Release notes

What's new in Subtext

Every change that reaches you, in plain language. We say what moved and why it mattered — not which internal component was refactored.

  1. Current

    A clearer look, and game nights

    Choose how Subtext looks and how big the text is, a new Home built around what you're into, and a new pack for game nights.

    NewLook and text size

    Tap Look & text at the top of any page to choose Paper, Dark or High contrast, and small, medium or large text. Device, the default, follows your phone or computer's light or dark setting. The choice is kept in this browser.

    NewA new Home

    Home opens on the next scene on your path, with what to expect before you start: scripted or live replies, about 5 minutes, how many other people, whether it's a busier room, and that you can stop any time. Read what happens first if you'd like to. Below it, packs sorted by what you're into (the ones you've started come first), your record of scenes done once you have one (never a score), and a one-tap “How heavy is today?” that saves to Energy.

    NewTabletop games

    Four scenes: sitting down at an open game night, rules explained far too fast, a session zero before a D&D campaign, and another player insisting on a rule that's wrong. Two new scripts too, under Game nights.

    ImprovedEasier-to-read letters

    Text is now set in Atkinson Hyperlegible, made by the Braille Institute so letters that look alike (I, l and 1; O and 0) are easy to tell apart. Headings stay in Charter.

    ImprovedWhat to expect on every scene

    Pack pages show the same plain tags as Home, in place of the old capital-letter Busier room label.

    ImprovedAccount, reorganised

    Account is now five sections with a list to jump between them: Sign in, Live AI, Look and text, Help improve Subtext, and Privacy.

    New300 decode drills, in three voices

    Decode drills grew from 18 to 300, with 75 of each kind. Sarcasm and stress drills can be heard in three different voices (press Another voice), and after you answer you can hear the line said both ways, to compare. With live AI on, you get the bank's drills first; once you've seen every drill of a kind, live AI writes new ones, starting from drills like them. Pages also load faster, because the app is now sent compressed.

    ImprovedA real-sounding voice for the examples

    The “Hear it sincere” and “Hear it flat” examples in the field guides, and “Hear the line” on drills, now use a natural recorded computer voice instead of your device's robotic one. Flat really sounds flat now, and a drill line is said the way it's meant, including the stressed word. They're recorded once, so playing them sends nothing anywhere. Drills written by live AI still use your device's voice.

    ImprovedLive AI that keeps its own rules

    The rules that keep live AI kind and safe (no coaching you to mask, no grading, plain explanations, stopping for real support) are now added by Subtext's server to every live AI request, so nothing on your device can leave them out. Debriefs now list what worked only when something clearly did, instead of inventing a strength, and a reply that comes back cut off is tried again instead of being shown half-finished.

    ImprovedA fairer safety check

    Subtext checks what you type for signs you might need real support. It used to go off on everyday sentences, like “I end my turn” or “this weekend my sister visits”, and clear what you'd typed. Now it only responds to things that really sound like crisis, catches more of the ways people say it, and never deletes your words: close it and they're still there, and sending again carries on. In Decode it no longer assumes a pasted message is about you.

    NewA note when live AI is off

    Opening Rehearse, Decode or Decode drills with live AI off now shows a short note first, saying what works differently there. From the note you can turn live AI on (or sign in and come straight back with it on), close it for now, or choose Don't show this again. You can turn the note back on under Account, Live AI.

    ImprovedA calmer page

    Pages ask less of you at once. The top bar is just Subtext, one Look & text button and Sign in. Home shows six packs with a link to all of them, says what to expect in one plain line, and states the privacy note once instead of three times. The note under the Live AI switch appears when live AI is on, which is when it matters.

    ImprovedLive call is resting

    Live call, practising by voice with another person, is put away for now while we focus on rehearsing on your own. Debriefs from calls you've already had stay in your record. Rehearse something real is the closest thing in the meantime: describe the conversation you have coming up and run it.

  2. A thank-you for feedback

    Send feedback through the survey or the questions after your first rehearsal, and live AI stays free on your account for two years, even after paid plans start.

    NewFounding testers

    Sending the survey or the after-rehearsal questions while signed in makes your account a founding tester: live AI stays free on it for two years, with the same monthly allowance as now. Sent them signed out? Sign in on the same device afterwards and it counts. Your answers are never linked to your account. Under Account, a line shows the date it runs to.

    ImprovedKnowing which emails helped

    Links in emails from the people building Subtext can carry a short tag, so we can tell which emails were useful. The tag is kept in this browser for 30 days and counted only as plain totals (visited, stayed, started a rehearsal, sent the survey). Turning analytics off stops it.

  3. College, and telling people (or not)

    Two new packs built from Navigating College, a guide written by autistic adults about what actually worked for them. On the web first; coming to iPhone in a later update.

    NewCollege & campus

    Five scenes: your first office hours visit, the first group-project meeting, asking your roommate for quiet hours, handing a professor your accommodation letter, and a professor who pushes back on it. That last professor is reluctant on purpose, because real ones sometimes are; the debrief shows how to hold to an approved accommodation without re-arguing it or naming a diagnosis.

    NewTelling people (or not)

    Four scenes about being autistic and how much to say: explaining what your earplugs or looking away are for, mentioning you're autistic to a friend, answering “you don't seem autistic,” and deciding whether to answer an ableist joke. Not telling is always a full, valid choice, and every character follows your lead on how much is said.

    NewEight new scripts

    Lines for accommodation letters, a professor's pushback, roommates, group projects, explaining how you work, and the clumsy or careless things people say. They're in Scripts, under College and Telling people.

    ImprovedA new row on your map

    Both packs sit on the map under a new core skill, Say how you work: the practical part first, the label optional. Like the other everyday rows, any scene in them can be rehearsed straight away.

    ImprovedDecode names ableist framing

    With live AI on, paste a message that doubts a disability, treats an accommodation as unfair, or uses a diagnosis as an insult, and Decode names that pattern plainly, without a verdict on the person, and says you owe no proof.

    ImprovedFace-to-face mode removed

    Rehearsals no longer have a Face-to-face button, so Subtext never asks to use your camera. Rehearsing otherwise works exactly as before.

    ImprovedEye contact is your call

    The office-orientation field guide no longer offers looking at a badge as the way to seem attentive. Looking wherever is easy, or simply saying you listen better looking away, are offered as equal options.

  4. Keep your progress across devices, and tell us whether it's helping

    Sign in and your practice record follows you between iPhone and the web. And a short survey, built from the research Subtext started with, to check whether the app is helping with the situations that actually come up.

    NewSign in to keep your progress

    Signing in is still optional. If you do, what you've rehearsed, your debriefs, your energy log and your saved scripts are saved privately to your account, so they're there on any device you sign in on. Progress now opens with a plain record of what you've practised — counts, never scores. Decode history stays on your device, because it holds other people's messages. You can turn saving off, or delete your account and everything in it, at any time.

    ImprovedEasier to sign in or create an account

    When you're not signed in, a “Sign in or create a free account” button sits at the top of the sidebar (“Sign in” on a phone). The Account page now opens with one sign-in card: two clear tabs, Google or email, and what signing in is for. When you are signed in, the sidebar shows which account.

    ImprovedOne look, site and app

    The practice space and this website now share one set of colours, fonts and shapes. Page headings in the app use the same typeface as the site, buttons look the same in both, and the app's home page is called Subtext.

    ImprovedLive AI needs a free account

    Everything that doesn't cost us per use — practice mode, all 34 scenes, field guides, scripts, drills, the map, Calm Sound — is free with no account. Live AI does cost something each time, so it now needs a free account, and each account gets a monthly live AI allowance at no cost while Subtext is in beta. You can see how much is left under the live AI switch. If you aren't signed in, the app says plainly that your practice is kept in this browser or on this device only.

    ImprovedFaster debriefs

    Live debriefs now come back in about half the time.

    NewAfter your first rehearsal

    Four quick, optional questions appear once under your first debrief: would you use this again, why, would you pay for a partner that answers what you say, and what should be clearer. “Not now” hides them for good.

    ImprovedWhat the Subtext team can see

    If you sign in, the people building Subtext can see your account's email, when you joined and last signed in, and counts of what you've practised — never what you wrote. If the team ever has to pause live AI, a short note at the top of the app says so, and practice mode keeps working as usual.

    ImprovedA shorter price question

    The survey now asks about price once — the most you'd pay a year, picked from a few ranges — instead of four separate number questions.

    NewAn 8-minute survey

    Is Subtext helping with the situations that actually come up for you? A short survey asks which situations come up, how hard they are, what kind of help you want, and how Subtext has gone if you've used it. Every question is optional, and answers leave your device only when you press Send. It's in Account, on the web and on iPhone.

  5. How this works, shown instead of told — and a calmer colour

    The page that explains Subtext now maps the whole app, compares practice mode with live AI, follows one real situation through all three moves, and gives every part its own detail.

    ImprovedA calmer colour

    The teal is now eucalyptus: the same family at about half the intensity, so it sits more quietly on the page. Every text and button pairing still passes contrast in light and dark, and cards in light mode are a touch softer than pure white.

    ImprovedA sidebar that follows the three moves

    On the web, the sidebar is grouped the way the app works: read the rule, run it, take it with you. The current page is marked with a bar as well as colour, the live AI switch is a real switch at the bottom, and every item lines up at the same height.

    NewThe whole app, on one screen

    Every part sits under the move it serves — read the rule, run it, take it with you — with an arrow saying where each one hands you next. Tap any part to open its detail.

    NewEvery part, in the same shape

    Each part now has a detail panel laid out identically: what you do, what you get, where it leads, and where your information lives. Practice mode and live AI are compared side by side.

    ImprovedOne example, all the way through

    “Tell me about yourself” appears at every step: the rule behind the question, a rehearsal on its third take, and the line, map and energy log you take away. Each picture is static, and everything in it is also in the text beside it.

    NewTry the example

    The page now ends with the same scenario it walks through, one tap away.

  6. Every scenario plays its own scene, and one rehearsal leads to the next

    A full pass on how Subtext flows from the first visit to the second week: the practice partner stays on topic, examples say they're examples, and every screen points somewhere useful.

    FixedPractice partners stay on topic

    Twenty scenarios used to share one generic script per pack, so the second line often ignored the question you'd just been asked. Every scenario now has its own scene, and its own practice debrief.

    FixedExamples say they're examples

    In practice mode, Decode can't read your text, so it now shows a labelled worked example and saves nothing. Practice debriefs now say they were written in advance, with a one-tap switch to a debrief about what you actually said.

    NewStart here, or carry on

    Home now opens with one card, and on the web so does Rehearse: new here, start with an easy interview question and see how this works; back again, continue where your path left off.

    NewRehearse something real, on the web too

    Describe a conversation you actually have coming up and rehearse it. With live AI the other person plays it back to you. In practice mode it's an honest solo run: you say your lines, then read them back.

    NewFrom a message, or a script, straight into practice

    Decode a message, then rehearse replying to it. Open a script, then rehearse using it. Stuck mid-scene? “Lines for this” opens the matching script.

    NewAfter the debrief, the next thing

    Each debrief now offers what's next on your path, the lines for that scene, or another take. Done takes you back to the pack you came from.

    NewYour debriefs, kept

    Progress now keeps every debrief, so you can re-read your own “one thing to try” later. Still on this device only, still no scores.

    ImprovedEvery scenario on the map

    The map now holds all 34 scenarios in 11 rows. The six everyday rows, including interviews, are a suggested order you can practise in any order. Locked scenarios say what opens them, right where you tap.

    ImprovedDrills you can choose

    Pick a kind of puzzle, get ones you haven't seen first, and never the same one twice in a row. “Another like this” keeps you on the same skill.

    ImprovedEnergy you can read back

    Your notes now show, today's entry stays selected, and you can see further back. On a day you log as heavy, Home says so and reminds you that reading is always open.

    ImprovedField guides end with something to do

    Every guide now finishes with a scene to rehearse, a drill to practise spotting it, or the lines to use.

    ImprovedAccount says what signing in does

    Settings and feedback come first. Signing in is optional and only identifies you; nothing you practise is uploaded or synced.

    FixedSmaller things that broke trust

    An empty rehearsal no longer counts on the map. Your self-report saves as you tick it. On the web, a reload keeps your rehearsal, a live call nobody joined no longer produces a debrief, and the map's detail panel stays in view on a phone. On iPhone, loading spinners no longer draw the Progress screen inside them.

  7. The other person now tells you when the script has run out

    The first beta tester's feedback, fixed. Practice mode says what it is on the screen where it matters, and stops repeating itself.

    FixedYou can see when replies are scripted

    A line at the top of every rehearsal now says whether replies are scripted or live, with a one-tap switch. Before, the only signal was a small badge in the sidebar — hidden entirely on a phone. Our first tester spent his time believing he was talking to a broken chatbot.

    FixedThe scene ends instead of looping

    When a practice script ran out, the other person repeated their last line forever at anyone who kept typing. Now the scene ends and says so plainly, with Retake and the debrief right there.

    NewWhich job are you preparing for?

    An optional field on the interview pack. With live AI on, the interviewer asks about that job instead of a generic one.

    NewHear the difference

    The sarcasm guide now plays example lines two ways — sincere and flat — using your device's voice. It's synthetic and labelled as such; the point is the contrast. Real recordings are the next step.

    NewExaggeration, and “why are you the best candidate?”

    A new field guide on spotting exaggeration and asking for the literal figure, plus a new interview scenario and script for the best-candidate question — which is not asking you to rank yourself against strangers you've never met.

    ImprovedCalm Sound for falling asleep

    The fade-out actually fades now (it used to cut off in under half a second), Stop eases out instead of stopping dead, and there are 90 and 120 minute timers.

    NewSend feedback

    A form in Account, on web and iOS. Unlike the rest of the app it does leave your device — it goes to the people building Subtext — and it says so.

    ImprovedA quieter, more consistent layout

    Cards share one padding, page headers share one rhythm, and chat bubbles have more room to breathe. Deliberately small: the calm, low-stimulation look is a rule here, not an accident.

  8. Maps, field guides, and a second person on the line

    The biggest release so far. Subtext stops being a set of separate drills and becomes a path you can see — with the reading always open, and only the practice gated behind what comes before it.

    NewYour Map

    Every scenario now sits on a visible map, connected by lines showing what leads to what. Reading is never locked — you can open any node, any time, and see exactly what it asks of you before you commit. Practice unlocks along the path, so nothing lands on you cold.

    NewField guides

    Sixteen guides for situations that are hard to rehearse because they move fast: conventions, tournaments, loud breweries, transit disruptions, an open-plan office tour. Each one names the signal to look for in the room, a numbered process to run when it appears, and what going well actually looks like — observations, never a score.

    NewPractice with another person

    Two people can now join the same call from separate devices. When it ends, each side gets its own private debrief. Neither person sees the other's.

    NewThree scenario packs

    Conventions & fandom, Hobbies & classes, and Out & about — ten new scenarios written at a harder difficulty, each with suggested replies you can tap to fill in and then edit before you send. The suggestions are a starting point, not autopilot.

    ImprovedYou never need an API key

    Live AI is now handled entirely by us. There is no key to find, paste, or keep safe — the option is gone from every screen. Practice mode still works with no account and no network, exactly as before.

    ImprovedOne navigation, everywhere

    Home, Your Map, Tool Box (decode, drills, scripts, field guides), Rehearse, Energy, Progress and Account — the same order on the web and on iOS, so muscle memory carries between them.

    NewHow this works

    A page in the app that says what Subtext is for and how the three moves fit together — read the rule, run it, take it with you. First in the nav, because this website now sends people straight into practice with no other introduction.

    NewA new front page, and a real way in

    This site now leads with what Subtext is for — the unwritten rules, written down, then rehearsed until they're yours — and every button opens the practice app directly. The previous page said “Start practicing” and opened an email form.

    NewAnalytics you can switch off

    Anonymous, module-level usage counts (which screen was opened, nothing more), with an off switch in Account. It never sees what you type, or which scenario, script or guide you chose.

    FixedCalm Sound keeps playing

    Leaving the Calm Sound screen used to stop the sound. It now continues while you move around the app, with a dot in the navigation showing it's still on.

    FixedText you can actually read

    An audit of every page found a muted grey used for privacy notes, empty states, hints and map labels that fell below the contrast standard in light mode — and, on raised surfaces, in dark mode too. Both themes were corrected independently. Form fields that relied on placeholder text alone now have real labels, decorative icons no longer interrupt screen readers, and both sites have a skip-to-content link.

  9. The first build

    Subtext on iOS: three modules, a private-by-default posture, and the comfort rules that everything since has been held to.

    NewRehearse, Decode, Energy

    Practise a conversation with an AI playing the other side; paste something confusing and get a three-part read of what it probably means; log what a day cost you and what you have left.

    NewDrills, Scripts, Progress, Group hangouts

    Short daily decode drills, a library of things to say when you need the words now, a progress view that counts attempts rather than grading them, and a scenario pack for group settings.

    ImprovedComfort rules written down

    The design principles became a document the app is checked against: no autoplaying motion, nothing that starts without you, a muted palette, and dark mode treated as a first-class theme rather than an inversion.

Subtext is in development and not yet publicly released. Dates above are when the work landed in the build, not public launch dates. Join the waitlist to hear when that changes.