Changelog

iPhone

• The morning letter reads as a dated letter: the beats in page type, the thing to read as a card that opens it, the to-do as a card I add, and the quote to close it.
• A cut-off row in Upcoming, Activity, To-dos or Quests opens in place with a tap, and an open row goes to its thread on the next.

• Note: I wanted the morning letter to link out to what it tells me to read, and to make its to-do something I can act on.
• Note: When a row is cut off, I wanted to tap it and have it open smoothly to the rest, or link out.

Mac

• Upcoming opens on the Mac with ⌘U or two fingers up on the message field, with To-dos, Upcoming, Activity and Quests growing out of the field’s glass.
• A writing note opens inline under its line, on paper, and the words below move down to make room.
• Throw it at him, behind a switch: drag something onto the notch, pick Research, Summarize, File, Buy or Watch, and the notch tells me when Shadowfax is done.
• Desk reminders arrive on the Mac with Done, Later and Reply when I sit down.
• Words typed on the Mac are never overwritten by the phone, quitting saves every open draft, and streaming, long drafts, the reader and the notch all do far less work.
• Reduce Motion is respected, and every icon button has a VoiceOver label.

• Note: I wanted the swipe up on the input to show my to-dos and activity on the Mac, like it does on iOS.
• Note: I didn’t love the note floating as glass over my words, so it opens under its line now.

iPhone and Mac

• The morning letter brings its doors with it: a card for what to read, a card for the to-do, and once I add the to-do, Shadowfax pings me at its time.

iPhone

• The Voice Memo control records straight into the Dynamic Island without opening the app, so the Action button starts a memo, and it lands in my main thread.
• Link card photos load once and stay put as I scroll.
• Smaller polish: pixel icons for the bag and the eye, the unread count in a glass badge, warmer contrast in the Bag End palette, checklist titles at the cards’ size, and my main thread named Shadowfax everywhere.

• Note: I wanted the Action button to drop me straight into a voice memo in the Dynamic Island, without opening the app first.

iPhone

• A changelog opens from the build line in Settings, with the build on my phone tagged.

• Note: I wanted a changelog for Shadowfax on iPhone and Mac that we can keep track of.

iPhone

• Cancelling a follow-up in Upcoming or in its thread clears it from both at once.
• Messages I move stay moved, and Undo brings them back exactly once.
• Pinching a reminder deck further down a thread keeps my place.
• Scrolling feels lighter. The header horse only redraws when he moves, and a reply that’s still streaming restyles just its last paragraph.
• Card footers sit at one even height, a list’s last row has no hairline under it, and Upcoming’s four tabs fit on one line.

iPhone and Mac

• When I stop a reply midway, the conversation stays.

iPhone

• The Dynamic Island follows the real sky. Dawn rides at Helm’s Deep, day in the Shire, dusk across the Riddermark, evening in Edoras and deep night in Rivendell, with tonight’s moon and the weather outside.
• Every message has actions now: move an exchange to another thread with Undo, follow up on it later, branch it into a thread of its own, or save it as a page.
• The long-press menu got shorter, and I can tap a word in a reply to ask about it right where it is.
• Reminders under a reply sit in a deck with the soonest on top. Two fingers fan it open, and a pinch folds it back.
• A copied photo pastes from the + menu.

• Note: When Shadowfax made a morning’s worth of reminders, the cards got unwieldy. Chunking them into one offset stack lets me swipe through them or spread them open with two fingers.
• Note: The long-press menu used to offer a whole row of emoji. I only ever reach for a heart or a thumb, so those three stayed.
• Note: Asking a follow-up should happen right in the reply. I tap a word, stretch the selection, and ask in a small pill of tinted glass.
• Note: The Road kept opening every time I asked Shadowfax something. Now it waits in Settings until I choose it.

Mac

• The same message actions on the Mac: Move To, Follow Up and Save as Page, with a row in the thread that shows where a message went.

iPhone and Mac

• When Shadowfax recommends something, it comes as a link card with the page’s own photo, site and summary.

iPhone

• Four new island scenes to try in Settings: Edoras, the Riddermark, Helm’s Deep and Rivendell.
• Shadowfax’s Road, a Game Boy Color style game with four painted worlds, its own chiptune sound and glass controls. Select turns the sound on and off.
• On the Watch I can pause a take, pick it back up or throw it away, and an empty one never sends.
• A long-press lifts the message onto a padded paper card, and a long reply shows its opening.

• Note: The new island scenes had to match the quality of the Shire ones, with our own full white horse. A 3D-model horse looked weird up there, so every scene is drawn the way Bag End is.
• Note: The game’s keys took the tinted glass from the send button. Clear glass carrying each level’s sky looked best: blue in the Shire, gold in Rohan.

iPhone and Mac

• Answers start sooner. When the opening line already answers, it streams in at once and stays in the reply.

iPhone

• A link to an article I’m writing in a thread opens its draft.

iPhone and Mac

• A page Shadowfax writes in a reply shows up once, without a copy beside its thread or draft.

iPhone

• Shadowfax on the Apple Watch. I tap, talk, and the horse nods. Short takes go as messages, long ones as voice memos.
• Shadowfax catches to-dos from what I say and picks the moment to remind me: a time, a place, or when I’m back at my desk. It’s one notification, with Done, Later and Reply.
• A draft follows me between the phone and the Mac with Handoff, and when I pause, Shadowfax reads the paragraphs I changed.
• The voice memo lock finally shows. It grows out of the waveform and rises above the mic.

• Note: The Watch should do one thing, listen and send, the way Granola does, without mirroring the phone. It has a single button, and his answer comes to my phone.
• Note: I want reminders to come from Shadowfax, in his notifications. Apple Reminders can still hold them; I just never hear from it.

Mac

• At my desk, a reminder arrives on the Mac with Done, Later and Reply.
• A new thread opens on the night ride, as it does on the phone.

iPhone

• A draft I’m writing in a thread opens on the phone, editable in place, with Shadowfax’s notes beside my words.
• Private memories stay blurred under a lock until Face ID opens them.

Mac

• A thread’s draft opens beside it, and Handoff moves it between the Mac and the phone.
• Shadowfax edits the draft when I tell him what to cut, move or add.

• Note: Moving between the Mac and the phone mid-draft felt weird. Whichever device I type on takes over now, and the other follows along.
• Note: When I tell Shadowfax what to cut, move or add, he makes the edit. Every sentence is still mine.

iPhone

• I can reply to one message from its menu or with a swipe, like in Messages. The quote flies into the sent bubble and unfolds in place.
• When an answer landed, the island used to flash it and snap shut. Now it ends on the horse’s nod.

• Note: Replies work like iMessage’s now. Of the looks I tried, I liked the inset because it’s different: the quote sits in a deeper panel at the top of my bubble.

Mac

• The sidebar groups threads into Messages, Quests, Pinned, Today, This Week and Earlier.
• I can write from a thread with the draft beside the live chat.
• Two bug sweeps fixed 53 things.

iPhone and Mac

• Note: I changed my mind about private mode within the hour. Shadowfax remembers what I say there, blurred and locked until Face ID opens it.

iPhone

• I can answer Shadowfax right from a notification: Reply, Yes or Not now.
• Settings has Memories, where I can search, correct or forget what Shadowfax remembers.
• Quest threads get a shortlist card, and a quest’s notes fold to one row a day.
• Settings shows which build is on the phone.

Mac

• A writing desk: a draft beside its thread, where Shadowfax marks grammar, pushback and connections.
• Typing or pasting anywhere in a window lands in its field.

• Note: I wanted it clear, in the app and in the demos, that Shadowfax doesn’t write for me.

iPhone and Mac

• Quests start sooner and read more, and when one needs a decision, it asks in a notification.

iPhone

• Activity shows what Shadowfax remembered, with Undo to forget it.
• The StandBy clock lost its card. It’s lit dots on black now, with redrawn numerals.
• At night the clock’s Shadowfax rests by a spring under the real moon, dipping his head to drink or calling out once a minute.

• Note: Resting at night was someone else’s idea, and a good one. I added a head bob or a whinny every minute, and a moon in the corner that matches tonight’s phase.
• Note: He looked like a cow after the redraw, so he’s back to the version traced from an old etching.

Mac

• Hovering over the notch shows Ask, Look, Talk and Quests over the ride’s night.

• Note: The notch’s quick actions belong on our night scene as liquid glass. My note on the first grid was “I don’t love that.” Now the night runs the full width, and he gallops along the ridge behind the glass.

iPhone and Mac

• Every night Shadowfax reads back through the threads and keeps what lasts.

iPhone

• Quests: Shadowfax researches in the background, each quest in its own thread, with a Quests tab in the swipe-up panel.
• StandBy night scenes of the Shire, Rivendell and the Grey Havens, as a widget and as a full-screen night.
• Everything got lighter. A streaming reply redraws only itself, and the island and widgets rest when nobody’s looking.

• Note: “Goals” was too close to Meta’s Muse app. Quests fit what he does on his own: they research and prepare, and anything that leaves the house waits for my yes.
• Note: Green dots never felt like our design language. New things show as a small glass count in pixel digits.
• Note: StandBy should feel cozy at night: the Shire in the evening, Rivendell late, the Grey Havens at dawn.
• Note: The clock’s horse needed to calm down. The rest pose came out looking like a donkey, so he still gallops, just slower.

Mac

• Voice memos on the Mac, with a scrubbing player, a gist and a transcript.
• Quests on the Mac: their cards, and a Quests list with its glass count.

iPhone and Mac

• Replies start faster.

• Note: His voice needed weight, unhurried, like a mentor’s. After two hours of designing voices, a stock voice called George still sounded better, so he speaks as George.

iPhone

• Voice memos: I hold the mic and slide up to lock, and the recording shows in the Dynamic Island and on the Lock Screen.
• Shadowfax can start threads, post into others, and rename, pin or archive them, with Undo.
• Threads, pages and lists show up in Spotlight, Siri and Shortcuts.
• Apple Music cards, a bookshelf scan in Capture, and simple answers right on the phone when the Mac mini is out of reach.
• An empty thread is a window onto his ride, the pixel-art night at full size.

• Note: Arriving somewhere only tells Shadowfax which place it is. The phone’s location stays on the phone.
• Note: Song recognition and HomeKit can wait. For now I just want to keep building.

Mac

• The Mac app arrives: threads in a sidebar, streaming chat, every card, and a reader window.
• The notch grows into the night ride while Shadowfax works. I can hover or click to ask, or hold Right Option to talk.

• Note: I asked for a stupidly epic animated installer, then decided I’d rather make the Mac app fast and perfect first.