Changelog
The story of Ethereal so far.
9.6
September 2026
- Try a Pro world. Tap a locked world and it opens for a 10 second preview, once a day for each world, then the Ethereal Pro page.
- More from Zone7 Studios. Settings gains a page of the other Zone7 Studios apps, each one a tap from its website, and a Share this app button that hands a link to Ethereal to whoever you like.
- A fuller About. About now links the privacy, terms and support pages, this site and the open-source licences Ethereal is built with, and Settings has an Unlock Ethereal Pro row.
9.5
September 2026
- About, in Settings. A new About section spells out the promise (no ads, no accounts, no subscriptions), what the network is used for, and how to reach support.
- Easier with a screen reader. Icon-only buttons, Settings, Restore, Cast, Back, now announce themselves to TalkBack and VoiceOver.
- A better fit on tablets. Settings and the paywall keep a comfortable reading width on a tablet or iPad instead of stretching edge to edge.
- Anonymous usage stats. Settings gains a line about the anonymous usage stats we receive; the privacy page says what they include.
- Bug fixes and stability improvements.
9.4
August 2026
- Ethereal Pro now uses the newest Google Play billing.
- Bug fixes and stability improvements.
9.3
July 2026
- A proper hello. Ethereal now opens with a brief Zone7 Studios ident. One tap skips it, and it does not play when you come back to the app mid-session.
- Updated for Android 16. Brought up to date with the newest Android.
9.2
July 2026
- Bug fixes and stability improvements.
9
July 2026
- A new Ethereal sound. The soft rain wash that plays over every world has been remade, warmer and steadier, and it loops for as long as you care to listen.
- Worlds you can hear. Each world now has its own sounds, timed to the moment you see them. Balloons pop, thunder cracks with the bolt, fireworks boom on the burst, bubbles plop, frost crackles, jellyfish pulse, and candles light and snuff under your finger.
- Played, not looped. Touch sounds change pitch with where and what you touch, and several takes of each sound rotate so nothing feels stamped out.
- Quieter where it counts. Worlds no longer hum in the background; sound happens when something happens. Rain keeps a soft patter on the glass.
8.1
July 2026
- Cast from your phone. A cast button on the home screen sends the world to your Google TV, and you can switch worlds, drive the clock and change the sound from the couch. Disconnect any time and the TV keeps glowing.
- A livelier deep sea. Jellyfish opens with five jellies instead of three, each in its own colour, and turning the phone sideways carries the whole school with it.
- Proper soap bubbles. Bubbles now mixes fine shells with big, lazy bubbles, brighter rims and a bigger burst when you pop one.
- Real rain. Rain is denser, and drops land anywhere on the glass, cling for a beat, then run down.
- Little things. The Fireworks card in the gallery now shows the world it opens, and new installs start with the Ethereal rain wash.
8
July 2026
- Ethereal comes to Google TV. The same app installs on Android TV and Google TV, with a remote-first gallery and the clock wherever you place it: centre, either side, any corner, or wandering. Pure black by default.
- Six new worlds. Balloons, Bubbles, Rain, Candles, River and Lanterns bring the collection to twenty-nine. Rain, Candles, River and Lanterns are nightstand-ready, which makes eighteen night worlds.
- Made for TV. Twenty-two worlds that move on their own play on the TV and carry a TV badge in the gallery. The seven touch-painting worlds stay on your phone.
- One unlock, every screen. Ethereal Pro bought on your phone unlocks the same worlds on your TV. There is no purchase flow on the TV at all.
7.4
July 2026
- Nebula, reborn. The stardust field is now a river of stars, with the same swirling vortex under your finger, and it runs lighter on older phones and tablets.
- New world: Lava. A neon lava lamp whose wax warms over the bulb, glows from deep blue through violet to magenta, rises and sinks again. Hold a finger to the glass to warm the wax beneath it. It is nightstand-ready.
- Smart performance. Ethereal thins the busiest worlds when a device is struggling and restores full detail when there is headroom.
- A gentler first row. The gallery opens with Ripples and Solar ahead of Nebula, and your saved bedside world survives a reshuffle of the collection.
- Truly dim nights. The nightstand dimmer now lowers the screen backlight as well as the picture.
- Clearer purchases. Buying or restoring Ethereal Pro now confirms itself instead of finishing silently.
- Bloom's card blooms. The gallery card plays Bloom's real life cycle: a mandala unfolds, turns and melts away.
7.3
July 2026
- New world: Reef. Schools of neon fish cruise a twilight lagoon while bubbles climb toward the light. Tap to startle the school, or hold still and the fish gather to your finger until a tiny one hatches. It is nightstand-ready.
- Bloom is now free. The mandala world joins the free seven, and Mercury retires to make room for the reef.
- Nebula on big screens. The stardust scales with your screen, so tablets get a full, dense field, and rotating the phone no longer bunches the motes to one side. Fireflies too.
- Lighter on the battery. The glow renderer reuses its light gradients, which helps every world and especially overnight.
- Bug fixes and stability improvements.
7.2
July 2026
- Pure black, at your option. A new Display setting swaps every world's deep-blue backdrop for true black. Nightstand mode always sleeps on pure black, whatever the setting.
- The REAL in ETHEREAL. The wordmark now carries its weight on the home screen and across our store art.
7.1
July 2026
- Kind to your battery. Nightstand mode renders at a gentle night-time pace, worlds hold a steady frame rate instead of racing the screen, and the sound engine goes quiet when there is nothing to play.
- Landscape fixes. Starfall, Starlines and Harp now fill the whole screen after you rotate.
7.0
July 2026
- Your phone, a bedside clock. Nightstand mode turns a plugged-in phone into a living clock over a moving world. Open it from the Nightstand card on the home screen, which 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, and the screen stays awake while you charge.
- Twelve worlds keep the night. Nebula, Ripples and Solar are free, with Aurora, Fireflies, Jellyfish, Starfall, Orbs, Orbit, Tempest, Ferro and Fireworks in Pro. Fireworks stages its own lazy show while you sleep.
- Sound at your fingertips. A quick sound toggle (world voices, rain, off) sits on every world and on the nightstand toolbar.
- The jellies found their rhythm. Jellyfish 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.
6.0
July 2026
- Three brand-new worlds. Aurora bends curtains of northern light under a drag, or gathers them to a held finger. Fireflies circle your fingertip like a lantern. Jellyfish pulse through marine snow 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, out of twenty-three worlds in all.
- Solar reborn. A breathing sun with flare arcs, five planets each with their own character, 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 rests on a barely-there ambient chord unique to each world, and gentle haptics are on by default.
- Living gallery. Every world's preview card moves and matches what is inside, and the app icon has been refreshed.
- Unlock everything with Ethereal Pro, a one-time purchase through Google Play.
5.2
July 2026
- Full-screen, future-proof. Refined the edge-to-edge display for the latest Android, with the same immersive, borderless canvas.
5.1
July 2026
- Under the hood. Reliability improvements, including stronger safeguards so your Ethereal Pro unlock stays yours.
5.0
July 2026
- Edge to edge. Worlds now flow into every corner of the screen, with the status and navigation bars out of the way.
- 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.
- Little touches. A quick link to our website from Settings, and a more responsive gallery.
4.2
July 2026
- Stay awake. The screen now stays lit the whole time a world is open.
- Pro, getting ready. Updated to the latest Google Play billing, readying Ethereal Pro for launch.
4.1
June 2026
- Two worlds reworked. Starfall, once Aurora, sends stars streaking down at a touch. Solar, once Murmuration, lets you pull planets from orbit and watch them spring back.
- Plasma, recoloured. A deeper ultraviolet and 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, and Kaleidoscope is now Kaleido.
4.0
June 2026
- Sound, at last. Every world now has its own voice, fully synthesised, that answers your touch.
- Settings. A new panel behind 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, and loose elements in worlds like Fireworks, Mercury and Orbs drift and fall the way you lean.
3.1
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.
2.1
June 2026
- The first ten worlds: Nebula, Aurora, Ripples, Bloom, Constellation, Trails, Fireworks, Orbs, Spectrum and Kaleidoscope.
- Three worlds free, and the rest under a one-time Ethereal Pro unlock.
- No ads, no accounts, no subscriptions.