• A calmer home. Open Playback Pilot and you see what to work on next — not a wall of stats and charts. We cleared the panels that had piled up (stat grids, a tips feed, status charts) and moved your main actions — Session · Scan · Sort & Rate — to the top. What's left is what matters: your focus track, and your catalog.

• See your whole setup at a glance. File monitoring now opens to a clear picture — what's Active vs Paused, plus a running count of your folders, tracks, and audio files. Tap a folder to jump straight to its album, and tapping Scan from the home takes you right there.

• Move a track forward without leaving the Vault. Tap Advance on any track and pick its stage — one tap, no drilling in.

• Waiting on someone? A new Waiting status for tracks that aren't stalled — they're waiting on a mix-back, a feature verse, a sample clear. Mark a track Waiting with an optional reason; it sits between in-progress and done in your catalog.

• What You Got Done — now per track and per album. Producing music is mostly invisible work. Sessions end, stages advance, demos get rendered, tracks get kept or cut — and a week later it's hard to remember any of it happened. PlaybackPilot quietly tracks every meaningful step you take on your music — sessions logged, stages advanced, keep/cut decisions, new bounces, ratings — and surfaces them in the "What you got done this week" recap. You'll see it on the dashboard, on Track Detail, and on Album Detail.
• "Released" and "Cut" tracks count toward album progress. Mark a track as Released or Cut and your album's "X/N tracks complete" counter ticks up immediately. (Reported by Tool OnDaBoards 2026-06-18 — thanks!)
• Missing-file recovery from the Files view. Tap a missing audio row's refresh icon. If the file's been moved or renamed elsewhere, the app finds it and re-links automatically.
• Steadier UI during heavy work. Importing or syncing a large catalog no longer makes dashboard cards shimmer behind the "Bulk update" pill. Album rescans commit as one transaction instead of several. Editing album settings while a background rescan touches the same album no longer clobbers those updates.
• No "What's New" wall ambushing returning users. Installed PlaybackPilot a while back, walked away, coming back today? Finishing onboarding no longer drops you into a stack of accumulated changelog modals.

• Pin and archive your notes — Pin the notes that matter most so they float to the top, and archive the ones you're done with — they tuck behind a "Show archived (N)" filter chip. Works on both track and album notes.
• Search the Vault by audio file name — Searching "red hornet" finds the track whose audio file is Red_Hornet_Mix.wav, and the result card shows you exactly which file matched.
• Find and merge duplicates — PlaybackPilot now flags possible duplicate tracks in the album list and on the track detail screen, with a guided flow to merge them. A full catalog duplicate audit lives in Settings → Data & Files.
• Missing folder recovery — Moved or renamed a folder? PlaybackPilot now tells you when an album's or track's folder has gone missing and offers recovery options: Choose new folder, Reveal in Finder, Re-check, or Dismiss. And relinks stick — pick a new folder, tap Rescan, and the new path holds.
• What you got done this week — Your last 7 days at a glance on the dashboard — sessions, new bounces, stage changes, ratings, and keep/cut decisions — with a tap through to the full picture in Insights.
• Steadier home screen — and a snappier launch — Momentum cards stay still during heavy iCloud sync, and the dashboard repaints once on startup (and after a folder relink) instead of dozens of times.
• Cleaner first launch — Tell us what you're after and how you work, and the dashboard surfaces what matters first. No tip wall, no stale "What's New" popups.
• Polish — We ask for notification permission when you first schedule a session, not at launch · "Log Past Session…" is now in the track menu for forgotten timers · plus check-in and notification-panel fixes.

• All your notes in one place — Session reflections and check-in notes now show up in the Notes tab too, tagged by source.
• Cleaner notifications panel — The dashboard notification list now scrolls with mouse wheel, trackpad, arrow keys, and page up/down. Dismiss is a single tap; bulk action shows the count before you tap ("Dismiss all (N)").
• "Open folder" follows your renames (Mac) — If you renamed a project folder in Finder, the track header's "Open folder" button now opens the right place.
• Faster launches on big catalogs — Background indexing on iCloud-heavy catalogs no longer stalls every launch. Scans finish quietly while you work.

We're laying the plumbing for larger catalogs — especially for organized pros and studio managers. Mac file monitoring now survives renames and moves, and your dashboard adapts to the intent you picked during onboarding.

• Your dashboard adapts to your intent — During onboarding you picked a focus (finishing an album, building a catalog, etc.). The top of the dashboard now reflects that pick. Change anytime in Settings → Track Management → "What you're working toward."
• Files that move stay found (Mac) — Playback Pilot keeps the project link, editorial status, bookmarks, and version history attached, even when you rename or move an audio file in Finder, or drag a whole DAW project folder.
• Quietly safer — Automatic database backup before every schema update.
• Coming soon: lifecycle emails — The new playbackpilot:// URL scheme means email reminders, progress updates, and re-engagement nudges (landing in upcoming releases) will open the app directly, not the browser.

Building toward the catalog + audio player + tooling you need to organize and finish more tracks. Windows file-identity and persistence coming soon.

• Make every stage your own — Tap any stage in Settings → Production Pipeline to add, rename, or delete the sliders that drive its progress. Defaults still ship for Production, Mixing, and Mastering; custom stages get their own sliders. A live preview shows exactly how they'll look on a track header.
• Search and sort across notes — Search any note from any track or album, plus sort options (Newest / Oldest / Recently edited / By type).
• Tap to read, tap again to edit — Notes now open in a clean read-only view first. An explicit Edit button switches into edit mode, so an accidental tap can't trigger a discard prompt.
• Settings reorganized — Three clearer sections: Producer Customizations (Pipeline, Collaborators, Genres), Track Management (Focus List, Staleness), System (Theme, Calendar, Notifications). Easier to find what you're looking for.

• Know exactly how close you are, stage by stage — Production at 89%? Mixing at 50%? New per-stage sliders break each workflow stage into trackable sub-areas, with percentages that roll up to the track automatically.
• See the shape of your album in one glance — Album progress is now a segmented bar showing how many tracks are in each stage. No more squinting at "0 of 12 complete."
• Log past sessions — Forgot to start the timer? Backdate any work with date and duration.
• Find any session, no matter how old — A full activity history per track shows every session, check-in, and note. Edit or delete that runaway timer from days ago.
• For Windows users: Mixcraft now supported — PlaybackPilot now works with 15 DAWs total.
• Less interface, more music — Cleaner Vault and track headers. Vault opens to "Active" by default; track and album headers tightened.
• See who's working on what — Collaborator credits with role chips and @mention parsing in notes. Auto-seeded from track names.
• Get a heads-up before scheduled sessions — Opt-in session reminders ping you 15 minutes before scheduled work starts.

• Proper Windows installer — Start Menu and Desktop shortcuts, Add/Remove Programs, custom app icon. Windows is now a first-class platform.
• Crash fixes — "Rescan All" no longer crashes on certain DAW-exported WAV files. Fresh Windows installs no longer show a blank screen or database error.
• Audio playback on Windows — plays reliably in the file detail popup and file picker.
• Vault filter accuracy — Active / Paused / Cut tabs now show correct counts.
• Windows install guide — SmartScreen will show a warning on first install since the app isn't code-signed yet. Click "More info" → "Run anyway."

• Momentum Score — A single 0-100 score on every track, visible everywhere tracks appear: Vault cards, Focus List, Closest-to-Done, album tracklists, and track detail. The score rolls up five signals — your check-in progress (35%), stage (20%), render velocity (20%), listen engagement (15%), and recency (10%). Tap any track to see the Momentum Breakdown card: per-signal bars that show exactly which signal is lagging, so you know what to push on.
• Closest-to-Done on the dashboard — Your Active tracks ranked by momentum score, with the ones most likely to finish at the top. Paused, Cut, and Released tracks are filtered out automatically, so your attention goes where progress actually happens.
• Bulk triage in Review Track Status — Four tabs (Active / Paused / Cut / Done), per-tab search, shift-click range select, and bulk Move to / Delete. Plus two smart presets on the Active tab: "Keep top N by momentum" and "Pause inactive >X days." Triaging a 200-track catalog now takes a minute instead of an hour.
• Released state — Tracks and albums can now be marked as Released with release date, distribution platforms (Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp, SoundCloud, YouTube), per-platform URLs, and release notes. An early version of the release workflow — more release-stage tooling is coming.

• Track Status: Active, Paused, or Cut — Give every track in your catalog a conscious status so nothing sits in limbo. Set it with one tap or bulk-decide an entire import at once. After deciding, pin your Active tracks straight to your Focus List. Early version — more status tools are coming in the next release
• Focus List — Pin your work-in-progress tracks to the top of your dashboard. Default cap is 3, because limiting how many things you're actively working on is how music gets finished. Adjust the cap in Settings if you need more (or fewer)
• "What are you working on?" — New onboarding step asks about your current focus: finishing a release, building your catalog, getting more done, picking up old projects, or just exploring. The rest of onboarding adapts to your answer
• Render and version counts — See how many bounces and DAW project files each track has. A quick way to spot which tracks are alive — without writing a single check-in
• Standalone audio import — Support for orphan audio files like cassette demos or one-off recordings not tied to a DAW project
• Watch Tutorial link — One-click access to the getting-started video from the sidebar or empty homescreen
• Performance — Imports and status decisions no longer freeze on 200+ track catalogs

• Guided onboarding — New first-run experience walks you through setup, scanning your music folder, and a quick intro to the core workflow. Skippable if you prefer to explore on your own
• Scan during setup — Select your music folder right in onboarding with a live project counter. See all your projects organized in under 2 minutes

• Producer Insights dashboard — Studio time, activity heatmap, completion trends, stage bottleneck analysis, and workflow velocity — all from your local data, on one scrollable screen
• "What Should I Work On?" picker — Tap "Suggest" on your dashboard to get the top 4 tracks ranked by urgency. Filter by stage, hit "Surprise Me" for a weighted reshuffle
• Album Tasks & Notes — Manage tasks and notes at the album level. See all track tasks grouped by track, add album-wide notes (ideas, feedback), in a fixed 4-tab layout
• Album CSV export — Export any album to a spreadsheet with track metadata, notes, sessions, and audio filenames
• Track health triage — Stalled tracks separated from unsorted ones. Health chips on your dashboard and insights show exactly what needs attention
• Session timer edit — Tap "Started HH:MM" during a session to adjust the start time. No more restarting because you forgot to hit play
• VCV Rack support — 14th DAW now recognized during scanning
• Bug fixes & performance — 8 Windows fixes, batch SQL queries, 13 new database indexes, smoother scrolling

• Sessions redesigned — Plan tasks, set a focus and duration, work with a live timer and checklist, then reflect when you're done. Completely new flow based on alpha tester feedback
• Schedule sessions redesigned — Single-page modal replacing the old 3-step flow. Quick time picks, duration, focus, task pre-selection, and notes — all in one place
• Breadcrumb suggestions — Tracks with unvisited notes (2+ days) now surface as suggestions so you don't lose context between sessions
• Check-in detail sheets — Tap any check-in activity to see progress, rating, and notes
• Bug fixes — Emoji picker replaced with curated tap-grid, New Project wizard step ordering fixed, card badges now show your custom workflow stage

• Audio preview & mini player — Hit play on any track card to hear it instantly. A persistent mini player bar floats across every screen with a waveform seek bar, filename, and format badge
• Album queue playback — "Play All" on an album plays your tracks sequentially with auto-advance. Skip forward and back, add individual tracks to the queue, and manage your queue with drag-to-reorder and swipe-to-dismiss
• A-B version compare — Compare different versions of a track side-by-side with position-matched playback. Tap to swap between versions and see version notes inline — perfect for picking your best mix
• Pin your best version — Override the auto-selected "latest" render by pinning your preferred version. Pinned versions show across all views so you always hear the one you chose
• Reference tracks — Add reference songs to any track with title, URL, and notes. Quick-open in your browser when you need inspiration or a mix target
• Reassign tracks — Move a track to a different album right from the track screen, with search to find the right destination fast
• Album stage management — Change an album's workflow stage directly from the album header — no more digging into settings

• Windows support — PlaybackPilot is now available on Windows 10 and later
• In-app update checking — PlaybackPilot now checks for new versions on launch and shows a dismissible update banner with release notes. You can also check manually from Settings
• In-app announcements & tips — Receive tips, feature highlights, and announcements directly inside the app, so you never miss what's new
• Smarter suggestions — The suggestion engine now understands custom workflow stages and tracks more activity (check-ins, sessions, and notes) to give you better "what to work on next" recommendations

• Multi-directory albums — Albums can now span multiple folders on your hard drive. Add or remove directories from the Files tab, and rescan covers everything. Perfect for projects spread across drives or sample packs
• Collection projects — New project type for demo folders, beat archives, and triage buckets. Use a Candidates/Cut workflow instead of a full tracklist — great for sorting through large batches of ideas
• Smart file-to-track matching — PlaybackPilot now automatically links audio files to the right tracks using a 5-strategy matching pipeline: path detection, filename extraction, DAW codename aliases, and fuzzy similarity
• Files tab overhaul — Unified file browser with two-level filters (Audio/DAW/Review + sub-filters), inline search, latest render card, and lazy rendering for albums with thousands of files
• Missing file indicators — Files that have moved or been deleted show a red MISSING badge with dimmed appearance. A dedicated Missing tab appears so you can quickly find and fix broken links
• Rating system fix — Fixed a bug where rated tracks could appear unrated. Full half-star support now works reliably across all views
• Skip projects during import — Toggle individual projects on/off during import, so you only bring in what you need
• Track merge — Combine duplicate tracks within an album, merging their audio files, check-ins, and metadata into one

• Custom workflow stages — Go to Settings > Manage Workflow Stages to add your own stages with custom names, emoji, and colors. Hide built-in stages you don't use and drag to reorder. Your custom stages appear everywhere — stage picker, Vault filters, album breakdowns, and the activity feed
• Add tracks & move between albums — Three ways to build albums: move existing tracks from other projects, add from an audio file, or create a blank track. Move tracks between albums from anywhere — album overview, track menu, or track detail screen — with undo support
• Album overview improvements — Drag-to-reorder candidates, collapsible sections for Tracklist / Candidates / Cut, and bulk stage changes make managing bigger projects much easier
• Genre management — Assign and filter tracks by genre for better library organization
• Bug fixes — Audio file import fix, stage sorting refinement, and UI polish across track and album screens

• Activity tracking — Every stage change, tracklist edit, and archive action now appears in your Recent Activity feed so you have a full history of every move
• Visual key selector — Set a track's musical key with a piano-grid picker instead of scrolling through a dropdown
• Maschine support — Added recognition for Maschine project files (.mxprj), bringing DAW support to 13 formats including Logic, Ableton, FL Studio, Pro Tools, Studio One, and more
• Task ordering fix — Tasks now sort correctly and stay in the order you set them

• Archive and delete — Hide tracks you don't want to see from the track and album detail menus
• Stage sorting in the Vault — Sort your entire library by production stage to see what needs attention
• Quick stage changes — Change a track's stage directly from the context menu without opening the detail view
• Bug fixes — Fixed folder add/remove sync issues and a resync bug reported by testers
• UI polish — Refined track and album screens based on early tester feedback

• Onboarding flow — Guided first-run experience walks you through scanning your music folder and importing projects
• Import wizard — Automatically detects DAW projects in your directory and lets you pick which ones to import
• Album tracklist curation — Create albums, add tracks to a tracklist, move candidates in and out, and mark cuts
• Dashboard suggestions — Smart suggestions for which track to work on next based on your recent activity
• Progress tracking — Slide-to-set progress bar and star ratings during check-ins
• macOS native — Built for macOS 13+ with native performance

• Folder scanning — Point PlaybackPilot at your music directory and it automatically detects DAW projects (Logic, Ableton, FL Studio, and more)
• Track library — See all your projects in one place with metadata, progress, and status
• Stage-based workflow — Move tracks through production stages from Idea to Released
• Check-ins — Rate how you feel about a track and set your progress with a quick slider
• Session logging — Start a focused work session on any track and log what you did
• Local-first — All your data stays on your machine, no cloud account required