks, Orbs, Spectrum and Kaleidoscope.
• Three worlds free; the rest under a one-time Ethereal Pro unlock.
• No ads, no accounts, works offline.

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